Document Type : Original Research Paper
Authors
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The present age is called the age of communication and the most prominent symbol of that is the media. Today, educators, especially teachers, strive to use a variety of media to improve teaching and learning so that they can provide students with most information in an effective way in the shortest possible time. In many domestic and foreign studies, infographics have been introduced as one of the most effective media in the field of education and researchers in many studies have found that infographics can improve academic performance in normal students and facilitate learning in students with disabilities. In this study, we try to examine the effect of using an infographic in the learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model on the level of motivation, learning, and retention in the fifth grade of the social studies course. This research is practical in terms of purpose.
Methods: This study was quasi-experimental in terms of research method, using pre-test and post-test design with separate experimental and control groups. The sample was comprised of 30 fifth-grade students randomly divided into two groups of 15, i.e., the control group and the experimental group. Researcher-made tests as that were used as the main methodological instruments administered for eliciting data in this study were validated by the comments of the experts in this field, the educational technology professors, and the thesis supervisor. Moreover, the Cronbach alpha and scholars’ assessment methods were employed to measure the reliability of multiple choice tests and open-ended question types, respectively. In addition, to analyze the data collected in the study, both descriptive statistics (that is, mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) and inferential statistics (that is, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, T test, Analysis of Covariance( were used by applying the SPSS software.
Findings: The results of this study revealed that the amount of learning and retention of the students who were trained with the help of an infographic in the learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model was statistically significant as compared to that of those students who have not used infographics in the social studies course (p<0.05). But with respect to motivation, since P = 0.87 and F = 0.02, no significant difference was observed between the two groups and the hypothesis was not confirmed (P> 0.05).
Conclusion: An effective education is one that can attract the attention of students and keep them involved and active in the learning process. Infographics are tools that provide information in the forms of both text and image, enabling learners to use their full capacity for cognition which actually leads to more and better teaching-learning. An infographic is the visualization of information or ideas that convey complex information to the audience in a way that is too fast and easily comprehensible and, therefore, easily retrievable. Since infographics simplify difficult materials, they are very helpful in learning and memorizing complex and difficult lessons. In the teaching method with infographics in a learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model, conditions are provided for the learners to be involved in education and actively build knowledge and be able to visualize complex and difficult content in a simple, concise, and structured way in their minds.
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©2022 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.
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