Examines how students use geographical maps in history and social studies textbooks for comprehension purposes. Reports training 32 eleventh graders to use maps as aids in their comprehension of information. Finds a positive impact upon comprehension and learning of the original training passage. (MG)

The influence on learning of visuals accompanying self-paced text materials was investigated for students of varied reading comprehension ability levels. The use of varied degrees of realism and media presentation formats in facilitating learning on specific tasks was examined in order to clarify previous research, and to provide specific…

Visual representations of the main ideas of information text (frames) help middle-grade students learn from reading. A study investigated frame development by middle-grade teachers. Twenty-seven teachers worked alone and collaboratively to frame experimental passages that had been selected from content area textbooks in social studies and science.…

Sixty hearing-impaired students, aged 12-22, studied one of four instructional formats describing basic science concepts. Comprehension gains were measured using a pretest-posttest procedure. Formats which featured highly pictorial content and simplified English produced significantly higher mean gain scores than formats with less pictorial…

Information transfer techniques in the teaching of reading and listening in foreign language and English as a second language classrooms are discussed. Students may be presented with a written or spoken text and provided incomplete visual stimuli to be completed with information drawn from the text. The idea is that the learners are helped in…