A PICTURE PROVOKES A THOUSAND THOUGHTS. ARE THEY ALL RIGHT?
Pericles Akrivos, Dimitra Tsolaki, Stella Gkouzou
Pages: 325-335
Published: 20 Oct 2023
DOI: 10.62991/EA1996162663
Views: 425
Downloads: 67
Abstract: Cave illustrations from the prehistoric period used to tell stories of hunting and of rituals and even today provide us with a satisfactory view of how our ancestors lived many centuries ago. In this sense, illustrations in books help to make the content more easily understood whether the content is a fiction story or a scientific textbook. In scientific textbooks especially, pictorial representations are used widely in order to clarify relationships between measurable quantities and even between observables and more abstract ideas. However, pictures and diagrams are not free from misinterpretations and/or oversimplifications, therefore provoking a series of thoughts which can create or maintain logical deductions not strictly true within the scientific realm studied. It is therefore, not straightforward and always true that a picture has an equivalent of thousand words and may be used accordingly. In Chemistry textbooks we have identified several cases where pictorial representations may give rise to misconceptions which could and should be avoided. In most of the cases discussed there is a way to overcome such effects with low cost and high applicability amendments, a few of which are proposed in the text.
Keywords: chemistry textbook, diagrams, pictorial representations, misconceptions
Cite this article: Pericles Akrivos, Dimitra Tsolaki, Stella Gkouzou. A PICTURE PROVOKES A THOUSAND THOUGHTS. ARE THEY ALL RIGHT?. Journal of International Scientific Publications: Educational Alternatives 21, 325-335 (2023). https://doi.org/10.62991/EA1996162663
Back to the contents of the volume
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This permission does not cover any third party copyrighted material which may appear in the work requested.
Disclaimer: The Publisher and/or the editor(s) are not responsible for the statements, opinions, and data contained in any published works. These are solely the views of the individual author(s) and contributor(s). The Publisher and/or the editor(s) disclaim any liability for injury to individuals or property arising from the ideas, methods, instructions, or products mentioned in the content.