Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography

A companion report to Carnegie's Time to Act, provides an annotated bibliography of research on textbook design and reading comprehension for fourth through twelfth grade, arranged by topic. Calls for a dialogue between publishers and researchers

Guide to supplementary reading materials in Auer Avenue School

The purpose of this paper was to compile a catalog of the supplementary reading materials that are available at the present time in the Curriculum Library at Auer Avenue School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This catalog would provide the teaching staff with a useful guide for the proper selection and the most effective use of these materials

Surveying the online classroom : Student reactions to e-learning

The utilization of commercial, open source, and institution designed learning management systems are increasing in higher education. Universities are competing with each other to find qualified applicants or increase enrollment. Many higher education institutions are evaluating their return on investment for educational technologies, white public institutions are facing the reality of shifting funding sources from state support to self-sufficiency. The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of a learning management system (LMS) in an online classroom supporting either a full-web or blended course affects student satisfaction with the learning experience. Additional areas examined include whether students prefer LMS use, if LMS use improves communication within a course, and if there is a significant difference in the satisfaction level between students in a blended course and students in a full-web distance learning course. This article presents findings from an institutional survey designed to solicit information from students to enable a better understanding of their experience with using a centrally-supported learning management system

Content Analysis of The Diagrammatic Representations of Primary Science Textbooks

Science education research emphasizes the irreplaceable value of textbooks in students’ acquisition of scientific knowledge. Illustrations such as diagrams contained in science books are crucial modes of visual representations that facilitate learners’ conceptual learning. Through classifying, coding, and analysing diagrams from twenty science textbooks and workbooks used by Bahrain primary science curriculum, the aim of the study is to find out the distributional pattern and illustration characters of different diagrammatic types in the Bahrain’s primary science books. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out. A one-way ANOVA test was performed to check if there are any distributional differences between textbook and workbook categories. Findings of the study summarized the characteristics of diagrammatic usage in the Bahrain primary science books. The textbook analysis method used in the research also provided some insights for researchers interested in analysing the usage of diagrams and other illustrations in science learning contexts

A Content Analysis of Visuals in Elementary School Textbooks

Although visual complexity is increasing and graphics are essential to support readers’ comprehension of disciplinary texts, visual literacy receives scant attention. Research suggests that effectively instructing students to interpret discipline-specific graphics would yield better comprehension. However, before this line of inquiry can be enacted, we must determine the characteristics of graphics in contemporary content textbooks. Therefore, this content analysis evaluated graphics within third- and fifth-grade science and social studies textbooks. We coded 3,844 graphics by type and function and compared findings between disciplines using chi-square and post hoc comparison tests. Overall, graphics were coded into 9 major types (photographs being most frequent) and 54 subtypes, indicating a diversity of graphics. When comparing disciplines, science textbooks contained more diagrams and photographs, and graphics more often functioned representationally. Social studies presented both a wider variety of graphics and more interpretationally challenging graphics. Implications for disciplinary literacy and instruction are discussed

Multimodal Comprehension of Language and Graphics: Graphs with and without annotations

An experimental investigation into interaction between language and information graphics in multimodal documents served as the basis for this study. More specifically, our purpose was to investigate the role of linguistic annotations in graph-text documents. Participants were presented with three newspaper articles in the following conditions: one text-only, one text plus non-annotated graph, and one text plus annotated graph. Results of the experiment showed that, on one hand, annotations play a bridging role for integration of information contributed by different representational modalities. On the other hand, linguistic annotations have negative effects on recall, possibly due to attention divided by the different parts of a document

Integrating Authentic Digital Resources in Support of Deep, Meaningful Learning

"Integrating Authentic Digital Resources in Support of Deep, Meaningful Learning," a white paper prepared for the Smithsonian by Interactive Educational Systems Design Inc., describes instructional approaches that apply to successful teaching with the Smithsonian Learning Lab.After defining its use of terms such as deeper learning and authentic resources the authors review the research basis of three broad approaches that support integrating digital resources into the classroom:Project-based learningGuided exploration of concepts and principlesGuided development of academic skillsThese approaches find practical application in the last section of the paper, which includes seven case studies. Examples range from first-grade science, to middle-school English (including ELL strategy) to a high-school American government class. In each example, students study and analyze digital resources, going on to apply their knowledge and deepen their understanding of a range of topics and problems

Effects Of A Human Agent And The Application Of The Modality Principle On The Learning Of Chinese Idioms And The Attitudes Among Students With Different Levels Of Intelligence [LB1529.5.C5 L693 2008 f rb].

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of a Human Agent (HA)’s visual presence and the modality effect in a Computer-based learning (CBL) Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menyiasat impak kehadiran visual agen manusia (HA) dan kesan modaliti dalam suasana pembelajaran berasaskan komputer (CBL