An example of this is in figure 4. To understand the ocean as a carbon store and source, Sevenoaks IB students used to watch a YouTube video clip, be asked to take notes, and then these slides were presented as a summary set of notes for students to cross reference against their own. Suffice to say, students’ own notes, and level of understanding, were not optimal as they were struggling to take in the video and make notes at the same time. Now, this lesson has been developed with a diagram drawn from scratch, step by step, with verbal explanations provided, in front of the students on the whiteboard. Figure 5 displays an example of how students have drawn this diagram themselves, adding their own annotations from the verbal explanations. This revolutionised student understanding of this tricky concept.
Conclusion
Teaching using diagrams is an exceptionally effective technique due to the underlying cognitive benefits and the ability to make abstract concepts understandable for students. Teachers should try to pre-plan diagrams and draw them step-by-step, in front of students, alongside verbal explanations, for the greatest benefit. Even if not used during the main teaching phase, diagrams can be useful to use during revision and retrieval activities as they can make students think harder about concepts presented, and interlinkages between concepts leading to stronger retrieval and learning.
Figure 4- An old, ineffective, text based strategy used to teach Sevenoaks IB students ocean carbon cycle concepts.
Figure 5- An example of student work utilising a scaffolded diagram.
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