Discusses the values of instructional technology to education. The author recommends that instructional technology be considered as an efficient means of adding learning options for the student, rather than as an institutional end in itself. (DC)

Research on learning styles of Mexican Americans has focused on the cognitive processes and cultural variables affecting cognitive style rather than on perceptual learning style. This study is the first attempt in the assessment of seven perceptual learning style orientations among an exclusive Mexican American population. Using the Multi-Modal…

A study was designed to test the following experimental alternative hypotheses: (1) that the correlation between listening and reading scores would be negative, or (2) that the correlation would be positive. The study also focused on determining which of the two principal teaching modalities, aural and visual, was the more effective in promoting…

In this practicum, 15 learning-disabled pupils in grades two and three participated in an individualized program featuring mastery learning, a personalized system of instruction, attention to learning style and modality, and behavior modification, in order to improve reading levels and poor behavior. Program components included learning stations,…

A study was conducted to (1) examine children's visual and auditory attention to, and comprehension of, narrated and nonnarrated versions of two television programs, and (2) test a measure of auditory attention in relation to visual attention and to comprehension of information presented with or without narration. Subjects, 117 five- and…

Two groups of elementary school students were tested and compared on learning style perceptual preference. One group was comprised of 11 students identified as being in need of remedial instruction in mathematics. The other group consisted of eight average/above average students experiencing slight or no difficulties in mathematics. Grade levels…

A study investigated the learning impact of audio, visual, and audiovisual information channels in televised messages among preschool children. The messages consisted of a half-hour videotape of "Sesame Street" episodes (presented to 48 subjects), and a videotape of an intact "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" program (presented to…

This review of literature on the topic of learning style opens with a history of the development of theories on information processing habits which represent the learner's typical modes of perceiving, thinking, remembering, and problem solving. A discussion is included on writings about the sense modalities used in learning--visual, aural,…

The effect of background music with lecture tapes, filmstrips, and films in teaching freshman psychology concepts was investigated. Comparisons were made of media effect on visual or non-visual (haptic) and male or female learners, using experiments of 60 students each, with 20 subjects used for all treatment conditions. Three classes viewed…

A study of learner modality in second language learning conducted at a small, private liberal arts university had as subjects 20 freshmen in a second-semester Spanish course. The students' modality strength (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or mixed) was correlated with Scholastic Aptitude Test measures, grades, and gender. The findings support…

In 1974-1975, a preliminary study was undertaken to investigate the presence of learning disabilities in adults. Previously completed research studies have focused entirely upon the child and adolescent, with a direct concentration on remediation of this problem. Learning disabilities, currently estimated to afflict ten million school-aged…

The purposes of this study were to determine the modality strengths of each child in grades 1 to 5 at Butcher Children's School, Emporia, Kansas, and to ascertain whether modality can be linked to grade level, to reading achievement, or to sex. For identifying modality strength, the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index (SBMI), a matching-to-sample task,…

In response to practical questions about bilingual student needs, this paper addresses three issues. First, it describes a conceptual framework identified as "educational cognitive style" whereby the characteristics of bilingual learners and the modes of understanding of an educational task can be modeled and therefore matched. Second, it…

Noting that one means of better understanding the nature of cultural differences is to elucidate the cognitive differences between members of differing cultures, this paper examines Alexander Luria's sociohistorical theory of functional cognitive systems. The paper first describes Luria's notion of functional systems, the crux of which postulates…

A U.S. Air Force study was designed to investigate simultaneously four cognitive styles--field dependence-independence, reflectivity-impulsivity, leveling-sharpening, and visual-haptics. A sample of 206 undergraduate volunteers at the University of Oklahoma were tested with the Successive Perceptual Test I (SPT-I), the Hidden Figures Test (HFT),…