A Commonsense View and Its Problems

Abstract

We introduce some commonsense notions of visualization for two reasons. First, we establish some basic ideas and vocabulary by looking at everyday examples of visualization in learning. Second, we establish a baseline for the sort of activities and objects that are the main focus of this book. Let us begin by conceiving of a visualization object as any object that a student observes to assist in the learning or understanding of some topic of educational importance. A visualization object could be a picture , a schematic diagram, a computer simulation, or a video. The student who uses the visualization object we will say is visualizing. The student who uses visual imagery in the absence of visualization object s we will say is introspectively visualizing. These terms will undergo refinement as the book proceeds, but these general notions will be sufficient to introduce our main themes.