It has already been proven that a person remembers only 20% of what he heard and 30% of what he saw. But if vision and hearing are simultaneously involved in the perception of new information, the material is absorbed by 50%. Educators have long known about this. The first visual aids were created before our era and were used in schools of Ancient Egypt, China, Rome, Greece. In the modern world, they do not lose their significance. On the contrary, with the development of technology, teachers have excellent opportunities to demonstrate to children those objects and phenomena that cannot be seen in real life.
Definition
Visibility is a term that has two interpretations. In ordinary life, the word refers to the ability of an object or phenomenon to be easily perceived using the senses or logic, its clarity and comprehensibility. In pedagogy, visualization is understood as a special principle of teaching, which is based on the display of objects, phenomena, processes.
Sensual knowledge helps the child to form primary ideas about the world around him. Own sensations remain in memory and lead to the emergence of mental images that can be manipulated in the mind, compare, generalize, highlight the main signs.
Cognition process
A person cannot recreate in his imagination those objects that he did not perceive directly. Any fantasy involves operating on familiar elements that can be combined into bizarre configurations. Thus, two types of cognition are distinguished:
- direct sensory, when a person explores a real object with the help of his senses;
- mediated when an object or phenomenon cannot be seen or felt.
Visibility is a necessary condition for learning in both the first and second cases. In indirect knowledge, the following are used as a support:
- instruments that allow you to observe areas inaccessible to sensory perception;
- photographs, audio recordings, films with which you can travel to the past or to another point in the world;
- experiments demonstrating the effect of the phenomenon under study on other objects;
- modeling when real relationships are displayed using abstract symbols.
Concepts used
Before moving on, we will deal with terms that are actively used in pedagogy and need to be distinguished. There are three of them:
- The means of visualization are the ways in which the teacher demonstrates to students the object of knowledge. This includes observing nature, looking at pictures in a textbook, showing films or experiences, and even spontaneous drawing on a blackboard.
- Visual aid is a narrower term, which is understood as a planar or three-dimensional display of the studied objects, created for pedagogical purposes. These can be tables, diagrams, models, dummies, filmstrips, didactic cards, etc.
- The principle of visualization refers to the special organization of the educational process, when specific sensory objects serve as the basis for the formation of abstract representations.
Functions Performed
Visibility is a learning principle that allows you to:
- recreate the essence of the phenomenon and its relationship, proving the theoretical position;
- activate analyzers and mental processes associated with perception, which forms the empirical basis for subsequent analytical activity;
- increase interest in the material being studied;
- to form a visual and auditory culture in children;
- receive feedback from students in the form of questions on which it becomes clear the movement of their thoughts.
Research history
Visualization in teaching has been used since ancient times, but it began to study its theoretical foundations only in the 17th century. The Czech teacher Comenius J. A. considered sensory cognition the “golden rule” in learning. Without it, the development of the mind is impossible; a child memorizes material without understanding it. It is very important to use different senses so that children perceive the world in all its diversity.
Pestalozzi attached great importance to visualization. According to him, in the classroom, children should perform a certain sequence of exercises to observe surrounding objects and, on this basis, learn about reality. J. Rousseau proposed to educate the child in nature, so that he could directly see the phenomena occurring in her.
A profound psychological justification for visual methods was given by Ushinsky. In his opinion, the benefits used are a tool that activates the child’s thinking and contributes to the formation of a sensual image. It is especially important to use visibility at the initial stages of training, since thanks to this, children develop analytical skills, improve oral speech, and more material is remembered.
Classification
The visibility that is used in the teaching of various subjects has its own characteristics. Nevertheless, in pedagogy there are generalized classifications.
So, Ilyina T. A. distinguishes the following types of visibility:
- Natural objects that are found in objective reality (for example, living plants when studying biology or a vase as a nature in a drawing lesson).
- Experimental visualization (demonstration of experiments, conducting experiments).
- Volumetric allowances (models, models, geometric bodies, etc.).
- Visual clarity (photographs, drawings).
- Sound materials (audio recordings).
- Symbolic and graphic objects (diagrams, posters, tables, maps, formulas, graphs).
- Internal visibility (images that students should present based on vivid descriptions of the teacher or from their own experience).
In modern conditions, two more types of benefits can be distinguished: screen (filmstrips, films, educational cartoons) and computer. With their help, you can see the processes in dynamics, receive information through two channels at once (visual and auditory). Computer technology allows you to enter into dialogue with the program, check how much the material is understood, get additional explanations if the student has difficulties.
Application requirements
The principle of visualization has always been and will remain leading in pedagogy. In order for it to benefit students, a number of requirements must be observed:
- Everything that can be known through sensory sensations should be provided to students for research using various analyzers (vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell).
- The amount of benefits should not be excessive, otherwise children's attention is scattered.
- The visibility used is intended to solve the problems of the lesson, to help students identify the essential features of the studied object. This is a means, not an end.
- The manuals should be used not only to illustrate the teacher’s story, but also as a source of independently acquired knowledge. The creation of problematic situations is encouraged when schoolchildren are involved in research activities and independently identify patterns.
- The older the children, the more often symbolic visibility is used in the lessons.
- It is important to find the right time and place for the application of certain manuals, to rationally combine visual and verbal methods.
Zankov's research
The psychologist L.V. Zankov considered it necessary to rely on the senses when building the training system. In his opinion, this provides the necessary connection between theoretical knowledge and reality. He considered the use of visualization in the classroom and its combination with verbal teaching methods.
As a result, the following options were identified:
- Schoolchildren under the supervision of a teacher conduct observation and, based on it, draw conclusions about the properties of objects and their relationships.
- The teacher organizes the observation, and then helps the children independently understand those connections that cannot be seen or touched.
- The teacher presents the material, confirming or illustrating his words with the help of visualization.
- First, an observation is made, and then the teacher summarizes the data obtained, explains the hidden causes of the phenomenon, draws conclusions.
Self-made benefits
Many types of visibility - posters, drawings, handouts, diagrams, tables, slides, models, etc. can be made by the children themselves. Such work allows you to more deeply absorb the material, creatively recycle it. Making visual aids can become homework or turn into a research project.
First, children study the material, then transform it in accordance with their own capabilities. At this stage, you can make several sketches, then to choose the best. It is important to create an atmosphere of cooperation in the classroom, when all work is carried out at ease and you can turn to an adult for help at any time. Finished manuals are demonstrated and defended in front of the entire class, and then used in educational activities.
Visibility is the foundation for the formation of abstract thinking, but you must treat it consciously. Otherwise, you can take your students aside, forgetting about the real goal and replacing it with a bright means.