The effects of filmic advance organizers on acquisition of facts and concepts learned from a sound film by regular and mainstreamed educable mentally retarded children

This study was designed to examine the effect that filmic advance organizers (PAOs) had on the learning and retention of facts and concepts from a sound film by the regular and the mainstreamed educable mentally retarded learners (EMRs). PAOs referred to a set of tape narrated slides presented in advance of a sound film from which the slides were made to give brief general overview of the film.

A 2x3 factorial design was utilized with ability levels (regular x EMR) and presentation modes (PAOs/film x film x control) as independent variables, and the posttest scores as dependent variables. All subjects, selected from sixth-, seventh-, and eighth graders in two middle schools in Louisville, Kentucky, were assigned at random to the six groups. Each of the three regular groups received one of the treatments; PAOs/film, film, or control. Likewise, each of the three EMR groups received the three identical treatments. A seventeen-item multiple choice, which yielded Kuder-Richardson-Hoyt reliability of .70 for the regular groups, and .51 for the EMRs, was administered immediately after the treatment and seventeen days later. All subjects were pretested one week prior to the treatment to test initial learning. A two-way ANOVA and Duncan's Multiple Range Test were performed separately on the sixty observations included in the final analysis.

The results indicated that (1) on the immediate- and delayed-retention tests interaction between ability levels and presentation modes were not significant at .05 level, (2) on the immediate retention test significant effects were found at .01 level for the regular FAO group, and at .05 level for the EMR FAQ group, and (5) on the delayed retention test a significant effect for the regular FAO group was found at .05 level. Data obtained from the EMEs were analyzed but not interpreted due to the low reliability of the test for the group.

It was concluded that FAOs prepared for this study appeared to provide facilitative effect for the regular subjects in acquisition and retention of facts and concepts presented in a consumer education film, and ability levels did not differentially affect the learning outcomes.