Download MAPS – NON-VERBAL (VISUAL) METHODS FOR INFORMATION

The Annals of Valahia University of Târgovişte, Geographical Series, Tome 9 / 2009
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MAPS – NON-VERBAL (VISUAL) METHODS FOR INFORMATION
COMMUNICATION IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY
Roxana CUCULICI1, Gheorghe KUCSICSA1, Sorina PÎRVU2
1
Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Bucharest
2
“Ion Mareş” School, Vulcana-Băi, Dâmboviţa County
Abstract. When you define communication, most speakers think of “bringing to knowledge”, “giving
the news or “informing”. Communication approached as a communication process is based on four
fundamental components: broadcaster, channel, information and receiver. This basic model should be
extended because the communication never ends with a simple reception of information. The
theoretical elements of visual communication are included in the vast area of communication and
nowadays it has become more active in our lives as visual images in various aspects of visual
communication. Visual sensations are seen as a result of the electromagnetic waves on visual
analyzers. The student’s geographical approaches would be very difficult to achieve without the use of
the intuitive means of teaching and learning such as maps. The maps are mainly used to locate
different geographical objects (relief forms, hydrographical features, continents, countries, human
settlements etc.) by students during geography lessons. The paper is aiming to present the role of
maps as tools used both by teachers and students to obtain information, to enable analysis,
distribution, evolution, dynamics and characteristics of phenomena, facing accurate methods of work
and developing the spirit of technical and artistic mapping, in schools in order to supplement
knowledge for life.
Key words: non-verbal methods, maps, didactic communication
To the vast majority of us, communication is the same as “making something
known” or transmitting information. Communication is a fundamental dimension of the
human existence and development from the earliest times. Nowadays, to communicate, to
inform and to be informed is a meaningful trait of for each and every one of us.
Communication has been regarded as a fundamental element of the human existence ever
since Antiquity.
Indeed, it is the etymology of the word itself that suggests it; the very word
communication comes from Latin – communis – which means to reach an agreement, to
correlate, even if the word was used by the ancient people with the meaning of to transmit to
others, to share.
All the definitions that have been granted to this word, no matter the philosophical
schools to which they might pertain, or the orientation to which they might subscribe, have at
least the following common aspects: communication is the process for information, ideas,
opinions transmittance, wither from one individual to another, from one group to another; no
activity of any type, from the most mundane tasks which we must deal with on a daily basis,
to the complex activities unfolding within organizations, societies, cultures, cannot be
conceived outside the borders of the communication process.
In the most general of ways, one may speak of communication every time a system,
and, respectively a source influences another system… (Osgood, 1978, 89).
The word “communication” has a vast meaning, since it engulfs all the means for
one spirit to influence another. Evidently, this does not include the written and spoken
language alone, as well as … all of the human components (Shannon, 2006, 323).
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Communication, seen as a communication process (information transfer) is defined
by four fundamental components: information emitter, transmission channel, the information
in itself and the receiver of the transmitted information.
In itself, the role communication plays is that of ensuring the relationship emitterreceiver within the communication process, thus realizing the transfer of information as well.
The simplest of diagrams for the communication process was put forward by Karl
Buhler, in his Die Sprachteorie (fig.1)
MESSAGE
RECEIVER
EMITTER
FEED-BACK
Fig. 1. The communication diagram
No activity whatsoever, from the most mundane daily activities to the most complex
activities unfolding within organizations, societies or cultures cannot be conceived outside of
the communication process (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. The process of communication
The modern era is the apex of communication. The technical and scientific progress
has favoured the invention of the telegraph, the telephone, the train, the automobile,
intensifying the communication among individuals, communities, and cultures. Today, we are
the product of a civilization: the civilization of communication.
Nowadays, in this are of communication visual elements are also included as the role
of images and of visual perception becomes more evident in all aspects. The visual sensations
are, in effect, the result on the impact electromagnetic waves have on the visual analysis. The
main activity of the pupil/student is learning, and learning is conducted by communicating.
The connection between the two processes cannot be undone. The pupil/student
learns by communicating with the teacher and with his colleagues, and, by learning, he
communicates with them. The teacher teaches them by communicating with them, and the
students communicate back whether what the teacher has reached his purpose.
