The Impact of Multimedia on Learning and Retention of Persian Pre-Printing Skills Course in First Graders

The present research seeks to assess the impact of a researcher-made multimedia on the learning and retention of the Persian pre-printing skills. The participants were all the first graders of elementary schools in Teheran in the school year 2010-2011. 40 students were selected through multilevel random sampling to represent the experimental group (20 subjects) and control group (20 subjects). The method of the research was semi-experimental, and the used research plan was pretest-posttest with control group. Firstly, the researcher took a pre-test from both groups using a research-made exam, and then taught pre-printing skills to the experimental group using a research-made multimedia built on multimedia designing principles. Separately, the teacher taught the same pre-printing lesson using the traditional method. Finally, both groups were taken an exam. The results indicated an increase in alphabet-tracing learning, alphabet-tracing retention, eye/hand coordination skill learning and letter-shape recognition learning in comparison with the control group. The impact of the multimedia on the learning was confirmed while the increase of eye/hand coordination retention and letter-shape recognition retention were not confirmed. This shows that the multimedia can be effective in the learning of Persian pre-printing skills course but not necessarily in its retention in the long run.