Argues that reading instruction should be understood as an integrated instructional program simultaneously juxtaposing learning styles, modality dependencies, and visual literacies. Argues, too, that teaching the "basics" of reading includes mastery of the fundamentals, involvement leading to verbal interaction, critical reading, and synthesis…

Discusses importance of the ability to visualize images evoked by the written word in the development of children's skills in both reading and creative writing. Specific skills involved are noted, examples from picture books are given, and 48 picture books that would be useful to developing such skills are listed. (EM)

Children at the preoperational and concrete operational levels are influenced by a variety of perceptual cues other than subject matter when classifying paintings. While younger children had little difficulty in classifying paintings done in three stylistic categories, older children were able to perform this task with significantly greater…

Children must learn to discriminate among the visual stimuli they experience and to recognize the existence of a visual language. Learning activities to help young children develop a sense of visual literacy are suggested. (PP)

Four-, six- and eight-year-old children from an Evanston, Illinois school were the subjects for three experiments designed to evaluate the effects of color, complexity, movement, and incongruity on children's visual attention. Computer generated displays were used to: (1) assess developmental trends among the three age groups, (2) test a novel…

Twenty children, aged 7-12, with severe visual impairments completed a series of visual tasks requiring interpretation, analysis, manipulation, and visual motor coordination. Findings are discussed in terms of total performance, individual task performance, performance of younger versus older children, and performance of good versus poor readers.…

Forty students, grades 4 and 8, were given match-to-sample tests on Western art, to gauge their ability to recognize paintings by the same artist. Eighth-graders performed reliably better than fourth-graders, and their matching justifications were more advanced. Prior artistic experiences improved style sensitivity. (SJL)