The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of computers can modify the focus of attention of learning disabled students in a matching task. More specifically, this study examined learning disabled students' performance (correct answers and response time for correct answers) when completing a task consisting of matching Chinese characters when presented under three display conditions: traditional card, static computer, and animated computer display.This study involved 42 subjects who were children with ages 9 through 11 and were randomly selected from a list of learning disabled students in the Muncie Community School District, Muncie, Indiana. They were in regular classrooms with special education servicing for learning disabled students. Subjects were randomly assigned into one of the three presentation methods.Previous research has shown that microcomputers have been successfully used in special education. Microcomputers can not only motivate learning disabled students to learn but also control many focus of attention related stimulus characteristics including brightness, distance between stimuli, number of stimuli, and the stability of a stimulus. Based on this research it was hypothesized: (a) that learning disabled students who visually match Chinese characters presented via static or animated computer screens would have more correct answers and have less response time for correct answers than learning disabled students who visually match Chinese characters presented via traditional cards; (b) that learning disabled students' performance in the animated computer condition would be better than that in the static computer condition; and (c) that learning disabled students' performance in these two computerized conditions would be better than that in the traditional card condition at different stimulus difficulty levels.A 3 x 5 analysis of variance with repeated measures and a Scheffe Multiple Comparison Test on Main Effects were used to analyze the data. The results of this study indicated that: (a) learning disabled students who were presented the matching task via computer screens did not demonstrate an overall improvement in focus of attention; (b) learning disabled students who were presented with the matching task via animated computer screen presentation did better than students under the static computer presentation at the easiest level of task difficulty; and (c) learning disabled students who were presented the matching task under the static computer screen presentation condition performed worse than students completing the task under the traditional card presentation condition at the easiest task difficulty level when dealing with simple tasks; and (c) that learning disabled students who were presented with Chinese characters via static computer screen might perform worse than students with traditional card presentation when completing simple tasks.The results from this study failed to completely support the main hypothesis that computerized instruction methods could improve learning disabled students' focus of attention. The possible explanations for the general unsuccessfulness of the computer conditions are that the testing materials in this study were not programmed in the sense of individualized rate and that there was no feedback regarding correct or incorrect responding or contingent reinforcement for the correct answers. Future studies should include systematic feedback for correct answers as well as computer conditions. Replication studies which use different stimuli from those of the current study to determine the generalization of the results should also be conducted. / Department of Special Education
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/174931 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Bao, Qixin |
| Contributors | Merbler, John B. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vi, 111 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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