Explains how to improve visual displays employed in school finance by examining a theoretical framework and applying it to the displays. Discusses and illustrates important display principles based on William Cleveland's ideas about decoding/encoding, length judgments, distance, detection, and superimposed curves; and Edward Tufte's work on data…

Shows how different types of process schematics depict changes in state in significantly different ways, emphasizing differently types of information and thus defining event phenomena differently. Provides extension activities to help students understand process schematics. (MG)

Results of 3 experiments indicated that graphic organizers, whether teacher directed, student directed with text references, or student directed with clues, produced significantly higher performance than self-study for students (grades 7 and 10) either with learning disabilities (N=12), in remedial classes (N=9), or in regular education (N=389).…

Ideas are suggested for teaching phonology in the early stages of language learning so that the student progresses without experiencing great frustration. Ideas presented include relating information to students' experience in other areas, and using visual charts to help explain phonological rules. (GLR)

Discusses teletraining as an instructional delivery system and provides recommendations for making it more effective. Topics discussed include distance education; research on teletraining; instructional effectiveness; motivational factors; acceptance of technological innovations; perception of teletraining by adult learners; and the importance of…

This article examines images of the future as visualized by space artists and design engineers. In excerpts from interviews, the artists describe their activities and their use of computer-aided design. The article concludes that visual thinking plays a large part in translating the dreams of visionaries into reality. (JDD)

Two experiments involving 153 college students indicated that, given enough time, students studying graphic organizers learned more hierarchical and coordinate relations. As a result, they were more successful in applying the knowledge and in writing integrated essays than were students studying outlines or text alone. (SLD)

A study analyzed the relation of four information presentation methods--text, tabular, black-and-white graphics, and color graphics--to level of retention, reader reaction, and reading time. Results confirmed that the incorporation of color graphics in a document increases psychological reaction, but does not necessarily improve task performance.…

Presents an alternate approach to teaching quadratics by fully integrating the study of quadratic equations and quadratic functions using graphs. Includes reproducible student worksheets. (MKR)

Foreign-language teachers can use everyday objects as visual aids to help enliven beginning-level language courses and teach students useful vocabulary. Describes visual aids and techniques used in a university-level review class in first-year Spanish. (MDM)

Describes a variety of prereading strategies that can be used by teacher-librarians to encourage students to read and gives examples of uses with secondary school students. Strategies described include sort and predict, which uses word manipulation; key visuals; anticipation guide; and building from clues. (Contains 13 references.) (LRW)

This article discusses four Australian case studies in which photographs and videos formed an important source of program evaluation data. In each case, background information is presented, along with ways the visual data were handled and reported. Where available, outcomes are presented to demonstrate the impact of the visual image. (SLD)

Proposes an alternative approach to locating the image formed by a lens. Two special rays are used to locate the image, then a number of other rays are drawn in to indicate that light from the object passes through every part of the lens. (MVL)

Calls for the use of the zoom feature of graphing calculators to help students better understand the concept of derivatives. (MKR)