Abstract
Developing graphical literacy is a common struggle in undergraduate learning, making it a "bottleneck" in the language of Decoding the Disciplines (Pace, 2017). Decoding is a method to enhance student learning that utilizes introspection to make expert's implicit knowledge and mental processes explicit for students. Using a tool employed by cognitive psychologists, namely eye-tracking, we are exploring ways of uncovering experts' mental processes that move beyond introspection. In the present study, we examined eye movement patterns between professors (considered to be most adept at graph reading in an academic setting) and students. Participants viewed four graph types (bar, scatterplot, histogram, and factorial line) and verbally described the graphs while an eye tracker recorded eye movements. Performance of verbal description was measured. Both professors and students made fewer fixations and had more consistent scan paths in graph types with the highest verbal description scores. Though professors were better overall at describing graphs, both groups performed worst in describing factorial line graphs, and differences in eye movements between groups emerged for this graph type. Professors had longer dwell times and made more fixations to regions unique to the graph type and informative for interpretation. These data suggest that novice and expert graph readers have similar eye movements for most graph types, but patterns diverge with more computationally demanding graphs. These results complement related work in Decoding the Disciplines and may help instructors develop new strategies for teaching students how to interpret graphs.
Bibliographic data
Robbins, A., Pelnar, H., & Cameron, E.L. (2019, August). Similarities and differences in eye movements between professors and students during graph reading. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 2019, Vol 12, Issue 7, p385
