A pharmacy student reads five pages on the coagulation cascade, understands every sentence and still cannot answer: “Without factor VIII, which step is blocked?” So she tries something else. She closes the book, takes a blank sheet and redraws the cascade as boxes and arrows. Halfway through she stops, unsure where one arrow should point. That exact spot is where the exam question sits.
That is the real value of drawing to learn: not prettier notes, but being forced to decide things that text lets you skip. This article covers dual coding, how to pick the right visual for each kind of knowledge, and how to tell visuals that teach from visuals that decorate.
Dual coding: two routes to the same memory
The basic idea of dual coding is that people process verbal and visual information through partly separate channels. When content is stored in both forms, say a description and a matching diagram, you have two routes to retrieve it. Lose one and the other remains.
The key condition is that the visual must carry the same content as the words. A nice photograph next to a paragraph does not create dual coding; a diagram that shows the very relationships the paragraph describes does.
Why drawing it yourself beats looking at a figure
Looking at a textbook diagram feels like understanding because every decision has already been made for you. When you draw, you have to choose:
- which components deserve a place and which to leave out;
- what comes first, what comes after, what sits inside what;
- which way each arrow points, and whether it means “causes”, “turns into” or “inhibits”.
Every choice is a comprehension check. Where you hesitate while drawing is where your understanding is thin, and you find out immediately rather than in the exam.
Match the visual to the kind of knowledge
| Relationship in the content | Suitable visual | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sequence, steps | Flowchart, arrows between boxes | Accounting cycle, phases of cell division |
| Multi-level cause and effect | Causal chain, fishbone diagram | Causes of inflation, biochemical pathways |
| Classification, hierarchy | Tree diagram | Biological taxonomy, types of contract |
| Change over time | Timeline | Stages of child development, history of a field |
| Several items compared on several criteria | Matrix table | Research methods, drug classes |
| Relationship between two quantities | Hand-sketched graph | Supply and demand, dose–response |
| Network of concepts | Concept map with labelled links | Core ideas of a course |
The wrong type is still better than no drawing, but the right type lets the picture reveal the structure of the knowledge. Draw radiating mind maps for a comparison-heavy subject and you will miss precisely the differences that matter.
Concept maps: write the relationship on the arrow
A familiar mind map branches from a central topic, linking keywords with plain lines. It gathers ideas but rarely forces thought. A concept map differs in one small, important way: every arrow carries a linking phrase such as “is a type of”, “increases”, “requires” or “leads to”.
Writing the linking phrase is when you discover you only knew two ideas were “related” without knowing how. A good concept map reads as sentences: “Rising interest rates lower the price of existing bonds.”
Example: one passage, three levels of drawing
Take a microeconomics passage: “When the price of imported coffee beans rises, café costs rise, the supply of brewed coffee falls, retail prices go up and quantity bought drops; some consumers switch to tea.”
- Level one, copied keywords: “bean price – costs – supply – price – tea”. No relationship is shown.
- Level two, an arrow chain: input price up → costs up → supply down → price up → quantity down. The sequence is there, but the branch to tea is missing.
- Level three, two sketched graphs: the coffee supply curve shifts left and the equilibrium price rises; beside it, the demand curve for tea shifts right. Now you must decide which curve moves and in which direction, which is exactly what exam questions probe.
When a visual is just decoration
- Colour with no convention. If pink means definitions today and examples tomorrow, colour carries no information.
- Illustrations by mood. A light bulb next to the word “idea” helps you remember no particular idea.
- More time on layout than on thinking. A messy ten-minute sketch usually beats an hour-long page of beautiful notes.
- Copying figures from the book. You keep the shape, not the structure.
In practice: draw, check, redraw
- Read a structured passage (a process, a mechanism, a cluster of concepts) without looking at the textbook figure.
- Close the book and draw it using the suitable visual from the table. Where unsure, put a question mark instead of guessing.
- Open the book and check against the text and original figure. Correct in a different colour.
- Two days later, redraw from memory on a fresh sheet. Compare with your corrected version.
- Talk through the diagram: use it as scaffolding to explain the whole process in full sentences.
Step five is where the two channels meet: you have a picture and words for the same content, and each checks the other.
A note for tablet users
Drawing with a stylus works as well as paper, as long as you draw rather than drag in ready-made shapes. Watch the time spent choosing colours, fonts and layouts; the more features an app has, the easier it is for a study session to turn into a design session.
Pick the process you find hardest in your courses this week. Without opening the book, draw it on a blank sheet in ten minutes. Every question mark you had to leave is tonight’s study list.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
What is dual coding?
It is the idea that information stored in both verbal and visual form is easier to remember and retrieve than information in one form. In practice it means pairing text with diagrams, timelines or graphs that genuinely represent the same content.
Can I use drawing to learn if I cannot draw?
Yes. Study diagrams need only boxes, arrows, axes and a few simple symbols. The value lies in deciding what connects to what, not in the quality of the lines.
What is the difference between a mind map and a concept map?
A mind map branches out from a central topic and usually leaves relationships unstated. A concept map links ideas with labelled arrows such as “causes” or “is a type of”, which forces more careful thinking.
Is copying diagrams from the textbook as good as drawing my own?
Far less effective. Copying preserves the look; drawing from memory or from a text passage forces you to rebuild the structure. Draw first, then open the textbook figure to check.
Does colour-coding notes help memory?
Only if colours carry a consistent meaning, for example red always for causes and blue always for effects. Colouring to make notes look nicer takes time without helping memory.
