This study investigated the position of illustrations and how they affect the sequential organization of text. The primary purpose was to describe learners' reading sequence and preference for page designs with variations of illustration placement. The 70 subjects were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in education courses at Memphis…

The effectiveness of elaborate visual cueing and reduced step size (i.e., increasing the number of visual cues) in facilitating student achievement on different instructional tasks was examined. The hypothesis proposed that instructional treatments utilizing reduced step size and elaborate visual cueing alone and in combination would be superior…

Traditionally, illustrations used in instruction have been concrete in nature with the learning outcome not always considered in the design of the illustrations. This study investigated whether concrete or abstract illustrations were more effective for supporting acquisition of abstract concepts in print media when evaluated by immediate and…

Reviews study conducted at the University of Utrecht (Holland) that compared retention of information provided by three different methods: (1) audiotape and slides, (2) tape alone, and (3) slides alone. Posttests are described, and results are analyzed and discussed in terms of the understanding of memory of an illustrated text. (20 references)…

This study investigated the effects of (1) verbal instruction alone vs. verbal instruction complemented by simple line drawings; (2) visual testing vs. nonvisual testing; (3) verbal cueing vs. free recall on achievement; and (4) order of testing on subsequent achievement. Interactions among type of instruction, type of testing, and order of…

A study tested two alternative theories about the relation of color and visual learning: that realistic color serves to facilitate retention of instructional material and that all color functions only as a coding device which facilitates storage and retrieval of information. It also tried to discern an interaction between learner IQ and color…

This study of the effectiveness of electronic blackboards in three introductory sociology classes at the University of Regina tested the hypothesis that this microcomputer-based presentational technology would have a negative impact on faculty productivity due to the increased amount of preparation time, and a positive impact on the quality of…

There is substantial evidence that prose-relevant pictures contribute to increased recall of prose materials, particularly if the subjects are young children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of prose-relevant pictures to immediate and delayed recall of written prose including science content when the subjects were…

The impact on learning performance of a notetaking strategy called the Directed Overt Activity Strategy (DOA) was evaluated on three types of instructional tasks: spatial learning, simple concept learning, and complex concept learning. One hundred volunteer freshman psychology students from Ohio State University used either the DOA or their own…

The purpose of several studies was to examine the effects that differentially coded (black and white or color) illustrations had on students who were classified as field independent, field neutral, and field dependent on tests measuring different educational objectives. The effects of visual and verbal test formats were also examined. In general,…

This investigation of the use of white space in print-based, computer-generated text focused on the point at which the white space interferes with reading speed and comprehension. It was hypothesized that reading speed and comprehension would be significantly greater when text was wrapped tightly around the graphic than when it had one-half inch…

During 12 years of investigation, data were obtained from 2,500 high school students and 10,000 college students concerning the effect of specific types of visualizations in producing optimum levels of achievement. The studies considered such qualities of illustrations as: realism, color, relation to oral presentations, relation to educational…