D.Ed. / Although media have been used in the classroom for centuries the imporance and the difficulties of the selection of a medium have only been recognised since the 1960' s. Since then, the proliferation of media and their increasing invasion of the classroom have drawn attention to the need to reconcile the medium and a particular teaching objective. This new consciousness, together with a desire to approach the problem systematically has led to comparative studies of the various media!and to a classification of their similarities and differences. Then media taxonomies were drawn up, and models for media selection were extrapolated from these in an effort to provide both practical and theoretical guidelines. These efforts have not yet provided satisfactory solutions, firstly because there is no concensus regarding the concept "media" and secondly because they have tended to concentrate on media per se, while it is the media-attributes, the properties of each medium, which determine how information will be corrnnunicated. Finally, most of those selection models lack a sound pedagogical basis. The large number of determinant factors capable of influencing the final choice of a medium makes media selection a complex matter. These determinants include teaching objectives, learning content, learning tasks, leamer attributes, learning environment, media attributes and application of the medium. All these can act both independently and in concert in selection further compounding the problem. Existing literature has been examined with one particular determinant in mind, viz, media attributes. Definitions and taxonomies were analysed in an effort to determine what the properties of media are and how they should be classified. A media classification system based on the results of that analysis is put forward, with each attribute being examined separately. It is quite obvious from existing literature that media selection must take account of the interaction between the various determinants. Since this study is limited to one determinant - media attributes - further research into the role played in media selection by each of the other determinants is imperative. Two recent attempts at defining and describing the interaction between the determinants, are Aptitude-Treatment Interaction and Trait-Treatment Interaction. They have not, as yet, produced many positive results, but they gave rise to the Symbol System approach. This approach advances a theory relating media's most basic modes of presentation - their symbol systems - to common thought processes and to learning. Each medium, using symbol systems, may have its oWn specific effects on how the knowledge is extracted and on how meanings are arrived at'. This approach holds great promise for the future, but certain questions remain unanswered in the meantime. It is not yet understood, for instance, how a child's symbolic capabilities and preferences interact with his way of handling the symbolic nature of media's messages, nor in what specific ways they affect his cognitive abilities. Today's teacher, in urgent need of practical guidelines, cannot wait for answers. This study attempting to fill that need and contains an open media selection model which is based on all the determinants identified and which is founded on pedagogical considerations.

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