The Effect of Varied Visual Cueing Strategies in Facilitating Student Achievement on Different Educational Objectives / Thomas Jennings and Francis M. Dwyer.

The effectiveness of elaborate visual cueing and reduced step size (i.e., increasing the number of visual cues) in facilitating student achievement on different instructional tasks was examined. The hypothesis proposed that instructional treatments utilizing reduced step size and elaborate visual cueing alone and in combination would be superior to treatments using larger step size and simple visual cueing. Parts of Dwyer's instructional materials were modified and used with varying degrees of visual cueing. Simple visual cues employed were static position indicators. Dynamic-process arrows, motion indicators, and shading were used as elaborate cues. Immediate and delayed posttests were administered to 92 university students in four treatment groups, following self-paced interaction with assigned instruction presentations. Results showed that visual step size affected achievement on certain criterion tasks. Selective reduction of visual step size had an overall facilitative effect on immediate learning and on the individual drawing task, but effect was maintained only on the drawing test. Instructional treatments differing only in degree of visual cueing used were equally effective. No advantage was gained in visualized instruction by using elaborate visual cueing. Ten references are listed with this research report. (LMM)

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