This collection covers a variety of workshops and presentations related to the research, theory, technology, or implementation of some aspect of visual literacy. More than 40 authors are represented, with 12 of the papers dealing directly with television. The document begins with an overview and a keynote address by Neil Postman. Individual papers…

This report of the 1978 activities of the Australian Society of Educational Technology includes reports, articles, a state of the art review, and a technical report. Section I lists the memberships of the national executive and state chapter council, and presents a national report and reports from four state chapters. Three articles are presented…

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)

This paper examines the cognitive-linguistic development of young deaf children and some associated theories. The premise that linguistic processing begins initially and most effectively through visual linguistic processing within the context of the social environment is stressed. Social learning theories which emphasize the importance of the…

This document includes 46 papers presented at the International Visual Literacy Association Conference on topics ranging from prehistoric cave paintings to technology of the future. Major sections are devoted to research and theory, education, computer technology, and phototherapy. Emphasis is on increased understanding of opportunities available…

For use by teachers in helping students become better writers, this booklet describes and illustrates cognitive mapping, a prewriting technique that helps students combine their verbal and visual skills in order to produce ideas and to plan stories, plays, reports, or essays. The first section of the booklet discusses the interrelations between…

A review of the literature on the spatial functioning of the blind, the results of a questionnaire of 75 sighted college students and their parents, and results of a study of 87 blind and seeing adults' performance on three spatial tasks are presented. The review suggested that adventitiously blind individuals perform better than congenitally…

Visual literacy is a culturally-derived strength of Native American students. On a continent with more than 200 languages, Native Americans relied heavily on visual intelligence for trade and communication between tribes. Tribal people interpreted medicine paint, tattoos, and clothing styles to determine the social roles of those with whom they…

Computer-based instruction (CBI) has undergone tremendous changes in the past decade. This paper focuses on the following three areas of designing information presentation: (1) screen design literature is dated, and the existing guidelines do not allow for advances in computer technology; (2) open-ended guidelines may offer designers sufficient…

Describes a statistical integration of findings from 74 studies of visual-based college teaching. Results indicating that students in such instruction generally learned slightly more but that there was no effect on course completion rates or student attitudes are discussed, and 19 references are provided. (Author/BK)

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet discusses three visual models of teaching written composition. The first section of the booklet discusses the content area model, which begins with an abstraction presented to students (definitions of parts of…

Studies investigating the functioning of persons who have cerebral lesions and evidence from the study of commisurotomized and normal subjects are reviewed. A study of recognition of pictorial stimuli by right-handed male children is also discussed. Studies about cerebral lesions and associated deficits have yielded information about the…

This paper examines the conceptualization and design of the Pennsylvania Audiographics Distance Education Project's (PADEP) Life Skills and Drug Education Course, and discusses the successes and difficulties of the project based on results from formative evaluation. Educators from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, developed new courses that could be…

This paper highlights how introductory textbooks on Egyptian art inhibit understanding by reinforcing student preconceptions, and demonstrates another approach to discussing space with a classroom exercise and software. The alternative approach, an active model for spatial representation, introduced here was developed by adapting classroom…

In advocating written literacy through visual literacy, this paper presents an overview of supporting theory and evidence and demonstrates practical application through visual compositions. The research reported in the first section of the paper includes the general theoretical stance of writing-as-process educators, who believe that the…