Ramscar, Yarlett, Dye, Denny, and Thorpe (2010) showed how, consistent with the predictions of error-driven learning models, the order in which stimuli are presented in training can affect category learning. Specifically, learners exposed to artificial language input where objects preceded their labels learned the discriminating features of…

How can barriers in reading be reduced? Adding symbols to assignments could be one possibility for enhancing readability and, therefore, providing students with poor reading skills with access to learning material. This qualitative interview and eye-tracking study aims to acquire a first insight into how students rate and perceive the addition of…

This research investigated whether symbolic understanding of pictures in low-functioning children with autism is mediated by iconicity and language. In Experiment 1, participants were taught novel words paired with unfamiliar pictures that varied in iconicity (black-and-white line drawings, greyscale photographs, colour line drawings, colour…

Thirty hearing impaired students (11-14 years old) participated in a study to measure classification principles using demonstration or display of labels containing relevant words or iconic signs. Three methods of teaching classificatory principles were employed: demonstration, verbal labels, or iconic labels. Analysis of mistakes made by Ss…

It is suggested that instructional research in visual literacy focus on the study of the symbolic codes of pictorial media. (Author/STS)

Although painting is still recognized as an international language, few people are actually capable of "reading" the great works of art that have given depth to mankind's existence. Here is a lesson in "reading a painting". (Author/RK)

Preschool students were given picture symbol prereading activities instead of traditional prereading activities. Results indicate that picture prereading activities have a positive effect on preschool children's attitudes toward books. (NH)

This article urges teachers to guide gifted students in constructing meaning through creating and viewing non-print texts. It discusses how visual images can be used to capture symbols of leadership, record and celebrate leadership in action, interpret the attributes of leadership in new ways, and recognize leaders in the community. (Contains one…

Additional support to a stimulus-response (S-R) association by the use of an extraneous stimulus is called "prompting." Prompting has an effect on learner achievement particularly if the prompting agent is identical on successive S-R trials. This experiment sought to analyze the differences in learner achievement when different prompting stimuli…

Examines the differential influence of pictorial vs. verbal forms on the comprehension of metaphor in younger (second grade) and older (fifth grade) children through their performance on the pictorial Metaphoric Triads Task. (HOD)

This article discusses communicative intent in persons with severe intellectual disability in the context of intervention studies reporting the acquisition of graphic symbol use. The article reviews communicative intent as formulated within psycholinguistic models of language acquisition which emphasize pragmatics and the functions of…

Computer-based learning environments commonly comprise symbolic as well as static and dynamic pictorial representations, frequently combined with the possibility of modifying them interactively. While multiple, dynamic and interactive external representations have the potential to improve learning in various ways, they also place specific demands…

Scientific discoveries concerning the bimodal functioning of the human brain have influenced the creation of a visual literacy methodology program at Iowa State University for future art teachers. Student teachers plan and prepare visual lesson plans designed to reverse the traditional pedagogical reliance on faculties dominated by left hemisphere…

Guilford's structure of intellect factors and his inherent form content of instructional materials were not confirmed as effective predictors of differences in learning from figural, symbolic, or semantic modes of visual presentation. The feasibility of using this model as an aid in design and production of instructional materials was investigated…

A computerized symbol processor system using an Apple IIe computer and a Power Pad graphics tablet was tested with 22 nonspeaking, multiply disabled students. The students were taught to express themselves independently in writing, and they did significantly better than control students on measures of language comprehension and symbol recognition.…