The Promise and Perils of Alternative Forms of Data Representation

This article addresses the potential strengths and weaknesses of alternative forms of data representation. As educational researchers become increasingly interested in the relationship between form of representation and form of understanding, new representational forms are being used to cońvey to "readers" what has been learned. These explorations are rooted in an expanding conception of the nature of knowledge and the relationship between what one knows and how it is represented. While new forms of representation have their potential virtues, they also have their limitations. The uses and limitations of these new methods are addressed in what follows.