By observing the attentiveness of children watching six pilot programs of "The Electric Company," the staff of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) gathered detailed data on the visual appeal of the show. Six high appeal attributes were isolated: (1) functionally relevant action; (2) strong rhythm and rhyme; (3) electronic bridges;…

This study was designed to examine the ability of 256 above-average sixth-grade pupils to use six categories of verbal context clues in listening and reading. The extent to which success in determining deleted words was associated with the word form class membership of deleted words was also examined. A hierarchy of difficulty was established for…

Two experiments which compare the effectiveness of the auditory and visual elements in instructional films in order to study their relative contributions to learning are described in this paper. Two films dealing with aerodynamics were used in one experiment, and one film dealing with desert survival was used in the other. Multiple choice item…

Two studies are reported. The first is based on Piaget's assertion that the child's representation of his world is dependent on the level of cognitive development at which he is currently functioning. Forty-eight normals and 48 retardates were given a visual memory task. They were asked to recall a configural presentation in a number of ways,…

Two contrasting theories of reading are reviewed in light of recent research in psycholinguistics. A strictly "visual" model of fluent reading is contrasted with several mediational theories where auditory or articulatory coding is deemed necessary for comprehension. Surveying the research in visual information processing, oral reading,…

Two main points are stressed in this essay: (1) Reading literature aloud to students is not only educationally sound, but for many youngsters, necessary; and (2) In order to help his students become critical listeners of the literature that is read to them, a teacher must build bridges between the youngsters' experience and that in the literature.…

This study was designed to investigate the differences in effectiveness in teaching sight words to kindergarten children by using words only (no-picture group), words and simple pictures (simple-picture group), and words and complex pictures (complex-picture group). The subjects were 30 kindergarten children selected from two kindergarten classes.…

Tasks involved in paired associate learning (attention, perceptual learning, visual and auditory memory, response learning, and stimulus-response connections) are identified as some of the same skills and strategies involved in learning to read. Two studies on visual memory, the developmental lag hypothesis, and reading ability are examined to…

This report provides the proceedings of the twenty-second Lake Okoboji Educational Media Leadership Conference which dealt with various aspects of visual literacy in education. The general sessions are briefly described. A major portion of the report pertains to nine subtopics: (1) visual literacy in teacher education; (2) implications for the…

A study reports that, while elementary students dislike bare classroom walls, they have little interest in other children's work, but like and remember having their own work displayed. Children do not absorb the content of wall displays, but they have strong emotional reactions to decorations. (Author/SJL)

When learning-disabled high school students (N=22) were taught about astronomy by either presenting key concepts with a visual spatial display or by presenting concepts with texts, tests measuring short-term mastery of content favored students taught with the visual display. No differences were found between the groups on transfer or maintenance.…

Describes methodology and results of a study examining the role of layout and graphic design in the legibility of instructional text displayed on cathode ray tubes. This report includes a multidimensional scaling analysis, an analysis of the stimuli and independent variables, and labeling and dimensions using adjective and interview data. (MBR)

This study investigated the effects of a visually mediated intervention (i.e., social stories, written social phrases, pictures of social skills, and videotaped feedback) on the social communication of five elementary students with pervasive developmental disorders. Five triads, each with one subject and two typically developing peers were formed.…

This paper presents a way to integrate counseling videos into the counseling curriculum and suggests options for continuing education for practicing counselors. Through the use of videotapes, students learn about counseling theory by watching theorists in action and hearing about the theory first hand. Directed study questions, resources for…

To provide a framework for describing how children respond to picture books, first and second grade children were observed over a 10-week period. Variations in the responses of individual students, changes in their reactions over time, and the importance of considering the context of a response are discussed. (PP)