Why does Sketchnoting work? Exploring Dual Coding

Rachel Burnham writes: As I am spending more and more time Sketchnoting and introducing other people to Sketchnoting, I thought it would be useful to explore why I think it is such an effective tool, both when learning and in the workplace more widely. Sketchnoting involves combining words and simple pictures for making personal notes, thinking things through and communicating ideas. In a number of my previous blogs I have shared how Sketchnoting can be used to aid learning and studying.  I think one of the reasons it is a useful tool both for learning and thinking is that it makes use of Dual Coding.

Dual Coding Theory is the idea that when we take in material that is made up of both verbal (written or spoken) information and visuals (drawings, diagrams, photos), these are each separately coded within our brains, but form linked memories.  This means that when we come to recall the material, we have two sets of retrieval clues to draw upon – we might remember the words or the visuals – perhaps a picture or a diagram, the colour, the layout on the page and from this recall the fuller memory of the words and visuals. (You may be interested in theThe Learning Scientists Podcast on this subject.)

We know that our working memory is limited, so this is a great advantage to successful coding information to be stored in long term memory, which means that it is very useful for improving learning effectiveness. ‘According to dual coding theory, if the same information is properly offered to you in two different ways, it enables you to access more working memory capacity.’  (Caviglioli O, 2019 p20).

Allan Paivio developed Dual Coding Theory and wrote about it in several publications over a life time of studying memory, cognition and imagery.   His first major publication on this subject was ‘Imagery and Verbal Processes’ in 1971 and he continued to write and study it throughout his career as a Professor of Psychology at the University of Western Ontario.   (Intriguingly, he had early success as a bodybuilder and was a former Mr Canada.)  Dual coding has been extensively studied over the years and is supported by a body of research studies (for example Mayer, R E and Sims V K 1994).

I want to clearly distinguish the approach of dual coding theory from learning styles.   Learning styles theories, of which there are many approaches, are often interpreted to suggest that individuals have learning preferences, including for learning visually and that it is more effective to match the method of learning to someone’s learning preference.  However, the evidence from research does not support that matching the modality of method of learning to an individual’s learning preference leads to more effective learning. (Coffield et al 2004, Lee S 2017)

Instead, dual coding theory provides evidence that everyone can benefit from the effective use of visuals alongside verbal communication when learning. 

It is important to focus on the effective use of visuals, rather than just include any visuals.  We know for example that using visuals just as decorative features, can lead to cognitive overload and be a distraction to effective learning.  If I had chosen to illustrate this blog with a picture of Paivio in his bodybuilding days, this would have been an example of a particularly distracting use of a visual.  However, where visuals are used to aid explanation, through showing relationships, interpreting material and organising information and concepts they can be immensely powerful (Colvin Clark R and Kwinn A, 2007).  When we involve learners themselves in creating visuals, as happens with Sketchnoting, then we get really powerful learning, as learners create visuals to make sense of what they are learning. 

One limitation from the some of the studies of dual coding is that they often focus on learning applications where the material to be learned are in the context of language learning or relatively simple concepts. However, another aspect of Paivio’s work on dual coding is about how these two types of information – verbal and visual are taken in and this has led to another concept which is the idea of ‘The Visual Argument’ which has many application for more complex learning.  I want to explore this in another blog in this series.

Dual coding has applications to many aspects of effective learning aside from Sketchnoting.  We can make use of it throughout the design of both resources and learning programmes to make them more effective.   It deserves to be better known and used amongst L&D professionals in general.  However, it is at the core of why Sketchnoting works and why Sketchnoting is a great tool to support effective learning.

Rachel Burnham 

12 January 2021

Caviglionli, Oliver (2019) ‘Dual Coding with Teachers’ John Catt Educational

(Coffield, F et al (2004) ‘Learning Styles and Pedagogy in post – 16 learning: A systematic and critical review’ Learning and Skills Learning Research Centre

Colvin Clark, Ruth and Kwinn, Ann (2007) ‘The New Virtual Classroom’ Pfeiffer

Lee, S. (2017) ‘Raising EFL Learners' Awareness of L2 Lexical Errors and Correct Usage: A Dual Coding Approach’  English Teaching, 72(2), 29-50

Mayer, R E and Sims V K (1994) ‘For Whom is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Extensions of a Dual-Coding Theory of Multi-media Learning’ in Journal of Educational Psychology 86(3) 389-401

 (This blog article was first posted on L&D Matters earlier this month)