Understanding the clip thinking for the benefit of the educational process

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National Technical University of Ukraine "Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute"

Understanding the clip thinking for the benefit of the educational process

Nazarenko Iryna Mykolaivna lecturer of the English Language Department of Technical Direction № 1

Abstract

The article raises the issue of clip thinking among students in modern educational process and the importance of understanding this phenomenon by educators. The article deals with the problem of clip thinking as a particular way of thinking developed among children, teenagers and young adults. The study describes the circumstances under which this way of thinking was developed; the key features of this phenomenon are analyzed. It is pointed out that clip thinking, characterized by the reduced level of concentration, leads to attention deficit disorder, prolonged difficulty focusing on a lecture, procrastination, difficulty to focus on one topic for a long time, inability to develop deep understanding and make strong logical connections etc. Some positive and negative features of such way of thinking are analyzed. Among positive features is the ability to look through a big amount of information quickly, whereas the information perceived is rather simplified. Particular instructional strategies to be applied in an educational system today are discussed, namely it is pointed out that it is better to vary activities in such a way, that students could switch from quick overview to detailed analysis. The study points out some basic aspects to be taken into consideration while teaching present-day students, who mainly belong to the category of young adults with clip thinking. Among them are “attention grabbers” - techniques to generate interest and hold the students' attention, using multimodal presentations, graphics, schemes, holding active discussions, debates, round tables, brainstorming techniques etc. Overall, it is necessary to change types of activities and involve different visual aids, as well as have more complicated tasks that require thorough preparation and extensive reading. The need for developing more complicated, creative assignments that would require longer preparation time, involving extensive reading or literature overview is highlighted.

Keywords: Clip thinking, teaching techniques, educational process, attention, perception, short-term memory, reduced level of concentration.

Анотація

Назаренко Ірина Миколаївна викладач кафедри англійської мови № 1, Національний технічний університет України "Київський політехнічний інститут імені Ігоря Сікорського"

РОЗУМІННЯ ПОНЯТТЯ “КЛІКОВЕ МИСЛЕННЯ” ЗАДЛЯ БІЛЬШОЇ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ НАВЧАЛЬНОГО ПРОЦЕСУ

У статті піднімається питання кліпового мислення серед студентів у сучасному навчальному процесі, а також важливості розуміння цього явища викладачами. В роботі зазначається, що клікове мислення є певним способом мислення, розвиненим у дітей, підлітків та молодих людей через стрімкий розвиток комп'ютерних та інтернет технологій. В роботі розглядаються підстави для виникнення цього виду мислення, а також розглядаються основні риси цього явища. Зазначається, що кліпове мислення характеризується зменшеним рівнем концентрації, призводить до синдрому дефіциту уваги, має наслідком проблему фокусуватись під час лекції, сприяє прокрастинації, викликає складнощі фокусуватись на одній задачі тривалий час, а також має наслідком поверхневе сприйняття інформації і нездатність робити логічні зв'язки. Аналізуються деякі позитивні і негативні сторони цього виду мислення. Серед позитивних виділяється здатність переглядати велику кількість матеріалу досить швидко, в той час, як інформація, яка сприймається носить спрощений, поверхневий характер. Наводяться певні стратегії подання матеріалу, які варто застосовувати в навчальному процесі. Зокрема підкреслюється доцільність варіювання статегій і видів діяльності таким чином, щоб студенти могли переключатись від швидкого ознайомлення з матеріалом на його детальний аналіз. У статті розглядаються основні аспекти, які необхідно враховувати під час навчання студентів з таким видом мислення. Серед них техніки для звернення уваги студентів та стимулювання їх інтересу, а також утримання уваги, використовуючи мультимодальні презентації, графіки, схеми, проведення дискусій, дебатів, круглих столів, мозкових штурмів і т.д. Підкреслюється важливість розробки більш складних, креативних завдань, які би потребували більше часу на підготовку, в тому числі завдання, що передбачають екстенсивне читання та аналіз літератури.

Ключові слова: Кліпове мислення, навчальні прийоми, освітній процес, увага, сприйняття, короткочасна память, зменшений рівень концентації.

