Picture Chunking Effects in Concept Learning.

Thirty-three second graders participated in a study to discover the value of teaching concepts using picture attribute chunking (PAC). It was hypothesized that PAC would yield superior concept learning performances compared to a picture attribute list (PAL) treatment and a word-alone treatment. The children, selected on the basis of a pretest that determined their knowledge of the concepts to be learned, were divided into three treatment groups. They were taught 14 concepts and given immediate posttests and delayed posttests of recall and recognition. On the immediate recall posttest, the PAC treatment results were superior to the word and PAL treatments. On the immediate recognition posttest, the PAC was superior to the other two and the word treatment was superior to the PAL. On the delayed recall posttest, there were no significant differences among the treatments. On the delayed recognition posttest, the PAC was superior to the PAL and word treatments. (TJ)