Maps, Mode of Text Presentation, and Children’s Prose Learning

Abstract

This study examined the effects of reference maps on what children remember from written and aurally presented discourse. Subjects were presented one of three maps that varied in feature configuration and spatial distribution, and were asked to study these maps before reading or listening to a related story. Results of tests across both prose and maps conflicted with previous research in which learners appeared unable to maintain visual images while reading. We found essentially no differences in recall due to mode of text presentation, but the type of map that was presented profoundly influenced recall from both the text and the map. Maps that had pictorial features logically organized according to passage content greatly increased the learning of text that was related directly to map content. This indicates that maps serve a mnemonic-like function for remembering prose.