EYE TRACKING IN EDUCATION
Abstract
Relevance: Eye tracking, understood as a method for recording eye movements, gaze fixations, and selected oculomotor parameters, is now widely recognized as an important tool for investigating visual attention and cognitive processing. This article outlines the development of the method from pioneering studies of reading and visual perception to its contemporary interdisciplinary applications. Particular attention is paid to the use of eye tracking in education, especially in research on learning from text, images, and multimedia materials, in studies of expertise, and in the diagnosis of students’ cognitive difficulties. A brief section was devoted to presenting selected works by the interdisciplinary Cognitive Didactics Research Group, established by the author at the Pedagogical University of Kraków.
Purpose: to analyze the development of eye tracking as a method for studying eye movements and to determine its significance and potential applications in educational research, particularly for investigating the cognitive processes of pupils and students.
Methods: theoretical analysis of scientific sources on eye-tracking issues, generalization of contemporary studies in the field of education, and presentation of the results of empirical studies conducted by the Research Group on Cognitive Didactics, which applied oculography, electroencephalography, heart rate variability analysis, and other non-invasive methods.
Results: it was found that eye tracking is an effective tool for investigating visual attention, cognitive strategies, and information-processing methods during learning. The method makes it possible to analyze how students read texts, interpret graphs, images, video materials, and solve tasks. Differences between expert and novice strategies were identified, as well as the possibility of diagnosing cognitive difficulties and the перспективність of using eye tracking for designing effective learning materials and supporting the educational process.
Conclusions: eye tracking occupies an important place among modern methods for researching educational and cognitive processes, as it allows the study not only of learning outcomes but also of the course of thinking activity. Combining eye tracking with other diagnostic methods contributes to a deeper understanding of learning processes and opens broad prospects for improving pedagogical practice and educational theory.
Keywords
ай-трекінг, освіта, нейродидактика, окулографія
Author Biography
Władysław Błasiak
Władysław Błasiak, PhD, DSc, Professor at the Paweł Włodkowic University in Płock. His research interests include science education, didactics of physics, neurodidactics, and eye-tracking studies in education.
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