Francis M. Dwyer

Enhancing relevance: Embedded ARCS strategies vs. Purpose

The hypothesis of this study assumes that the cognitive effects of motivation result primarily from the relevance of what is being learned, that is, whether the ideas being studied are meaningful and whether they fulfill the goals of the learner. This study compared the effects of intrinsic relevance (material fulfilling a purpose or need of the learner) with embedded, extrinsic relevance-enhancing strategies based on the ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) Model of Instruction on perceived motivation and the learning outcomes of identification, terminology, comprehension, and drawing. Both intrinsic and extrinsic strategies enhanced the motivation of the college learners and their performance on identification, terminology, and comprehension questions following instruction. Embedded relevance-enhancing strategies resulted in greater motivation and performance gains than did intrinsic relevance.

The effects of prior knowledge, presentation mode, and visual realism on student achievement

This experiment was designed to determine whether all types of visuals are equally effective in facilitating student achievement of identical educational objectives, whether students’ level of entering behavior (prior knowledge of the content) affects their ability to profit from visualization and subsequently perform on criterion tests designed to measure achievement of different educational objectives, and whether externally paced and self-paced methods of presenting visualized instruction are equally effective in facilitating student achievement of immediate and delayed retention of the content. The results indicate that students with high entering behavior achieved equivalent or significantly higher scores on the criterion measures than students with low and medium entering behavior regardless of the type of visualization or method of instruction received; the use of visualization to complement instruction is an effective instructional technique for reducing differences in achievement on the criterion...

EFFECT OF VARYING AMOUNT OF REALISTIC DETAIL IN VISUAL ILLUSTRATIONS DESIGNED TO COMPLEMENT PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION

This experiment was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of 8 types of visual illustrations used to complement programmed instruction. The various types of visual illustrations were evaluated in terms of their ability to improve student achievement of five criterial measures. Freshman students at The Pennsylvania State University were randomly assigned to one of 9 treatment groups. Each student received a pretest, participated in his respective programmed presentation, and received 4 individual criterial measures. Results indicated that some types of visuals are more effective than others in facilitating student achievement of specific educational objectives. Analyses also indicated that the addition of color in specific types of illustrations is an important instructional variable.

Effect of Color Coding on Visually and Verbally Oriented Tests with Students of Different Field Dependence Levels

To assess the impact of instructional color coding on visually and verbally oriented tests and on field-dependent-independent subjects, undergraduate college students (119) were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (color—black and white). These subjects received their respective treatment and received four dependent measures measuring four different types of educational objectives. Results indicated that the subjects level of field dependence is an important instructional variable and that color coding is an effective variable for maximizing information acquisition levels for field dependent over oriented subjects.

Is the self-paced instructional program, via microcomputer-based instruction, the most effective method of addressing individual learning differences?

One of the canons that guides the design of microcomputer-based instructional programs is to use a self-paced instructional method. However, there has been some indication that moderate levels of external pacing may prove to be more effective for overall learning, in terms of amount of content acquired and level of competency achieved with that content. Hypotheses derived from this idea were tested using three types of pacing. Learning was evaluated using five achievement tests ranging in difficulty from memorizing facts to problem solving. Experimental results supported the hypothesis favoring moderate levels of external pacing and found that the common principle of using self-paced instructional methods as the best style for all types of microcomputer instruction is an incorrect assumption.

REALISM IN VISUALIZED INSTRUCTION

To determine the relative effectiveness of two types of visuals in facilitating Ss achievement of different educational objectives 185 tenth grade Ss received a pretest, participated in one of three instructional treatments, and received two individual criterion tests measuring different levels of cognitive ability—knowledge and comprehension. Scores achieved on the two criterion tests were combined to provide a test of total understanding. Analysis indicated that increasing the amount of realistic detail in visuals can facilitate the learning of specific objectives.

The instructional effect of coding (color and black and white) on information acquisition and retrieval

Color, because of its omnipresent characteristics and increasing application in graphic displays, continues to be of interest to researchers. The authors, utilizing professionally designed and produced stimulus materials, found color coding to be an important instructional variable in improving student information acquisition under specific conditions.

Effect of Color Coding on Visually Oriented Tests With Students of Different Cognitive Styles

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effects that differentially coded (black and white and color) illustrations had on students (N = 117) who were classified as field dependent, field neutral, or field independent as a result of their performance on the visually oriented Group Embedded Figures Test (Witkin, Olt-man, Rashin, & Karp, 1971). Students were randomly assigned to two instructional treatments complemented by illustrations (black and white and colored). After receiving their respective treatments, students reviewed two visually oriented criterion tests. Two-way analyses of variance conducted on achievement scores indicated that field independents scored significantly higher than did field dependents on both visual tests, and differences between field-dependent and field-independent learners who received the color-coded treatments on the visual identification test were insignificant. Results indicate that field dependency is an important instructional variable and that for some ty...

EFFECT OF COLOR CODED INFORMATION ON STUDENTS' LEVELS OF FIELD DEPENDENCE '

To assess the instructional effect of coding (black and white and color) and field dependence/field independence, 119 university students were assigned to randomly ordered treatment groups, received their respective instruction and two criterion tests measuring different educational objectives. Analyses indicate that the field dependence is an important instructional variable and that the color-coded materials were more effective in reducing achievement differences between the two groups of learners.

Effect of Visual Stimuli on Varied Learning Objectives

This study was designed to investigate the instructional effectiveness of eight types of visual illustrations used to complement oral instruction. Tenth grade students received identical oral presentations and viewed their respective visual treatments for equal amounts of time. Students were randomly assigned by class to treatment groups, received a pretest, participated in their respective instructional presentation and received four individual criterial measures. Results indicated that the use of visual illustrations to complement oral instruction is an effective way of increasing student achievement on the criterial tests. The analysis also indicated that some types of visuals are more effective than others in facilitating student achievement of specific educational objectives.