Media, particularly television, are increasingly prevalent in contemporary life and yet the pedagogical potential of this resource remains largely untapped. Racism, insidious in its manifestations, is frequently the subject of media spectacle that tends to fixate, frame, and fracture discourse about this vital issue. This study examines how three…

Diagrams are considered to be invaluable teaching and learning tools in biochemistry, because they help learners build mental models of phenomena, which allows for comprehension and integration of scientific concepts. Sometimes, however, students experience difficulties with the interpretation of diagrams, which may have a negative effect on their…

This document presents the proceedings of the 17th Annual Research Forum held June 29, 2012, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) "Reading and Writing": A Study Comparing the Strengths of Peer Review and Visible Author Writing Strategies (Elizabeth Behar); (2)…

Computer games are no longer just for entertainment; they have also become a useful instructional strategy for acquiring knowledge. When games are used for purposes other than strict entertainment they become serious games. The goal of serious games is to enable the player to learn a task, master a strategy or develop a skill. Serious games can be…

Government grant-funding agencies have spawned an explosion of images from historical collections on the Internet. They have encouraged collaborative projects in which institutions share resources for capital-intensive digitization projects. These Web "exhibits" are neither publications nor exhibits in the traditional sense, most often without…

Writing picture compositions is part of the requirements for the mother tongue language learning in Singapore primary schools. For Chinese as a mother tongue, the prevailing materials used for learning picture composition are confined to only black-and-white drawn pictures. This has caused some problems: (1) not many good and suitable…

Technological advances in the new millennium may evoke disquiet among administrators and teachers taxed with understanding how to harness new capabilities and merge them with sound pedagogy. To understand how gaming might bridge the gap between student interest and how lessons are taught, graduate students in science education at North Carolina…

Computer animation can be effectively incorporated into computer based instruction programs for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning environments. Computer animation is defined as computer-generated animated graphics that function as visual aids to instruction. The applications of instructional graphics fall into two categories: (1)…

This final report describes an effective, computer-based method of communicating new syntactic knowledge to students with deafness. "Choosing AVMs," the first intervention developed on the Macintosh computer, used advanced visual markers (AVMs) (icons) to communicate the essence of the syntactical structure to be taught by: (1) capturing…

This paper presents findings from an historical investigation of visual literacy, a unique aspect being that the approach relied on the marriage of two disciplines--geography and history--which study change over time. Maps and their interpretation of data by cartographers tend to provide a foundational context that can illuminate past and present…

This document contains reproducible maps, charts and graphs of Latin America for use by teachers and students. The maps are divided into five categories (1) the land; (2) peoples, countries, cities, and governments; (3) the national economies, product, trade, agriculture, and resources; (4) energy, education, employment, illicit drugs, consumer…

This paper addresses some design considerations for computer-produced visual displays that are intended for either local or remote audiences of social workers. The project, "Building Family Foundations," expects to design and produce 10 different educational modules, including: child development; family issues--separation and attachment; family…

Designed to help create effective presentations, this guide describes the basic techniques and provides hints for producing professional, attention-getting overhead transparencies in a step-by-step procedure format. Eight topics are addressed in the guide: (1) eight steps to a successful meeting presentation; (2) advantages of overhead projection;…

This nutrition education kit is designed for use with 3- to 5-year old children. It introduces children to new foods, involves them in the process of food preparation, and creates an awareness of the importance of eating foods from all food groups. The kit has been designed to provide a variety of opportunities to develop and practice language…

Visualization as a factor of intelligence includes the mental manipulation of spatial configurations and has been associated with spatial abilities, creative thinking, and conceptual problem solving. There are numerous reports of scientists and mathematicians using visualization to anticipate transformation of the external world. Artists and…