The use of hypertext and sensory-level supports for visual learning of aircraft names and shapes

Abstract

Hypertexts have many novel and unexplored features for representing, linking, and exploring knowledge to make it more useful for learning. We contrasted traditional textbook presentation of information against a hypertext that implemented database retrieval of text and manipulation of colored, bitmapped displays. Hypertext enabled us to explore the role of sensory-level supports, such as apparent motion and colored overlays, as aids for visual cognition and concept formation. One visible difference between traditional text and hypertext was in the use of a rapid browsing strategy by the hypertext learners, compared with a methodical, extended side-by-side comparison by the book learners. The research also discovered that students better learned local neighborhoods of concepts, as opposed to widely dispersed concepts, in the hypertext environment. We selected visual aircraft recognition (VACR) as a topical area for the research because it is a very important problem in the Army, because traditional VACR training emphasizes both text and images, and because we had available to us a fine manual (Army Field Manual FM 44–30) full of black-and-white pictures and text that was artfully arranged on the page, as well as access to hundreds of color slides of airplanes. Our research found superior learning with the hypertext field manual, and we examined higher order learning strategies, such as depth-first versus breadth-first paths through the hierarchy of knowledge, and sensory-level supports for learning within these environments.