Children’s learning of all the news that’s fit to picture

An experiment was conducted (a) to compare children's recall of news information presented either audiovisually or in print, and (b) to establish whether the relative effectiveness of both media in conveying the news is dependent on children's reading proficiency and expectation of a memory test. A sample of 152 4th and 6th graders was presented with a sequence of 5 children's news stories, either in their original televised form or in a printed version. In each condition, half of the children were led to expect a memory test, whereas the other children were not. The results of a cued-recall test indicated that children who had watched the news on television remembered more than those who had received the same news in print, regardless of their reading proficiency or expectation of a memory test.

Section: Differential Recall Of Television and Verbal Mediasupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Children's recall of television and print news: A media comparison study.

Molen¹,

Voort²

1997

“…The free-recall and cued-recall findings do not support the straightforward view that pictures generally enhance the comprehension and retention of whatever textual information is represented by those pictures (Levin & Berry, 1980). Rather, the effects of pictures appear to be more complex, with the likelihood of enhancement depending on the combined influence of the type of information depicted in the picture and the type of text.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Illustrations as adjuncts to prose: A text-appropriate processing approach.

Waddill

McDaniel²,

Einstein³

1988

We examine the possibility that the effects of illustrations on memory for text will vary as a function of the nature of the text (narrative versus expository) and as a function of the type of information depicted in the illustrations (details conveyed in a particular proposition versus information conveyed by the interrelationship of several propositions). In Experiment 1, 72 college subjects read either a fairy tale or an expository text accompanied by no pictures (control condition), by pictures illustrating details from the text, or by pictures illustrating relations among propositions in the text. Pictures effectively increased recall only when they depicted the type of information for which the text type presumably invited processing (i.e., details for the expository passage, relations for the fairy tale). In Experiment 2, 72 college subjects were instructed to attend to the type of information not normally encoded from each text type (relations for the expository passage, details for the fairy tale). With the addition of these special processing instructions, illustrations enhanced memory for not normally encoded information in the fairy tale; a tendency toward the same trend occurred in the expository passage. Recall of information for which the text type encouraged processing continued to be enhanced. The results of both experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that pictures primarily supplement the representation of information for which the text itself also invites processing.

“…There are two explanations for these findings. First, because represented information generally includes more main topics or ideas than does nonrepresented information, it may be perceived by students as being more important (Levin & Berry, 1980). Second, assuming that students have a limited amount of cognitive resources (attention), adjunct displays may draw students' attention away from nonrepresented information and toward represented information (Kiewra, Dubois, Weiss, & Schantz, 1992a).…”

Section: Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual argument: Graphic organizers are superior to outlines in improving learning from text.

Robinson

Kiewra²

1995

194

146

Most research on graphic organizers (i.e., figural organizations of text information) has failed to simulate actual classroom learning. Typically, studies have used short, poorly organized text, single graphic organizers, and immediate tests measuring only factual knowledge. Also, there is no convincing evidence that graphic organizers are better than outlines. Two experiments were conducted that represented attempts to address these problems in answering the question, "What types of text information do graphic organizers and outlines help college students learn?" Results revealed that when given enough time, students studying graphic organizers learned more hierarchical and coordinate relations, and as a result, they were more successful in applying that knowledge and in writing integrated essays than students studying outlines or text alone. These findings are discussed in terms of efficient indexing through visual argument.