Reviews research examining the effects of pictorial illustrations on learning from textbooks; notes differences in purpose, approach, and methodology; identifies some shortcomings; and offers suggestions for future research. Forty references are listed. (FM)

In three experiments, sighted college students tried to learn the names of the first 10 symbols of the braille alphabet. In Experiments 1 and 2, visual examination of the symbols enhanced learning. In Experiment 3, similar results were obtained when standard size braille symbols were used during the study trials. (Author)

Factor and cluster analysis of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities scores of 237 children (6 to 8 years old) with severe language handicaps showed a clear auditory-vocal and visual-motor factor. Ninety-seven percent of the Ss had the lowest scores on auditory association and grammatic closure subtests. (Author/CL)

Describes mnemonic devices which can be taught to second-language students to improve their learning including mnemonic reduction, visual word pictures, elaboration, and the keyword method. (BK)

A study involving 119 fifth graders indicated that the "Durrell Visual Memory of Words: Intermediate" measures auditory-visual integration rather than being a pure measure of visual memory, as is purported. (CL)

Discusses the effect television has on youth in making them visually literate and how educators should use this information to make education more effective. (CHC)

Differentiated are children with mental regress learning deficiency characterized by poor capacity to mentally reorder events and children with poor memory. (DB)

Investigated the manner in which information is acquired from maps. In two experiments, map elements placed more toward the periphery of the map were better learned than internally placed elements. In three experiments, map structure was varied to determine if the previous learning pattern resulted from map structure or learning strategy. Results…

Discusses the following visual needs of learning: acuity, accommodation, neuromuscular coordination, visual motor integration, and other related factors. Urges professionals of all areas to pool their resources so that teachers can become more knowledgeable of certain information regarding the visual process that affects a student's learning…

There are different ways of exploring and examining the visual medium in the service and disservice of education. A discursive form rather than a visual medium is chosen in this attempt. Utilizing the conceptualizations of Suzanne Langer, Christine Nystrom observed that American symbolic environments have undergone a massive shift from discursive…

Psychological research shows that learning can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but this finding has so far been confined to memory tasks requiring verbal responses. We explored whether testing can enhance learning of visuospatial information in maps. Fifty subjects each studied 2 maps, one through conventional study, and the other through…

The Program of Systematic Evaluation (PSE), which began as an attempt to explore the instructional dimensions of multimedia, has evolved into the most comprehensive set of experimental multimedia studies exploring the varied dimensions of cognitive load theory as they relate to the design of effective and efficient visual learning environments for…

Those who focus on the study of visual information continue to search for effective ways to conceptualize that inquiry. However, many visual examples are better categorized as visual/verbal collaboration, complicating analysis. When analysis is based on the assumption that visual and verbal modalities perform in similar ways, important…

This study examined whether children with mathematical difficulties (MDs) or comorbid mathematical and reading difficulties have a working memory deficit and whether the hypothesized working memory deficit includes the whole working memory system or only specific components. In the study, 31 10-year-olds with MDs and 37 10-year-olds with both…

PowerPoint and other visual technologies have become pervasive in schools. Adoption of these technologies is perceived as a necessary--or, at the very least, an educationally appropriate--innovation in UK schools, even though systematic examination of their use is relatively recent. On the basis of a wider ethnographic study of ICT use in one UK…