An investigation of the role of graphical design and student characteristics in scientific reasoning with weather maps

Research shows that students often have difficulties in reasoning with graphical representations, especially when tasks involve the exploration of patterns and relations in the data. This highlights the need to investigate the factors that are involved in students' interpretation of graphical representations so as to understand how to best support their interaction with these learning tools.; This study investigated the effects of graphical design on how college students (N = 45) reasoned with weather maps during two complex integration tasks. These tasks are typical in contexts where experts and students study weather phenomena, as they required participants to examine relations and patterns in weather factors by viewing several maps. The effects of two different types of maps were compared using a witheen-subjects experimental design. One set of maps (the integrated maps) enabled participants to physically combine into one display data that were originally provided in separate maps. The other set of maps (the nonintegrated maps) allowed viewers to extract information about only one weather factor at a time. Data on the participants' prior knowledge in atmospheric science and visuospatial ability were also collected to examine the effects of the two map types in relation to these individual differences.; Data analysis showed that, overall, integrated maps were not more effective than nonintegrated maps, however, the effects of these maps were moderated by viewers' individual differences in prior knowledge and visuospatial ability. Specifically, the integrated maps benefited students with relatively high prior knowledge in meteorology and students with low visuospatial ability but had no effects on low prior knowledge or high visuospatial ability students. Also, high-knowledge tended to perform better than low-knowledge students with both types of maps.; The findings of the study offer suggestions for how educators can address the needs and difficulties of students who differ in their subject-matter knowledge and visuospatial ability when graphics are used in science instruction.