The Effect of Picture upon the Readability of a School Science Topic.

Summary. The effect of picture upon the readability of a specially written science topic was studied. 338 14-year-old children studying CSE Biology in six comprehensive schools completed a cloze test during their study and an objective items recognition test 15 minutes afterwards. Analysis of variance performed on post-test scores showed that when pictures were present the topic was more easily remembered. However, pictures played little part in the children's performance on the cloze test. It is concluded that attempts to match science textbooks to their readers solely by the application of standard readability formulae, which are unable to take account of the pictorial content of such materials, are simplistic and misleading.