Learning by drawing outperforms text-based strategies but is often less effective than studying pre-made drawings, with guidance and drawing training as key determinants¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? A review on learning by drawing found learner-generated drawings support learning from texts better than text alone, but often less well than other strategies such as pre-made drawings. → Alexander Skulmowski 2024 q2 i? Studies summarized in the review found instructor-generated visuals often outperform learner-generated drawings. → Alexander Skulmowski 2024 (2)

Evidence¶

Alexander Skulmowski 2024¶

Alexander Skulmowski. (2024). Learning by Doing or Doing Without Learning? The Potentials and Challenges of Activity-Based Learning. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09869-y

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review attributes this pattern to Fiorella and Zhang's (2018) review of learning by drawing: learner-generated drawings beat text-only conditions but are frequently inferior to studying pre-made drawings. The review adds that guidance and drawing training are important determinants of success.

"letting learners draw their own external representations as a means to support learning from texts is more effective than solely proving texts, but in many instances not as effective as other strategies such as using pre-made drawings (Fiorella & Zhang, 2018)."

Alexander Skulmowski 2024 (2)¶

Alexander Skulmowski. (2024). Learning by Doing or Doing Without Learning? The Potentials and Challenges of Activity-Based Learning. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09869-y

q2 · i? · review · r3

In its summary section, the review cites studies including Ploetzner and Fillisch (2017) showing instructor-generated visuals often outperform learner-generated drawings. The review attributes the risk to the drawing task's reliance on biologically secondary knowledge.

"it has also been revealed that using instructor-generated visuals still often outperforms letting learners generate their own drawings (e.g., Ploetzner & Fillisch, 2017)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• In one experiment, students who generated their own underlining did not score significantly higher on tests than students given experimenter-generated underlining — related
• Sketching during reading yielded the most accurate comprehension monitoring, with significantly less absolute error than photograph, no-image, and animation conditions — related
• Text-only students based draw judgments on internal mental images while image-condition students recalled external visuals — related
• Generating drawings is effective for university students but largely ineffective for elementary-school children unless instructional support is extremely high — related