The main aspects of the problem

The rapid pace of life and the increasing amount of information that literally descends upon individuals are the root causes of clip thinking. Such kind of thinking is formed under the influence of modern computer technologies, the Internet, social media etc. Briefly speaking, text messages, vivid visual aids, and a heavy emphasis on images and videos define the emergence of an intellectual-psychological reliance on digital devices, where the lines between the actual and virtual worlds are blurred. Because of this, students experience fast tiredness, procrastination, have problems focusing. In addition to this, clip thinking results in attention deficit disorder, loss of interest in learning new things, and a decline in one's capacity for creativity, which is aided by continual usage of secondary-level information processing. Moreover, it causes disarray in goals and behavior, a contradictory way of thinking and living, inconsistent choices and ways to address the challenges, and even a reduced accountability for the results of personal activity. Due to “clip” thinking, students experience difficulties working with content of a certain length, unable to work with semiotic structures of any complexity, unable to concentrate on any one piece of information for an extended period, and have a diminished capacity for analysis and synthesis.

Furthermore, the long-lasting periods of distant learning, that are practiced today at Ukrainian universities only augmented the reliance of students on various gadgets and contributed to clip thinking development. Traditional classrooms without dependence on technology are quite rare. Therefore, while teaching present- day students, teachers need to be aware of this issue, consider the possible behavioral peculiarities of students and apply necessary techniques to reduce the negative influence of such thinking in the classroom. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyze various aspects of “clip thinking” in order to enhance the efficacy of the learning process in general and in teaching foreign languages in particular as well as to spread better understanding of this relatively new notion.

Research overview

A number of researchers have paid attention to this problem from various perspectives, including Berezneva, I., Pasichnyk O. (in the context of teaching foreign languages), Kornuta, O. (in search for effective ways of teaching students-economists), Pasichnyk I. D., Kalamazh R. et al., (from the perspective of psychology), Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K., Barrannik C. & Chekha K. (from point of view of a medical science) and many others. The research analysis proves that the topic remains actual. clip thinking educational strategy

Research core material

The word “clip” initially was assigned to creating video clips, where several pictures replace each other at a fast pace. The notion originated in the 1990s, described by the American futurologist Alvin Toffler as a “blip culture”. It was mentioned as a general information culture of people who keep changing channels while watching TV. Because of such activity, a person develops a way of thinking, which contains just some shredding of images, impressions and small chunks of information. The peculiarity of such way of thinking is that it does not require the involvement of imagination, reflection or awareness. This occurs because there is a continuous information update. The consequence of having changing images in front of one's eyes is a habit of operating the images of fixed lengths and the difficulty dealing with structures of other complexity. The external outcome can be seen as the inability of a person to concentrate for a long time and the reduced ability to analyze. (Pasichnyk I. D., Kalamazh R. et al., 2015, 262).

As digital technologies have advanced, young people are consuming more and more content. The flow of information is vast and uncontrollable, making it challenging to choose information and acquire a critical attitude toward it. In order to save time, present-day student intentionally obstruct information flows, and while doing so they are trained to ignore them rather than notice them. They are distinguished by skimming content and focusing their attention on attentiongrabbing headlines and visuals. They are every good at dealing with the information flow, and what sets them apart is their optimal level of proximity to information, which they are adept at using.

The following conditions were noted in 2010 by culturologist K. Frumkin as necessary for the development of the new generation of “clip”:

large amounts of externally sourced information;

the need to process this information quickly;

the diversity of data;

the necessity of doing multiple tasks concurrently;

the expansion of social media platforms for communication.

The result of all of this is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the data that is taken in and processed.

The majority of researchers agree that clip thinking represents a completely new level of human awareness. Its appearance is a result of science and technology developing at a rapid rate. It should be mentioned, though, that scientists have difficulty identifying the level of such thinking as the question arises how to measure it. For now, we can measure it using other thinking categories. It is also not exactly clear whether it is a way of thinking or perception.

A number of scientists from various fields of knowledge have drawn their attention to this issue over the last years. Pasychnik Olena dealt with the issue of integration of the “clip thinking” phenomenon into the learning process. The scientist states that such thinking can worsen the process of identifying main and secondary aspects while reading long technical texts, text retelling, can badly influence students' abilities to produce monologue speech as well as the mastering of some grammatical structures. The author points out that a new cognitive reality emerges that is marked by associativity, visuality, emotionality, and a high rate of image replication on the one hand, but also by hyperactivity, low sustained attention, shallow perception of this information, and speech minimalism on the other (Pasichnyk O., 2023).

There is no common denominator on the question: which higher mental process this phenomenon belongs to: attention, perception, thinking, memory and consciousness, or is it some internal function of short-term memory, which does not hold information for long or unconscious and understanding sends it to the brain. (Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K. et al., 2018:113).

