Training over a 6-month period in which a moderately retarded 10-year-old was asked to direct his attention to simulus properties on a visual level resulted in significant improvement in concept development, social comprehension, and understanding of instructions. (CL)

Discussion of visual literacy, visual cognition, visual thinking and learning, and visual knowledge focuses on women and gender differences. Topics addressed include educational equality and the visual, including equality versus difference; women and mass culture; difference and the design of visual instruction; and feminist education and the…

Description of ways in which computers might be used to teach visual concepts discusses hypermedia systems; describes computer-generated tutorials; explains the use of computers to create learning aids such as concept maps, feature spaces, and structural models; and gives examples of visual concept teaching in medical education. (10 references)…

This paper is simultaneously a test and refinement of the E-Z Reader model and an exploration of the interrelationship between visual and language processing and eye-movements in reading. Our modeling indicates that the assumption that words in text are processed serially by skilled readers is a viable and attractive hypothesis, as it accounts not…

This article describes a representation for percent that can help students deepen their understanding of the proportional nature of percent in its applications. (Contains 4 figures.)

Visual images within social studies textbooks need to be actively "read" by students. Drawing on literature from cultural studies, this article suggests three instructional conditions for teaching students to read visual texts. Agency implies that readers have the (1) authority, (2) opportunity and capacity, and (3) community for engaging in the…

The Program of Systematic Evaluation (PSE), which began as an attempt to explore the instructional dimensions of multimedia, has evolved into the most comprehensive set of experimental multimedia studies exploring the varied dimensions of cognitive load theory as they relate to the design of effective and efficient visual learning environments for…

Those who focus on the study of visual information continue to search for effective ways to conceptualize that inquiry. However, many visual examples are better categorized as visual/verbal collaboration, complicating analysis. When analysis is based on the assumption that visual and verbal modalities perform in similar ways, important…

Arguing that a well designed graphical display can function as a memory store, this article suggests three principles for the design and use of computer graphics: parsimony, accessibility, and reflection. It is suggested that "progressive graphics" are particularly suited to computer implementation. (Author/MBR)

This paper gives an overview of the Inspiration Software, a package that is designed to facilitate the construction and use of concept maps in the classroom. The first section discusses concept mapping, defined as any graphic production that is constructed specifically to represent knowledge. The following basic functions of Inspiration are then…

Presents an approach for improving verbal development by using organized slide shows to produce visual/verbal interaction in classroom. Suggests strength of visual involvement is that it provides a procedure for language discovery while achieving cooperation between right and left brain processing. (Author/BK)

An experimental program is described that teaches hearing parents to develop communication skills in young deaf children. Emphasis is on the increased use of visual information including attentiveness to the child's visual cues, appropriate use of natural gestures, and incorporation of visual analogs to intonation and rhythm in simultaneous…

Describes two hours in the life of an eight-year-old to demonstrate that children acquire information and develop language skills from multiple sources. Argues that the conceptualization of literacy must be broadened from reading and writing skills to a definition that recognizes the layering of information and that includes all forms of the…

Offers a framework for faculty and planners of distance learning programs to understand the impact of visuals and constructivist methods in distance learning and to guide effective practice and decision-making. Topics include interaction; constructivist learning, including active learning and authentic learning; authentic student assessment; and…

Simple discriminations are involved in many functional skills; additionally, they are components of conditional discriminations (identity and arbitrary matching-to-sample), which are involved in a wide array of other important performances. Many individuals with severe disabilities have difficulty acquiring simple discriminations with standard…