The Impact of Visual Elements in Pedagogical Texts – An Investigation of Economics and Engineering Students

The aim of the study is to identify the degree of impact of visual elements of educational materials, such as infographics, highlights in the text, images, as well as ‘emotional background’ of graphic and textual components. It focuses on the impact on cognitive processes (information analysis) and on learning outcomes (quality of case solutions) for students of economics and engineering. The experimental study involved 82 first-year economics and engineering majors. These were divided by random sampling into teams of 5-7 persons. The study consisted of two main phases: active and reflexive. In the active phase, students were asked to complete a case study on environmental topics, and in the reflexive phase they answered questions concerning their case study work. Specially designed case assignments included both emotionally neutral and emotionally intense descriptions of the same environmental situations, accompanied by various visual elements. The results showed that visual elements, such as highlighting key phrases in bold, dramatising images and manipulating the scale of graphs, significantly influenced students' conclusions and elicited an emotional response from them. Emotionally colored presentations pushed students towards prohibitions, whereas neutrally colored case solutions were characterised by constructive and differentiated suggestions for preventing the effects of an environmental disaster-color The use of emotionally charged visual elements had a greater impact on engineering students than on economics students. The obtained conclusions allowed us to formulate practical recommendations for teachers and methodologists. These were aimed at improving the efficiency of the educational process by becoming aware of the heightened responsibility that comes with visual rhetoric. Figurative presentations should be accompanied by textual ones, and case-study learning should be grounded in reality to counteract virtualization through visualization. The conclusion emphasises the importance of a careful development and moderation of teaching materials, as well as the need to develop critical thinking in students throughout the learning process.