critical thinking pictures

critical thinking pictures

Enhancing Critical Thinking with Visuals

1. Introduction

When and why is a picture worth a thousand words? When it takes too long to read and understand to solve a problem. Visuals are there to simplify the problem by allowing the viewer to grasp the concept quickly. Whether it be a map, graph, pictures, or diagrams, visualization provides an easier way to comprehend a problem that is non-technical and technical. The benefits of visualization are clear when dealing with simpler problems. But at the cost of clarity, do complex problems lose their breadth? In an article written by Craig Zimring and Branko Kolonjia “Effects of Briefing and Visualization on Design Cognition” (1997), the problem of visualization hindering critical thinking is addressed. Their focus was on how the use of visual aids and briefing techniques during problem solving influences the depth of design cognition. It was found that subjects who used briefings and verbalization produced significantly more complete and better-realized design solutions and alternatives compared with more visual condition simulation. While visualization is easier to take a grasp of concept, verbalization and mental simulation provide a deeper level of problem solving. A visual can only offer what is present, it cannot uncover what is absent unless a new visualization is constructed. Due to time constraints on problem-solving, visualization may be chosen over the preferable simulation for the very reason that it is quicker and easier, leaving the more complete solution relatively unexplored. This shows that in some cases the clarity of seeing the problem is insufficient because it is perceived as the best way to understand the problem. When understanding a complex problem, it is often necessary to revisit the information multiple times to understand it thoroughly. Often in a non-technical sense, a visual or metaphoric explanation is used to clarify a concept that would have otherwise been explained through technical means. In the long run, it is more efficient to understand the concept technically because the metaphor will only provide a surface level of understanding. But due to our ever-shortening time constraints on decision making, the metaphor is often used in place of further technical teaching and the concept remains only partially understood. This is where poor understanding progresses into wrong comprehension, since the explanation was only clear the concept must have been understood! In times similar to this, visualizing an explanation will reveal if a concept has been misunderstood, since there is no way to visualize something that is not clearly understood. So while in some situations visual understanding provides an effective and efficient solution, it may not be the best way to understand the concept in its entirety.

2. Importance of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an important process that helps one reason and give explanations for certain events, assess, and also make decisions. The concept of critical thinking is to remove all the unimportant assumptions and ensure to get rid of them, leaving the important matters to be focused on and assessed based on past experience and looking at the impact of it. Critical thinking also produces reliable results when making a decision. It enables us to think clearly and rationally, and understand the logical connection between ideas. Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and a liberal democratic society. Science demands the critical use of reason in research and breakthroughs to reach reliable conclusions. It is important because it is the best way to equip a person to survive in this world. People who apply critical thinking as they mature acquire knowledge and understanding of the world and events surrounding them. This enables them to make better judgments and come close to the best there is. An intelligent person will think and plan what they want to do. They know the consequences of what they have decided and it will give benefits to them in many aspects. At the same time, they can avoid doing things that have a bad impact on them. By thinking ahead, a person will plan a better decision and choose the best way to solve it. People with great decision-making skills can be great leaders and successful individuals. In a society, law enforcers and the judiciary also need good decision-making skills to solve cases and provide fair judgments. This is the situation in the world on a micro or macro scale. It is all about problem-solving and decision-making to ensure that we find the best way to solve a problem and make the best decision. Understanding how critical thinking enhances personality and improves the quality of a person is the ultimate grasp of the importance of critical thinking to be applied in someone. We can make better decisions in problem-solving or choices, avoid things that have unintended consequences, and also learn how to do something more efficiently and effectively. This will lead to a quality life and help us avoid living in difficulties.

3. The Power of Visuals in Critical Thinking

Although visuals are usually considered supplementary to the main content being taught, using them can also avoid the tendency of learners to be lost in the sea of words. Visuals serve to simplify complex information, which educators are trying to get across. This is highly applicable in the context of teaching science to children. A study demonstrating elementary and middle school teachers’ use of animations to teach abstract concepts like day and night cycles found that these proved highly effective in promoting children’s understanding. This had better results than traditional teaching using text. Thus, it can be seen that animations and the like fall under visual information which has the ability to make difficult ideas more accessible.

