ABSTRACT
Taking a comparative approach to media, this chapter develops an argument about the cognitive effects of media and their role in education. In so doing, it focuses on the interplay of media forms and media content. The first theme is that because of its technical nature, each medium transmits certain kinds of information easily and well, other kinds with difficulty and relatively poorly. Second, because of its particular profile of strengths and weaknesses, a given medium is particularly suited to presenting certain kinds of subject matter in the educational process. Finally, a medium's profile also has implications for cognitive development: each medium calls upon and develops a particular set of abilities to process and produce information. As a consequence, the mediafrom print to audio, video, and computers-have a complementary role to play both in education and in cognitive development. This point leads to the conclusion that educational policy must not consider media in an either-or framework. Instead, we must move toward a system of multimedia education. By giving each medium-the old ones as well as the new-its place in a child's life and education, each medium will be able to make its own special contribution to a child's learning and development.
