The use of emphasis in designing text book illustrations for 2nd and 5th graders

One factor determining the effectiveness of educational media is the use of design principles in their design and production. Emphasis is one such principle and in the study reported herein, its use in the illustrations of 2nd and 5th grades textbooks is explored. The data sources used in the study were Science, Math, and Farsee textbooks in these two grades. The textbooks were content analyzed in terms of the use of the said principle. Results show that in a high percentage of the illustrations in the reviewed textbooks emphasis is not used. Where this principle is used, the extent of its application is independent of the subject matter and grade level.