Using a model such as a flow chart to describe a process, and an illustration to explain a mechanism would serve to aid the better understanding of what is being taught. Students will tend to understand the subject material better, and hence have a better grasp of the matter when they can visualize it in their minds. Visualization also serves to improve memory for what has been learned. There is a general understanding that it is easier to remember what has been seen compared to what has been read. This may not be true for everyone, as different individuals have different learning styles. However, it is undeniable that seeing a memorable image can implant a durable impression that is hard to supersede. This is backed by dual-coding theory, which claims that memory is enhanced by the formation of semantic and visual codes, since the brain stores information in both verbal and image form.

Visuals are an important aspect of education. Whether it’s the icon portraying the Save option on a software application to the commercial depicting a happy man because he is drinking a certain beverage – every image is conjured up with the purpose of imparting an idea. Educators understand the general human tendency to learn and remember more effectively when an idea is linked to an image. Therefore, incorporating visuals in the process of learning is a valuable way to enhance memory and boost learning.

4. Strategies for Using Pictures to Foster Critical Thinking

Using the theory of multiple intelligences to foster critical thinking Gardner’s Frames of Mind: the theory of multiple intelligences gives cause to re-evaluate traditional teaching and assessment strategies. Gardner identifies eight “multiple intelligences” and has since contemplated a ninth. It is suggested that every person has a unique blend of these intelligences and consequently all human behavior can be explained through the different weightings of the eight intelligences. Most people have a predominant strength in only a few of the intelligences, and traditional form teaching caters to students who favor the linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Provided it is possible to think critically with multiple different skills, it is therefore desirable for students to have the opportunity to learn how to think critically with their various forms of intelligence. This means that different thinking tasks need to be presented and suitable assessment given in order to determine the process and the depth of an individual’s critical thought. By identifying which types of thought are required and adjusting instruction and assessment accordingly, critical thinking can become a more natural and rewarding process for all students. Any right brain or creative aspect of a task is more readily accessible with a visual tool, and pictures can be used to identify and assess specific left brain thinking skills.

Strategies for using pictures to enhance critical thinking Critical thinking is a complex process that includes higher order thinking skills and a thoughtful, reflective, and goal-directed approach in which the thinker must decide whether a claim is true, partially true, true but misleading, false, or ambiguous. Critical thinking involves inhibiting emotional thinking, being aware of the possibility of different or multiple solutions, and ranking the quality of an argument through various thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and decision making. As a result of this complex process, students are often overwhelmed when asked to think critically. Studies suggest that English-speaking Western education systems often focus on the verbal/linguistic thinking mode, which is the cause of student difficulty when asked to think critically about subject matter. All humans have multiple intelligence, and traditional form learning and teaching often only draw upon a few. As a result, students may not be aware of how to go about thinking critically about subject matter. Since different left brain logical, rational thought and right brain expressive and creative thought are used to think critically, visual tools can be of great assistance to the process. The use of pictures can simplify the process of critical thinking and provide access to both types of thought and many different forms of intelligence.

5. Conclusion

This paper has presented a variety of ways in which visual learning can be implemented in the education of critical thinking. It began with a theoretical overview, which provided some distinctions between different types of thinking as processed by the brain. One of the most important distinctions made was between critical thinking and low-level cognition. Critical thinking is a complex process involving an individual’s ability to understand and interpret data and text, to evaluate it, engage in problem solving and decision making, and to infer, explain, or predict. Critical thinking is often hindered by a reliance on low-level cognition to understand and memorize information. Because much of the common academic assessment in higher education is based on lower-level cognitive outcomes, it is not uncommon to find students who are poor critical thinkers. This is detrimental to their success in higher level learning and in their future careers. However, if educators are better able to understand how critical thinking is learned and how it can be improved, they may be able to foster it in their students. This could be accomplished through more curriculum in critical thinking, teaching students how to learn, and nurturing thinking dispositions. While all of these are important, fostering thinking dispositions is perhaps the most vital because it creates a motivation for students to think critically. By far the most effective way to nurture thinking dispositions is through creating an environment which engages the learner. This method of teaching is known as pedagogy.