THINKER'S ALMANAC - March 29

Why is doodling an effective method of note-taking?

Subject:  Study Strategies - Dual Coding

Event:  Birthday of Allan Urho Paivio, 1925

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. -William Shakespeare

A large part of Shakespeare’s genius was his ability to combine ideas and images.  In the quotation above, for example, the abstract idea of “sorrow” comes alive through the imagery of an invading army.

Another man who understood the power of words and imagery was the Canadian psychologist Allan Paivio, who was born in Ontario on this day in 1925.  Early in his career, he developed a theory related to memory called the “conceptual peg hypothesis,” which states that concrete words are easier to remember than abstract words because concrete words create more vivid mental images.  Words combined with a concrete visual image are easier for the mind to hang onto, like a hat hangs onto a peg.

Later he developed his most influential concept, a learning strategy called dual coding, which intentionally combines verbal material with visual materials.  The combination of words and pictures enhances the learner’s memory by engaging two separate mental channels (verbal and visual), giving the learner two ways of remembering the learning (1).

Unlike learning style theory, which attempts to match students to their single best mode of learning -- visual, auditory, or kinesthetic -- dual coding works under the assumption that all human brains learn best when verbal and visual materials are combined.

Teachers and students can employ dual coding with a variety of visual forms, including pictures, diagrams, graphs, tables, graphic organizers, symbols, or cartoons.  It is important to note, however, that in order for the visual representations to be effective and memorable, they must be closely related to the verbal information.  For example, a student might take notes using words on the left-hand column of a piece of paper and then review those notes by generating visual representations in the right-hand column (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is dual coding, and why is it an effective study strategy?

Challenge - Study Smart With Six Strategies:  Dual coding is one of six study and learning strategies that cognitive scientists have documented as legitimately effective for students to practice and use. The other five are Spacing, Retrieval Practice, Elaboration, Interleaving, and Concrete Examples.  The website “The Learning Scientists” explains each of the six strategies and provides research on the effectiveness of each strategy.  Select one strategy, and explore what it is and how it works.  Write a paragraph explaining to a student how the strategy works.

Sources:

1-Allan Paivio In Memoriam

2-Sumeracki, Megan. “Dual Coding and Learning Styles.” The Learning Scientists.