Psychologists mention the following levels at which “clip” thinking is formed: (quoted by Pasichnyk O., 2023)

Cognitive level: information is processed, filtered, dissipated, and only pertinent external data is absorbed;

emotional-voluntary: when the attention is focused on the information, which elicits particular feelings and emotions (both positive and negative), affects mood;

values level: information that has personal or sociocultural value;

behavioral: information contains methods, means and results of some actions and leads to a particular behavior. (Pasichnyk O., 2023, p.84).

In their study of “clip thinking” in physicians-interns, a group of scientists (Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K., Barrannik C. & Chekha K.) list the following negative aspects of it:

simplification of information, because this form of thinking does not involve deep perception;

tendency to change the context;

reduced ability to focus on one type of activity for a long time;

decreased capacity to construct long logical chains;

increased chances to fall under external influence and be subjected to manipulation;

reduced sense of guilt and responsibility. (Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K. et al., 2018).

Experts explain these problems from a medical point of view by the fact that people cannot quickly perform actions according to the plan: “attention - perception thinking - memory - imagination - reproduction”. They also mention that with clip thinking central nervous system acts using a shortened scheme: “attention - short-term memory”. Consequently, such thinking styles, as “concept - judgement reasoning - conclusion” are not formed, when information is received as a form of images, fragments or short texts (Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K. et al., 2018).

Therefore, the above-mentioned scientists note that if there is no thinking, then there are problems with the reproduction of information. In order to save and reproduce information, it is necessary that the long-term memory is activated. When information is perceived in the form of clips, long-term memory is not activated, which suppresses the mental process.

Psychologists prove that the acquisition of concepts is not a simple knowledge transfer. Forming a concept is a complex process that depends on past experience, existing knowledge, activities carried out in the process of assimilation, the system of mental (logical) operations with which it occurs. The process involves analysis, comparison, and synthesis, finding interconnections between the matters, abstraction, generalization, induction and deduction.

American psychologist Bruner J. stated that mastering a notion by a person is a chain of processes - classification, comparison and generalization of the features of the objects and highlighting the most important ones. So, the process of conceptualization consists of the content (essential features) of the concept, its volume, the essential links and relations of this concept with other concepts of the system. Mastering the concept also involves mastering the ability to operate it in solving various tasks of a cognitive nature.

Until now, the provisions of Vygotsky remain actual (Pasichnyk I. D., Kalamazh R. et al., 2015, p.166) on the main indicators of mental activity in the learning process, and in particular in the process of mastering scientific concepts. These are such indicators as the degree of generalization, abstractedness of concepts and the extent of their inclusion in the system. The higher is the level of mental development, the better relationships between different concepts are established.

In light of the above mentioned, one of the main problems of clip thinking is the absence of context. Context serves as the foundation for the understanding of an aspect. It allows involving strong cognitive connections in students' minds and make interconnections. (Pasichnyk I. D., Kalamazh R. et al., 2015, 158). Vygotsky thought that the genuine notion is not only the variety of its features but the enrichment of ideas about it, which arises as a result of the introduction of this object in the system of relationships with other phenomena. The concept can be presented in a ready-made form or by means of discoveries, that is, heuristically. Formation of concepts is the process of gradual transition from the absorption of external, individual, specific and often non-essential characteristics and relationships to the knowledge and assimilation of general, essential features and properties, relationships and relations that characterize scientific concepts (Vygotsky, L., 2012).

The longer the text, the more complicated the context is. Therefore, here we face the situation, when such activity as reading long texts or understanding long audio texts even in the native language is an extremely difficult type of work for students with clip thinking. When dealing with such texts in a foreign language, the matters get worse.

Another aspect is if a person is not interested, receiving information in a “clip” form, he/she will most likely perceive it as a collection of distinct provisions, will not determine the relationships between them. This knowledge is unlikely to be integrated into the existing system of concepts of a given person. The more abstract the concept, the harder it is to rely on the material that can be shown, the more you have to use the narrative of facts that can help the absorption of abstract concepts, providing additional clear knowledge of the features of the object, its qualities and properties.

Summarizing all mentioned above, we can state that, on one hand, it is advised to accept this phenomenon as a given value, as an inevitable truth of today and use its advantages. Among them are the ability to switch quickly from one task to another, which allows you to build learning and working processes in multi-task environments, hence the rapidity of the younger generation's response to any changes, high degree of adaptability and rapid adoption of innovations in the field of information technology.

