Presents research on and discusses the redundancy effect, consistent with a dual-channel theory of multimedia learning in which adding on-screen text can overload the visual information-processing channel, causing learners to split their visual attention between two sources. In research, lower transfer performance also occurred when interesting…

Our social worlds are visually saturated. A feature of post-modern society is its relentless traffic in images, often borrowed from diverse times and places, and patched together in ever changing ways. This traffic serves commercial purposes, shapes identities, and increasingly stands in for reality itself. As a newspaper columnist noted, "most of…

This study investigated the ability of color and motion to elicit and maintain visual attention in a sample of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI). It found that colorful and moving objects may be used to engage children with CVI, increase their motivation to use their residual vision, and promote visual learning.

In this article, the authors describe Picture Power, a project they implemented during late spring in a full-day Montessori preschool-kindergarten program in Philadelphia. In this project, the authors set out to gather information about children's visual learning. The underlying question was whether artwork could provide useful clues to inform…

The biochemistry lecture is often the place where students receive the greatest exposure to the structural nature of biomolecules. The use of molecular visualization software and web-based animated tutorials has enhanced the way instructors teach this important area of structural biology. Using the software and tutorials in class is an excellent…

Few beginners find learning to program easy. There are many factors at work in this phenomenon with some being simply inherent in the subject itself, while others have more to do with deficiencies in learning methods and resources. As a result, many programming environments, software applications, and learning tools have been developed to address…

The ability to see whether a map is equal-area, conformal, or neither is useful for looking intelligently at large-area maps. For example, only if a map is equal-area can reliable judgments of relative size be made. If a map is equal-area, latitude-longitude cells are equal in size between a given pair of parallels, the cells between a given pair…

Five experiments involving a total of 44 college students addressed the effects of intercomponent consistency on skill acquisition in a class of cognitively demanding tasks requiring rapid integration of information and rapid application of rules. The role of consistency of external stimulus-to-rule linkage in facilitating learning and performing…

This book presents over 400 illustrations of complex data that show how the dimensionality and density of portrayals can be enhanced. Practical advice on how to explain complex materials by visual means is given, and examples illustrate the fundamental principles of information display. Design strategies presented are exemplified in maps, the…

Noting that students fail to fully realize the advantages of notetaking as a process to develop a personalized learning system, this paper proposes the use of visual constructions to help students re-establish for themselves the unity of knowledge and to create personalized meanings to this knowledge. The paper summarizes the benefits of…

Indicates that the auditory modality was superior to the visual/written modality in learning and retention. (RB)

A research paper which questions whether watching color television at home affect the way children respond to the presence or absence of color in presentations at school. (Author/HB)

A two-experiment study investigated the possible contribution of prose-relevant pictures to the recall and retention of information presented in written prose materials with older learners as subjects. In the first experiment subjects were 52 graduate students from a southeastern university. Recall of information presented in written prose…

This paper considers research on visual-spatial learning differences between males and females and how such differences can be overcome in science and mathematics curricula. It is suggested that one reason females are underrepresented in the areas of mathematics and science is that they tend to score lower on spatial visualization aptitude…