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There is no learning act of the student that does not involve communicating: with the
teacher, through his physical or symbolic presence, with different generations and with others
through its cognitive contents, with his fellows through social behavior, with himself through
the reflection on his own self.
The didactic communication seen as a model for communication abilities formation
of students in the elementary education system is the centerpiece in the educational
intercession, given the fact that preparing the children for permanent self-informing is the
responsibility of the school.
The formation and development of communication abilities means extrapolating the
linguistic knowledge to actual communication situations (Crişan, 2000, 21) and underlies al
didactic intervention (Cucoş, 2008, 68).
Educational or didactic communication
Is the type of communication which enables the attainment of the educational
phenomenon as a whole, notwithstanding the contents, forms and partners involved. As a selfstanding form, the didactic communication entails the circulation of predetermined contents
specific to the systematic learning activity and is the base of formal education, of the
assimilation-transmitting process of knowledge, within an institutionalized environment,
namely the 21st century School, between partners with pre-determined status-roles: teachersstudents, a dynamic relational phenomenon, complex and transactional, through which a
meaning is conveyed via a verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal ways, having a certain delivery
capacity.
The didactic communication is the one type which sustains the systematic process of
learning, has a pronounced explicative side to it, and is structured on the principles of didactic
logics, as the teacher has an active role in the relationship by selecting, organizing and
customizing the transmitted contents. He also benefits from authority and can exploit the
human potential (the class) depending on the formal content given by the syllabi, textbooks
etc.
It is clear that the design of the didactic communication engulfs, as with the human
communication, the following elements:
- the emitter (source) – is any one member of the group, organization, which has
information, ideas, intentions. He phrases the message, chooses the language, the receiver, the
addressee and the means of communication, has the most important role in the initiation of the
communication process, but cannot fully control the said process.
- the receiver (addressee) – is any one member of the group, organization to which
the message is addressed. The receiver is no less important within a communication process
that the emitter. Thus, the status of the receiver is equal to that of the emitter in the
communication situation. Receiving messages is not an automatic task, nor is it inferior to that
of emitting them. It is just that the task is different: receiving, instead of emitting. In reality,
listening is just as important as speaking, reading or writing.
- the message is the symbol, or the multitude of symbols transmitted by the emitter to
the receiver. It is the physical expression (oral, written, gesticulatory etc.) in which the emitter
codifies his information. It can involve a variety of meanings. It is also true that the subtle part
of the message is understood in the same way the intentions and feelings of the emitter are.
Boredom, the discrepancies often perceived in the messages of others do not reflect
reality, but one’s interpretations of the situations marked by the sensitivity and preconceived
ideas or states of mind in a given context. And the status of the emitter can influence the
message’s meaning.
- the background or the context is an adjacent component. However, it can greatly
influence the quality of the communication situation. It refers to the space, time, psychic state,
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temperatures, visual images that can draw attention, cause interruptions, confusions; it also
refers to all the exterior factors which can influence the act of communication;
- the communication channels are the routes via which messages are transmitted.
Depending on their degree of formalization, they can be official or formal,
overlapping the group or organizational relations, and carry information between the
hierarchical levels while referring to the social status of the participants in those particular
social relations.
The efficiency of the communication depends on the manner of functioning of these
channels, on the arrival of frequent blockages in certain points indicates the necessity of
revising the positions or investigating the climate, the interpersonal relationships.
Another type is the unofficial or informal channels which are generated by the
informal organization which is constituted on additional communication ways that allow the
messages to penetrate the official channels. Breeching the barriers that have to do with
hierarchy and status, the network of informal channels can circulate information much faster
than the formal ones; they can develop and even influence the elements having to do with the
status of the communicating parties. An efficient communication process involves taking into
consideration both cannel categories, knowing they way they work and their advantages or
disadvantages in order to know how to use and control them.
The communication means are the technical support of the process and influence the
speed, accuracy and cost of communication. There are a variety of means available: face to
face discussions, telephone talk, letters/memoirs, written documents, numbered documents,
voice-mail, e-mail, telex, fax, combining video and audio equipment for televised
conferences, computer and video networks, as well as closed-circuit television. The
technologies involved in communication are intensely marked by the alert rhythm of change.
