DYNAMIC vs STATIC ILLUSTRATIONS
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relative efficacy of two types of illustrations on the reading comprehension of secondary students with learning disabilities. Materials used in the study are text passages from a high school biology book, supported with either static illlustrations (e.g., two dimensional pictures, photos, graphs etc.) or dynamic illustrations (e.g., video, simulations, animations etc.). Examples of both are presented below for passages in a commonly used biology text.
Software Used
GRAB 1.3.1 (by Apple Computer, Inc.)
was used to make screenshots of 1+6 initial still images from Life Science student edition CD-ROM.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS2
was used to make intermediate frames between those initials. 244 frames were made originating from those 1+6 so far.
iMOVIE HD 6.0.3 (by Apple Computer, Inc.)
was used to compile the produced intermediate frames and to adjust them with the narration.
QUICK TIME PRO PLAYER 7.2.0 (by Apple, Inc.)
was used to export the compiled movie project in and to process to the final desired format.
Technique Applied
Once we chose to keep the style employed in the textbook, our technique had to be rather primitive, consuming and mostly manual – but solely possible. It included: 1) increasing RGB colors on membrane, organelles, and nucleus in cell description in statics; 2) separating cytoplasm, nucleus, chromosomes, and spindle into separate layers; 3) frame-by-frame changing cytoplasm as the least changeable element; 4) changing nucleus; 5) changing chromosomes as the most changeable element; 6) changing spindle. We had to change size, position, sometimes also color and opacity of the elements, doing it so that a human eye perceive the frame series as a continuous video.
Initial Still Images from Holt Science and Technology LIFE SCIENCE
Student Edition CD-ROM, ISSN 0-03-046219-3, by Harcourt Education Company.
Unit 2 (Cells), Chapter 4 (The Cell in Action), Section 3 (The Cell Cycle).
Intermediate Frames Produced
Shown below are thumbnail tables of all 244 produced consecutive frames, from initial 1 to 2 (29 frames), 2 to 3 (33 frames), 3 to 4 (55 frames), 4 to 5 (24 frames), 5 to 6 (75 frames), and 6 to 7 (30 frames).
Final Video
narrated by Ben Fisher, of 106 Mb in *.avi format is currently stored at Mac 24" computer and was uploaded to YouTube:
{youtube}WX4ShI9n3c0{/youtube}
we would appreciate your critisizm and suggestions before the pilot study begins.
The student population is comprised of fifty 8th and 9th grade students with learning disabilities who have not yet taken a high school biology course. Participating students are all volunteers from local middle and high schools (implementation is in Spring 2007). Students from each participating school will be randomly assigned to the treatment group (dynamic illustrations) or the comparison group (static illustrations). After an initial training period, each student will read three passages and answer comprehension questions on the content of each passage. All passages for both conditions will be read on the computer. Data analysis will look for differences in the reading comprehension scores of students in the two groups. In addition, log files will be used to monitor student attention to the illustrations. Additional data analyses will be conducted to determine if there is a correlation between accessing the illustrations (frequency and time spent) on reading comprehension scores in either condition.