Visual mapping is a method of presenting course material in a visual format to aid comprehension. This paper looks at applications of visual mapping in post-secondary courses to engage university students more deeply from the very beginning of a course, through creating visuals to which students can be constantly referred. We discuss our efforts…

Drawing from the importance of narrative inquiry in contemporary geographical reasoning and teaching, this paper focuses on some practices set around the relationship between maps and literature. Reader-generated maps, maps produced starting from the reading of a literary text, are at the core of a reflection on the potentialities of literary…

In this dissertation, I analyze the impact of three environmental education strategies implemented in rural northern Tanzania focused on forest-related knowledge. In Chapter Five, I assess the impact of two strategies--face-to-face group discussion and mobile phone texting--on knowledge. I also compare the effectiveness of the two strategies in…

Some educators may view diagrams, pictures, and charts as nice add-on tools for students who are visual thinkers. But Steve Moline sees visual literacy as fundamental to learning and to what it means to be human. In Moline's view, we are all bilingual. Our second language, which we do not speak but which we read and write every day, is visual.…

The ability to appreciate the inter-connectedness of complex biological relationships can be difficult for many students. Graphical knowledge in the form of concept maps and flow charts are learning tools which can assist students to recognise the inter-connectivity. This report focuses on a trial which incorporates these two related visual…

Investigated the manner in which information is acquired from maps. In two experiments, map elements placed more toward the periphery of the map were better learned than internally placed elements. In three experiments, map structure was varied to determine if the previous learning pattern resulted from map structure or learning strategy. Results…

Psychological research shows that learning can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but this finding has so far been confined to memory tasks requiring verbal responses. We explored whether testing can enhance learning of visuospatial information in maps. Fifty subjects each studied 2 maps, one through conventional study, and the other through…

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…

Given some limitations of satellite imagery for the study of land cover change, we draw attention here to a robust and often overlooked data source for use in student research: USGS topographic maps. Topographic maps offer an inexpensive, rapid, and accessible means for students to analyze land cover change over large areas. We demonstrate our…

Subjects studied one of three maps varying in feature configuration and spatial distribution before reading or listening to a related story. There were no differences in recall due to mode of text presentation, but the type of map profoundly influenced recall from both the test and the map. (Author/GDC)

This study focuses on the effects of map display and modality on learning geographical maps in a computer-based environment. Participants were randomly assigned to four versions of a computer program created by crossing two levels of map display (hypertext vs. rollover) with two levels of modality (audio vs. audio and text). Results showed that…

The interactions of three factors that may be involved with the memory for pattern or sequence in visual materials were investigated in this study: (1) arbitrariness of representation; (2) task; and (3) ability of students. The subjects, who were 29 graduate students in education, were pretested for general ability and randomly assigned to four…

To determine whether high school students can be trained to use maps more effectively, a study examined linkage of feature and event information, the role of individual differences, and the roles of reading ability and preference for dealing with visual information. Subjects were 31 16- to 17-year-old high school students. Experimental and control…

Examines how students use geographical maps in history and social studies textbooks for comprehension purposes. Reports training 32 eleventh graders to use maps as aids in their comprehension of information. Finds a positive impact upon comprehension and learning of the original training passage. (MG)

Research on adult memory for nonverbal representations has found a significant age-related decrement in performance. To investigate age differences in adult locational versus featural information in visual memory, 90 adult women (29 young women with a mean age of 21; 30 middle aged women with a mean age of 43; and 31 older women with a mean age of…