In terms of didactic communication, encoded information is being transmitted on a
verbal level, and is represented by that specific amount of information transmitted using the
written or spoken word, using para-verbal means – elements which accompany the word
(rhythm, accent, speech flow, speed, speech intensity, intonation, graphic elements etc.), as
well as nonverbal information – information transmitted and encoded in a series of specific
channels which refer to posture, movement, gestures, facial expressions, stance and distance
between the partners.
Nonverbal communication
Is the amount of cumulated messages which are not expressed by words and which
can be decoded, thus creating meanings. These signs can repeat, complete, contradict, replace
or accentuate the massage transmitted through words. Literature does not mention just one
definition for nonverbal communication, but many more, and all of them are accepted. It all
depends on the point of view from which the process involving nonlinguistic sign circulation
is regarded.
The importance of nonverbal communication has been proven in 1967 by Albert
Mehrabian. Following a study, he reached the conclusion that only 5% of the message is
transmitted through verbal communication, while 38% through voice and 55% through body
language.
Modern theories concerning communication influenced by subject as different as
phrasing linguistics, psychology, sociology, anthropology ensure, today, the place of
nonverbal communication, based on hypotheses of multiple channels for human
communication.
Human communication is seen as a mass of words which result from the combination
of vocal and visual elements. Verbal and nonverbal messages contain a certain amount of
information with its own meaning which can be perceived, understood and evaluated in a
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conclusive manner only within the interaction between an emitting source and an addressee.
The more diverse and complex the teaching materials, the more efficient and stable the
process of learning.
Within the teaching-learning process, for different subjects (history, geography,
biology, geology etc.) the map has become a tool increasingly more used since it has iconic
features and a graphic not framed verbally (even though it engulfs elements of written
communication), and we consider it to be a nonverbal means of conveying contents in the
process of teaching.
The map was and will be the valid basis for all geographical descriptions according
to Simion Mehedinţi, the great Romanian geographer. The modern means of communication
have not been able to exclude the map, as an instrument of work, from the process of learning
geography. Experience has taught us that students and pupils find it hard to assimilate
information only through intuitive means, without tracing them or positioning them in relation
to other objects or phenomena.
The employment of maps entails an analysis and an appreciation of the map’s
particularities, of the content and form elements. To analyze a map is to study each element
separately in a specific order of presentation of the map’s elements, starting with the
mathematical ones and making its way up to content and formation and editing elements.
The map is used in the process of learning, but not only as an instrument that helps to
pinpoint and exact location, as well as to represent more clearly, through the graphic method,
the inter-dependence of elements and phenomena, since it is only the text pertaining to the
specialized literature that is opaque to the student, and not the image.
At the same time, the map can highlight the links between the elements of the
geographic environment (relief, climate, hydrographic network, vegetation, fauna etc.) and
enables an analysis of the characteristics and dynamics of the phenomena’s evolution.
In the analysis of the mathematical phenomena the following stand out: the type of
maps, the cartographic projection (the point of the lines of zero deformation, the areas with
maximum deformation, the type of deformations, the density of the cartographic network, the
parallel lines and the meridians), the elements of the map’s graded frame, the density of the
geodesic basis (support point), the ellipsoidal form used as a reference point, the origin of the
rectangular coordinating axes, the scale of the map (the graphic scale, the numeric scale), the
height and depth scale (its values and their significance, the maximum and minimal altitude
and represented on the heights scale, the colours used in representing relief levels on the
altitude scale), the relation between the elements (the value of lengths and surfaces out in the
field compared to those on the map etc.).
These elements lend the didactic material a general importance. From the point of
view of the thought process as the main psychic process involved in the analysis, certain
amounts of information are circulated and transformed in terms of shape and content, which
ensures the psychic ability of judging (denying or reinforcing a comparison), of comparing,
analyzing, abstracting, generalizing, directly or indirectly understanding, meaning
establishing certain relations between the pattern found in memory, obtained through past
processing which will be brought up to date so as to perceive, during the present, the new
information.
If the pupil/student performs an analysis of making and editing a map, then one must
insist on the title of the map, on its relevance to the content of the map and on the legend. The
following are highlighted: the precision and the clarity of the explanation provided for each
sign, the correspondence between the signs in the legend and those on the map field, the
freshness of the data used in order to make up the map, the written names of the content
elements.
