While concept mapping is widely recognized as an effective active learning strategy, it is still underutilized in higher education. The current literature in SoTL demonstrates the utility of concept maps but the means by which the learning benefits are realized are not well explored. This study focuses on two first-year anatomy and physiology…

The automaticity level and attention priority/strategy are two major theories that have attempted to explain the mechanism underlying the Stroop effect. Training is an effective way to manipulate the experience with the two dimensions (ink color and color word) in the Stroop task. In order to distinguish the above two factors (the automaticity or…

Three computer based experiments, testing human participants in a non-immersive virtual watermaze task, used a blocking design to assess whether two sets of geometric cues would compete in a manner described by associative models of learning. In stage 1, participants were required to discriminate between visually distinct platforms. In stage 2,…

Visual working memory (WM) is traditionally considered a robust form of visual representation that survives changes in object motion, observer's position, and other visual transients. This article presents data that are inconsistent with the traditional view. We show that memory sensitivity is dramatically influenced by small variations in the…

In 3 experiments, 9-month-old infants' expectations for what distinct count noun labels refer to were investigated. In Experiment 1, a box was opened to reveal 2 objects inside during familiarization: either 2 identical objects or 2 different objects. Test trials followed the same procedure, except before the box was opened, the contents were…

Discusses activities that can help teachers of toddlers to design environments that stimulate and facilitate children's exploration, discovery, and understanding of color beyond the traditional boundaries of sight. Suggests that by incorporating other senses, teachers offer to the older toddlers rich multi-sensory experiences that can nurture and…

Presents an activity in which students investigate the chemistry behind color-changing markers. Includes the objectives, materials, procedures, and follow-up for the activities. (DDR)

Presents information about the chemistry of color-changing markers. Discusses the importance of acid-base reactions and oxidation-reduction chemistry. (DDR)

A long-term study was conducted to test the effectiveness of visual thinking networking (VTN), a new generation of knowledge representation strategies with 56 ninth grade earth science students. The recent findings about the brain's organization and processing conceptually ground VTN as a new cognitive tool used by learners when making their…

Colour is a common feature in computer-aided learning (CAL), though the instructional effects of screen colour are not well understood. This investigation considers the effects of different CAL study tasks with feedback on posttest performance and on posttest memory of the lesson colour scheme. Graduate students (n=68) completed a computer-based…

Reviews color research and considers its implications for the design of instructional materials. Topics include physiological and psychological effects; color and learning, including attention, search tasks, retention and other objective measures, and non-objective measures; color and the cathode ray tube (CRT); and further research needs.…

This study examines the effect of formal representation of blue and yellow color mixtures as rational numbers on students' ability to solve ratio problems comparing the mixtures. Sixty subjects participated, 20 from each of grades 7, 8, and 9 from a Haifa (Israel) junior high school. Introducing the formal representation improved performance for…

Recent research indicates that Americans are reading less than they have in the past, as black-and-white text competes with more visually exciting media, such as the Internet, movies, and television. As a solution to this problem, the author proposes that books and instructional materials engage readers visually through the use of color and…

Discussion of the use of nonexamples as an effective strategy in teaching concepts focuses on a study of college students that explored the use of common errors to teach the procedure for color correction of color transparencies. Treatments for the experimental and control groups are described, and further research needs are indicated. (Author/LRW)