Some researchers recommend using visual aids, schemes, pictures, presentations on various platforms (ThingLink, for photos and pictures; Visme - a platform for making presentations, animation and banners, infographics etc.; Easel.Ly - for creating infographics) (Berezneva, I., 2021). Others offer to involve the use of infographics for teaching foreign language, dividing the work into two parts. (Pasichnyk O., 2023). One part is to be made by a teacher, presenting the systematized information and the other on is to be made by students themselves as a group work. The researcher highlights the efficacy of individual students' works in making visual aids, as they have to analyze the knowledge in detail and summarize before putting it on a slide.

Other researchers (Kornuta, O. et al., 2017) use slideshows with numerous slides to organize and break up the content during lectures. They applied bright colors, consistently throughout the slideshow. Schemes and graphics were frequently used to highlight logical links between alternatives. During lectures, teachers used brainstorming, debates, forums, round tables, and other methods to get every student involved in conversation (Kornuta, O. et al., 2017).

Conclusions. In light of the above mentioned, applying attention-grabbers with greater force seems to be the need for data simplification. We believe that it is preferable to form student's analytical and conceptual thinking in combination with clip thinking. This means that some assignments have to contain complex, creative tasks, which would require thorough analysis for later representation. A balanced approach, varying bright representations and more extensive forms of work, that would involve logical reasoning, would contribute to forming better cognitive connections and could benefit the educational process.

References

1. Berezneva, I. (2021) Deyaki aspekty vikorystannia metodu visualizatsii pid chas vykladannia inozemnoi movy v vijskovomu vnz. [Some aspects of using visualization methods while teaching foreign language at a military University]. Aktualni problemy humanitarnyh nauk. - Actual issues of humanitarian sciences, 35, 203-208. [in Ukrainian]

2. Kornuta, O., Pryhorovska, T., & Potiomkina, N. (2017). Clip thinking and clip perception: Teaching methods aspect. [Klipove myslennia I klikove spryinnatia: Aspect navchalnyh metodiv.] Electronic edition “Open educational E-environment of a modern university”, (3), 75-79.

3. Pasichnyk O. (2023). Ways of integrating clip thinking phenomenon into the process of foreign language teaching in higher education institutions. Teaching languages at higher educational establishments at the present stage. Intersubject relations. 42, pp. 81-93.

4. Pasichnyk I. D., Kalamazh R. V., Matlasevych O. V., Nikitchuk U. I., Shuhai M. A., Hilman A. Yu., & Dovhaliuk T. A. (2015). Psykholohiya myslennya. Ostroh: Vydavnytstvo Natsional'noho univer sytetu «Ostroz'ka akademiya».

5. Yekhalov V., Mizyakina K., Barrannik C. & Chekha K. (2018) Clinical and mosaic thinking in intern doctors specialized in diseases of the nervous system. [Klinichne I klipove myslennia u likariv interniv spetsializatsii nervovi hvoroby] Aktualni problem suchasnoi medytsyny: Visnyk ukrainskoi medychnoi stomatologichnoi akademii. №4 (64). [in Ukrainian].

6. Vygotsky, L. (2012). Thought and Language. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England.

Література

1. Березнева, I. (2021) Деякі аспекти використання методу візуалізації під час викладання іноземної мови в військовому ВНЗ. Актуальні проблеми гуманітарних наук. Aktualniproblemy humanitarnyh nauk. - Actual issues of humanitarian sciences, 35, 203-208. [in Ukrainian]

2. Kornuta, O., Pryhorovska, T., & Potiomkina, N. (2017). Clip thinking and clip perception: Teaching methods aspect]. Electronic edition “Open educational E-environment of a modern university”, (3), 75-79.

3. Пасічник O. (2023). Шляхи інтергації феномену кліпового мислення в процес навчання іноземної мови у ЗВО. Викладання мов у вищих навчальних закладах освіти на сучасному етапі. Міжпредметні зв 'язки. 42, pp. 81-93.

4. Пасічник I., Каламаж Р., Матласевич O., Нікітчук У., та ін. (2015). Психологія мислення. Острог: Видавництво Національного університету «Острозька академія». - 560 стор.

5. Єхалов В., Мізякіна К., Бараннік С., Чеха К. (2018) Клінічне та "кліпове" мислення у лікарів-інтернів за фахом "нервові хвороби" // Актуальні проблеми сучасної медицини: Вісник української медичної стоматологічної академії. 2018. №4 (64).

6. Vygotsky, L. (2012). Thought and Language. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England.

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