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At this level of analysis one can identify the elements represented in the legend
through conventional signs (lines, dots, surfaces), in groups or separately, both natural (relief
forms and units, hydrographic units, plant and animal associations, soils etc) or anthropic
elements (populations, settlements, industrial or touring landmarks, crops, communication
networks etc.).
It is also at this level that the student has available information regarding the quality
and quantity characteristics of the elements represented in the legend.
The information resulting from such an analysis refer to the representation of
hydrographic units, of relief forms, of the associations between the vegetal elements present
there, the settlements displayed and their functions, the communication network, the limits
between the administrative units, the differences between them, the elements that can not be
found in the legend, who edits the map, when, and who the author is.
The analysis of content elements is different depending on the type of map. In
general maps, seven groups of content elements are analyzed (flowing bodies of water/the
hydrographic network, relief, soil, and vegetation, human settlements, communication
networks, cultural and economic particularities, political and administrative particularities)
employing the conventional sign used for each element and the particularities highlighted
through these graphic symbols. In thematic maps the geographical basis of the map is
analyzed, one element at a time. Highlighting its role, the special content of the map, what it
stands for, the graphic means employed in using it etc. This time, the object of the analysis is
made up of the visible elements identifiable on the map, seen as being part of the map.
The analysis might be represented by a simple process of identification, with the help
of the visual analyzer, of a conventional symbol from the legend of the map, followed by he
decoding of the conventional sign’s meaning by reading the work associated with it, then
identifying, with the help of the visual analyzer as well, within the frame of the map, the
places where that sign can be seen. The information is then transformed from a symbolic
representation into a verbal one, expressed through spoken or written words. Needless to say
that this process is much more complex in reality, since it is at this level that other processes
unfold, such as representation, memory, motivation, will etc.
At this level of analysis one can identify the characteristics of the represented
elements (density, direction, position, size etc.), the topographic relations between the
represented elements as simple links between objects (the vicinity, the positions related to
other elements of the map), the comparison between the elements represented on the map (of
the different characteristics of the elements of interest which stand out form the content), the
characterization of a region’s/place’s/area’s structure on a map – for example which are the
land regions situated amongst bodies of water , which are the units that make up the area up
for characterization, how the analyzed surfaces are placed on the level of the entire region.
When appreciating the map, one must take into account the purpose of the map and
of the analysis conducted, and the conclusions resulted will highlight the richness of the of the
map’s contents, its current aspect, the correlation between the contents and the geographic
reality, the precision and quality of the drawing, the adequate utility of the set purpose.
In the course of analyzing elements of a complementary characterization information
is processed regarding the maps and the complementary graphics, the texts and the tables
within the frame of the map. The information resulting from such an analysis refers to the
complementary maps, and their scale, as well as the content elements that provide the
differences or the similarities between them and the map in itself. We are talking about
second degree information, completing information that helps with the process of thought
being functional and efficient.
The analysis of the map has also, as a purpose, its general aspect: affective charge,
expressivity, legibility, esthetics, (this information entails the analysis of the number of
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elements, or even their overlapping in a certain area on the map, the way of representing
colours - via shades, nuances, touchlines – the relation between them etc.) these factors
influence, first of all, the perception, since it regards information concerning the form of the
material, and not its content.
Through the process of analysis, on the level of thinking of each student resulted
information is being circulated via the simple operations of the mind (meaning the operations
involving analysis displayed above), and, by interpreting, an amount of information is
circulated which refers to superior transformations such as interpreting the contents of the
map.
Interpreting the content of the map is a mental process which follows the analysis of
visible elements identified on the map that, in turn, entail cognitive processes of a superior
level, including conducting rationalization processes based on prior knowledge, on
information taken from other sources (textbooks, teachers, classmates etc.).
