| Summary |
A nationally recognized problem, at-risk students are identified as evidencing stable patterns of unsuccessful school performance that ordinarily cannot be reversed through traditional school instruction. One innovative technology application that could address the special educational needs of at-risk students is the use of cooperative multimedia learning activities in which small groups of students plan and construct microcomputer-based media presentations focusing on school content. As a nontraditional form of instruction, such technology environments provide modes of learning that qualitatively enhance regular school practices in a fashion that promises to be a highly motivational means for improving both the academic and affective success of at-risk students. In exploring the effectiveness of a multimedia learning strategy with at-risk learners, the present thesis was designed to determine whether the use of multimedia instructional activities with at-risk middle school students as an enhancement to regular classroom instruction in social studies would increase their academic achievement, self-confidence, and attitude toward learning. In the study, forty-nine students were randomly assigned to either an experimental classroom or one of two control classrooms. All participating groups received an initial two-weeks of instruction on a standardized social studies lesson focusing upon the Bill of Rights. This was followed by either the experimental treatment, a one-week multimedia learning project, or a control condition, a combination of lecture, review, and classroom projects. Results of the study using multivariate analysis of variance confirmed that the at-risk students participating in the multimedia enhancement activities displayed significantly greater social studies knowledge, had significantly more positive attitudes toward and self-confidence in school learning in general and social studies learning in particular. No differences were found between the two control classrooms. The results were discussed in terms of the potential of multimedia learning environments to provide qualitatively- enhanced alternatives to traditional instruction for improving the school performance of at-risk and non-at-risk learners. |
