A treatment group of ninth-grade students were instructed in selected science concepts with drawing-plus-text materials; the control group used text only. Results showed that the treatment group scored significantly higher on post-tests on the selected science concepts. (MLH)

Reviews literature on the effectiveness of pictures used in classrooms and concludes that further research in this field can provide a basis for reliable instruction decision making. Research problems are identified, some of which are related to picture types, subject content presentation formats, and their relations with learner's…

Modern educational theory suggests that the learning of a visual science concept is best taught using a combination of pictorial and verbal instruction describing these characteristics and examples and best evaluated using words and visuals not used during instruction. Recent research suggests a four-step instructional-testing model usable by…

Describes a study in which tenth-grade biology students who were low verbal performers scored significantly higher on achievement tests when provided with picture-word diagrams of biological concepts than when provided with block-word diagrams. Students and teachers also preferred picture-word diagrams as indicated by a questionnaire. (MLH)

Reports results of a study testing a selective attentional model which predicted that textbook study questions adjunct to a flow diagram will focus students' attention more upon questioned information and less upon nonquestioned information. A picture-word diagram describing biogeochemical cycles to high school biology students (N=176) was used.…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a practical procedure for determining the optimum sequencing of pictorial classification tasks in science using mean difficulty indices generated by a standard sample of grade two students. Acquisition of such skills can affect the learner's performance on subsequent material and the teacher's efforts in…

Discussed is the importance or unimportance of including visuals and illustrations in science textbooks. Characteristics of visuals, misconceptions, individual student differences, publishers views, and recommendations to science teachers when choosing science texts are included. (KR)