Interpreting a map means deciphering and understanding the reality of a territory or
phenomenon with the help of graphic means used to represent elements on the map which
entails:
- establishing the characteristics regarding quality and quantity of the objects and
phenomena represented;
- explaining the identified characteristics;
- establishing the significance of the objects and phenomena represented;
- identifying the relations between the objects and the phenomena represented on the
map (e.g. cause-effect relations);
- explaining the relations between and the inter-dependence of elements by
conducting rational thinking;
- explaining the distribution of objects and phenomena in the physical space;
- explaining the regional contrasts, the thresholds and limits
- conducting suppositions, establishing a hypothesis;
- formulating a conclusion based on the particularities of the territory or of the
phenomena represented on the map;
- conducting measurements on the map.
Such information can be grouped into categories. One of these categories is that of
information, of explaining the conditions in which the components of a geographical structure
were formed, the conditions necessary in order to form surfaces, what the effects of the
formation of certain elements on the map are, the external factors that have led to a certain
evolution of specific elements on the map etc.
Another category of information explains the relations between the objects and the
phenomena displayed on the map (cause-effect relations, static or dynamic relations etc.),
between the elements making up the environment, and between the processes and the
phenomena. They can be established thus:
- the type of relation, the causes and their consequences;
- the relations between the geographical positioning, climate, vegetation, fauna and
soil;
- the relation between the appearance of an industrial center and the riches found in
the soil;
- the relation between the development of the industry and the population of a city;
- the relation between the relief units and the hydrographic units;
- the influence of hydrographic units over the development of the vegetation;
- the influence of vegetation on hydrographic units;
- the influence of hydrographic units on the development of soils;
- the influence of vegetation in the development of soils (dynamic relations);
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- the influence of soils in the development of vegetation (dynamic relations);
- the relations between vegetation and fauna? (food relations);
- the relations between water and soils (dynamic relations);
- the relations between the human society and the natural components; etc.
It is performed, also on an interpretational level, the establishment of significances
assigned to objects and phenomena represented on maps by conducting rationalizing
processes, comparisons, generalizations and abstractions.
Formulating hypotheses (suppositions) is done based on rationalizing, anticipating in
order to explain the existence of objects and phenomena identified on the map, explaining and
understanding the significance of the element as well as that of its relationship with another
element. Also at this level one can identify the consequences of the relations between the said
elements.
When interpreting, one can even identify and explain regional contrasts from
different areas on the globe using a map, as well as the differences between these regions, the
elements and identifying and existing ensembles of relief units represented on the map.
During the learning sequence the students will be able to compare the elements
identified on the map with the information obtained from textbooks or other documents
(maps, texts, graphics) and with the field, with reality and to identify the thresholds and the
characteristic limits (the isotherms or isobars which correspond to extreme or mean
temperatures, to pressures etc.). The vocation or the talent of each of the geography teachers
is exactly that of succeeding in teaching the student how to read these nonverbal messages,
how to untangle these visual messages that the map offers. It is what most of us call reading
the map, when, instead, everything is reduced to the process of nonverbal communication
initiated by the teacher for the student. In this case, the information is transmitted visually and
nonverbally, from the map to the student. The perception and understanding of the
information received pertains to the indications and to the experience transmitted by the
professor in the teaching process.
Conclusions
Communication has the role of connecting people in the environment in which they
evolve. In the process of learning, nonverbal communication (visual) done with the aid of
maps, has the role pf transmitting and realizing the following:
- the increase of one’s ability to focus and reinforcing visual memory;
- meta-communication (meaning beyond words) and intra-communication (the
communication done by each individual within himself);
- the process of communication has an irreversible character, in the sense that once a
message is conveyed, it cannot be stopped on its way to the addressee;
- understanding more promptly the connections existing between the elements of the
geographic environment and of the phenomena involved in the processes;
- achieving a better connection between individuals or between groups of individuals
(pupils/students) by stimulating teamwork on common topics.
References
Abric J.C., (1999), Psychologie de la communication, Armand Colin, Paris
Crisan A, (2000), Ghidul profesorului, cl. a V-a, Proiect didactic, Bucureşti
Cucoş, C., (2008), Psihologia educatiei, Editura Polirom, Bucureşti
Ionescu M., (2000), Demersuri creative în predare şi învăţare, Editura Polirom, Bucureşti
Osgood, Ch.E., (1978), A vocabulary for Talking about Communication, Penguin Books
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Shannon C. E., Warren W., (2006), Analele Asociaţiei Americane a Geografilor, New York
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