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Multimedia learning environments for early readers.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The study examines various practices in using computer-based multimedia in reading instruction. Forty-two second grade students, selected from a rural Midwestern elementary school, were randomly assigned to three groups: traditional, structured multimedia learning and unstructured multimedia learning. The results showed that the structured multimedia learning group is significantly more effective than both the traditional and unstructured multimedia learning groups.

Introduction

National educational assessments indicate that young people are struggling through school without having mastered the most essential and basic skills in reading. The 2000 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) reported that over 85 percent of all fourth-graders in high-poverty schools scored below the proficient reading level (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Numerous approaches have attempted to improve students' achievement in reading (Eldredge & Butterfield, 1986; Joseph, 2002; Krashen, 2002; Smith, 1971). In the last two decades, particularly the last ten years, educators have tried to use modern learning technologies in their classrooms to improve students' reading. Richie and Aten studied the multimedia effects of audio and visual on reading and found that reading competency is dependent on both auditory as well as visual processing (Robinson, 1985). Studies have shown that learning technologies, such as multimedia, can enhance cognitive learning and make students better learners (Baker, 2001; Mayer & Anderson, 1991; Mousavi, Low, & Sweller, 1995; Moreno & Mayer, 1999). These studies revealed that learners with different learning modalities actually learn better with multimedia due to the multiple learning cues (i.e., audio and visual). According to Moreno and Mayer, multiple learning cues can accelerate information processing and lead to better learning results.

The notion that multimedia can improve learning is challenged by Richard Clark's (1983) theory contending that media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction, and it is the instructional design, curriculum, and pedagogy that influence achievement. He cautions about interpreting the effects of media attributes, such as zoom and animation effects, on learning. Clark (1983, 1994) concludes that such effects are incidental and therefore, not generalizable to educational settings in terms of achievement on student learning. The above differing views of multimedia use have influenced teaching practices in the K-12 schools. Zheng and Wilmes...

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