Although students may aim for an oral presentation that is clearly organized, well supported, and effectively delivered, teachers recognize that the primary goal of a presentation is communication; that is, the message received should be as close as possible to the message sent. Tools of message transmission, such as PowerPoint, are just a means…

This study compared use of trainer demonstrations and use of visual cues across varying difficulties of task, by 20 mentally retarded secondary-aged students. Results found that photographs and line drawings were more effective with mildly/moderately retarded students than demonstrations when working with complex tasks. No differences were found…

From a research program to identify the types of visual materials that would be most effective in helping industrial education students to learn from different instructional formats, the author concludes that the effectiveness of visualized instruction depends upon the type of visual used, the method of instruction, student characteristics, and…

Learning Aids stimulate formation of mental images of concepts by increasing sensory input. This article provides a rationale for employing learning aids to help elementary children understand physical fitness concepts, and describes several activities which employ the three categories of learning aids (visual, object, event). (IAH)

Reports the use of two different visual control treatments (self-controlled versus system-imposed) among students with different cognitive styles. Students in middle school were tested to determine how they learned from instructional materials generated using different design approaches. Results indicated that students with different cognitive…

In 5 experiments, a Hebb repetition effect, that is, improved immediate serial recall of an (unannounced) repeating list, was demonstrated in the immediate serial recall of visual materials, even when use of phonological short-term memory was blocked by concurrent articulation. The learning of a repeatedly presented letter list in one modality…

System theory, which attests that any change in one component of a system will change other components, is fundamental to the communication discipline. Students are often provided with verbal metaphors (e.g., the machine metaphor) when learning about this theory but many times are not shown its complexity in an engaging manner. Additionally,…

Visuals, like pictures, charts, diagrams, graphics, and the like, are widely used in education. However, there is little justification in the research literature for their use. The overall purpose of this exploratory study was to find out more about the processing of visuals or graphics in an educational task. Specifically, it was thought that…

Natural history facts and concepts were presented to 160 multiaged individuals through tactual and/or visual interpretive stations along a nature trail. Individuals were tested to indicate knowledge retention after the trail experience. Visual, tactual, and visual/tactual approaches proved to be equally effective treatments in most cases.…

The impact of news film on children's learning was investigated by presenting 193 fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh grade students with one of two versions of a newscast. The children viewed a videotape of a newscaster introducing film reports of six stories or listened to the newscaster reading the news stories. The children provided responses…

To explore methods of visual communication as a supplement to bilingual education, 200 white male subjects were selected from a public school system in South Florida (100 from the first grade and 100 from the eighth grade) and were allowed to create visual statements from a standardized set of photos. Using primarily Latent Partition Analysis, the…

A study investigated the results of previous studies on the effectiveness of pictorial instruction, specifically examining whether the use of black-and-white pictorial instruction as a supplement to verbal instruction is more effective than the use of verbal instruction alone. Thirty-four studies on pictorial instruction that varied widely but…

Explores the usefulness of an alternative writing approach using a spatial-verbal technique called node-link mapping. In this process the student diagrams nodes, which contain key ideas and propositions, and links, which convey relations such as, leads to, part of, and example. Includes diagrams and examples. (MJP)

Psychological and physiological concepts about information transmission are reviewed with a view toward uncovering principles useful to the design of audiovisual teaching materials. Audiovisual materials which transmit information via the visual or auditory channels are considered, including sound motion pictures, film strips, and audio…

Describes a long-term project where middle school students were taught to visually represent key text ideas through idea-mapping techniques. Instruction was inserted in the content area curriculum along with regular textbooks and supplementary material. Positive effects were found in recall, comprehension, and learning. (MJP)