Learner-information interaction: A macro-level framework characterizing visual cognitive tools

Visual cognitive tools (VCTs) are external mental aids that maintain and display visual representations (VRs) of information (i.e., structures, objects, concepts, ideas, and problems). VCTs allow learners to operate upon the VRs to perform epistemic (i.e., reasoning and knowledge-based) activities. In VCTs, the mechanism by which learners operate upon the VRs to reason and learn is interaction. Frameworks play an important role in how interactive tools are analyzed and designed. As such, this article presents a framework (A2C2) that characterizes the macro-level categories of VCTs according to the manner in which learner-information interaction takes place in these tools. The A2C2 framework divides the analysis and design space of VCTs into four categories: access-based, annotation-based, construction-based, and combination-based. Each category represents an overall structure within which learners operate upon information. Different existing VCTs are used as examples to demonstrate the application and utility of the framework.