Noting that past local media coverage of environmental topics, including those dealing with radiation topics, has often been superficial, a study assessed press coverage of the radon problem in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania during the first nine months of 1985. The study explored whether local media coverage of radon--a colorless,…

THIS RESEARCH INVOLVED THE SELECTION OF TWO EXTANT TEACHING FILMS, DEVELOPMENT OF TESTS ON THEIR CONTENT, REVISION OF THE FILMS, AND A COMPARISON OF THE TWO VERSIONS. THE FILMS SELECTED WERE "WHY FOODS SPOIL" AND "ATOMS AND MOLECULES." THE SUBJECTS CONSISTED OF STUDENTS IN SMALL TOWN SCHOOLS FROM 5TH TO 12TH GRADES.…

EXPERIMENTS WERE DEVISED TO TEST THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TELEVISED INSTRUCTION. THESE WERE CONCERNED WITH WHETHER (1) METHODS OF LESSON PREPARATION AND TRYOUT COULD USE STUDENT RESPONSES TO REVISE AND IMPROVE A TELEVISION LESSON, (2) METHODS OF ELICITING ACTIVE STUDENT RESPONSE DURING INSTRUCTION COULD INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF LEARNING, AND (3)…

THE NEED AND FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A NUMBER OF "REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL MEDIA RESEARCH CENTERS WITH A PROGRAMMATIC ORIENTATION" WERE INVESTIGATED. A PLANNING GROUP WAS ESTABLISHED TO SERVE AS A STEERING COMMITTEE. CONFERENCES IN WHICH GROUPS IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN WIDELY DISTRIBUTED REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY PARTICIPATED WERE HELD…

GUIDELINES WERE DEVELOPED FOR NEW PROGRAMS OF GRADUATE STUDY LEADING TO PROFESSIONAL CAREERS IN THE PLANNING, OPERATION, AND ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SERVICES IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS WERE GIVEN TO (1) METHODS FOR ACHIEVING MORE INDEPENDENT STUDENT EFFORT, (2) TUTORIAL APPROACH FOR ADVANCED WORK, (3) STUDENT…

A study investigated whether informational graphics help attract the reader to a newspaper story, prolong reader interaction, and increase reader knowledge. Five versions of a small informational graphic and a related 10-inch non-lead story published on the bottom of a newspaper page were tested on 300 participants (a non-probability sample of…

A secondary analysis of data collected by Thomas Patterson during the 1976 presidential campaign was made to test three hypotheses: (1) respondents in a media-rich environment will show higher levels of political information holding than respondents in a media-poor environment, (2) differences in information holding levels between a media-rich…

Researchers recently have been focusing on the relationships between audience orientations toward specific media and their knowledge about political candidates and issues. The question of media dependency, particularly dependency on television versus newspapers, has been a focal point in the discussion. To test the relationship between media…

A 3-DAY SEMINAR BROUGHT TOGETHER 40 RESEARCH SPECIALISTS IN COMMUNICATIONS, DIRECTORS OF SCHOOL-COMMUNITY RELATIONS, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS, AND PROFESSORS OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION. OBJECTIVES OF THE SEMINAR WERE--(1) TO REVIEW AND SYNTHESIZE SOME OF THE OUTSTANDING RESEARCH IN MASS COMMUNICATION MEDIA, (2) TO POINT OUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF…

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION PROBLEMS WAS CONDUCTED. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES WERE (1) TO ESTABLISH A JOB CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR MEDIA SERVICES, (2) TO SUGGEST DIMENSIONS FOR FUTURE STUDIES OF MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDIA SERVICES, (3) TO SPELL OUT PROCEDURES FOR OTHER…

THE GENERAL PURPOSES WERE (1) TO INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBILITIES OF PROGRAMING ENTIRE COURSES IN MATHEMATICS AND ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND (2) TO COMPARE DIFFERENT METHODS AND MEDIA, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON CLOSED-CIRCUIT TELEVISION, FOR PRESENTING PROGRAMED LEARNING MATERIALS. TO ACCOMPLISH THE OBJECTIVES, IT WAS NECESSARY TO ANALYZE THE PROBLEMS OF…

A study explored how teenage audiences interpreted brochures intended to discourage them from taking drugs, and more broadly, how readers respond to the visual and verbal messages presented through brochures that aim to inform and persuade. Over 100 brochures and handouts from national and local drug prevention agencies were collected. A subset of…

This report describes an interactive cable television system to deliver social services to senior citizens in Reading, Pennsylvania. The first section examines the process through which the interactive system was established. The technological components of the system are described in the second section. This is followed by a brief review of the…