Seeing the unseen: Comparison study of representation approaches for biochemical processes in education

PLoS One. 2023 Nov 6;18(11):e0293592. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293592. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The representations of biochemical processes must balance visual portrayals with descriptive content to be an effective learning tool. To determine what type of representation is the most suitable for education, we designed five different representations of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis and examined how they are perceived. Our representations consisted of an overview of the process in a detailed and abstract illustrative format, continuous video formats with and without narration, and a combined illustrative overview with dynamic components. The five representations were evaluated by non-experts who were randomly assigned one of them and experts who viewed and compared all five representations. Subsequently, we conducted a focus group on the outcomes of these evaluations, which gave insight into possible explanations of our results, where the non-experts preferred the detailed static representation and found the narrated video least helpful, in contradiction to the experts who favored the narrated video the most.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biochemical Phenomena*
  • Educational Status
  • Learning*

Grants and funding

We would like to thank to Czech Science Foundation Vis4Schools: Fostering Information 1006 Visualization Literacy in Schools project No. 22-06357L for funding this project.