Although electromagnetism is an important component of upper secondary school physics syllabuses in many countries, there has been relatively little research on students' understanding of the topic. A written test consisting of 16 diagnostic questions was developed and used to survey the understanding of electromagnetism of upper secondary school…

Our facial expressions give others the opportunity to access our feelings, and constitute an important nonverbal tool for communication. Many recent studies have investigated emotional perception in adults, and our knowledge of neural processes involved in emotions is increasingly precise. Young children also use faces to express their internal…

The experiment reported here was concerned with the effect of repeat-viewing and adult co-viewing on the comprehension of an animated feature length movie. Four- to six-year-old children watched a movie on video either once or five times, and either with their mother present or on their own. The findings revealed that, after controlling for…

In three studies, the effects of visual and phonological distinctness on the visual-verbal paired associate learning of dyslexic and normal readers at the age of 10-12 were examined. We hypothesized that both groups would be equally affected by the visual distinctness of the pictures, whereas the learning performance of the dyslexic children would…

Human interactions are multimodal in nature. From simple to complex forms of transferal of information, human beings draw on a multiplicity of communicative modes, such as intonation and gaze, to make sense of everyday experiences. Likewise, the learning process, either within traditional classrooms or Virtual Learning Environments, is shaped by…

The author is an associate professor of animal studies at Colorado State University, but experienced learning difficulties in high school due to her place on the autism-Asperger's spectrum. She had uneven skills, and while algebra was impossible, she did well in courses in which she could use her visual-thinking and associative-thinking skills.…

This paper examines variations of text density levels for learning in a computer-based instruction (CBI) tutorial from an integrated perspective, and addresses the following questions: (1) What is the text density? (2) What are the relationships among text density approaches? and (3) What are the contributions of text density for learning and how…

This study explored relationships between intelligence and visual motor ability and patterns of impairment of visual motor ability in children prenatally affected by alcohol. Fourteen children (mean age 8.2 years) diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and 50 children with possible fetal alcohol effects (FAE) were assessed with the Bender…

This study investigated the effectiveness of color coding, accomplished by highlighting, used to help students differentiate between exact meaning (explicit information) and implied meaning (implicit information) in both narrative (short story) and expository texts. Subjects were 78 sixth-grade students randomly enrolled in four language arts…

The historical development of learning style inventories is examined from the dichotomous concepts of cognitive styles to multidimensional assessment. Based on a series of experiments on vertical perception, H. A. Witkin formed the concepts of field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles. Using the term "learning styles"…

A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) module on polymers was used to introduce chemistry teachers (n=64) to the variety of possibilities and benefits of using courseware in the current chemistry curriculum in Israel. From an analysis of a pre-and post-attitude questionnaire regarding the use of computers in chemistry teaching, it was concluded…

There are two categories of representations: figurative and non-figurative. Within the category of figurative representations, there are two groups: visuals and graphic symbols. Graphic symbols include pictorial symbols, abstract symbols, and arbitrary symbols. Symbols can be used for identification, overview, supplying instructions, position,…

Different effects of instructional strategies on recall and comprehension of terms frequently used in formal analysis of art were examined. The study looked at a synthesis of three theoretical positions: dual-coding theory, schema theory, and elaboration theory. Two-hundred and fifty sixth-grade students were randomly assigned to three groups:…

A study was conducted to determine the degree of relationship between eye movement patterns and cognitive mapping as determined by the Cognitive Style Mapping Instrument (CSMI). It was hypothesized that a high correlation exists between a predominance of visual and auditory eye movement patterns and the visual and auditory cognitive mapping styles…

This investigation of cognitive effort begins with a review of cognitive principles relating to memory and graphic encoding of information. The cognitive framework described allows explanation of improved memory due to reparsing of graphic representations. It also provides the basis for optimizing graphical material design to insure best retention…