Booth Id:
BE039
Category:
Chemistry
Year:
2014
Finalist Names:
Amani, Noorhan
Abstract:
Visual perception is an essential skill, especially for school-aged children, as it is needed to understand and decipher things, learn reading skills, copy text accurately, develop visual memory of things observed, develop hand-eye coordination, and is used with other senses to recognize different sounds.The aim of this study was to determine if training and practice could enhance students’ visual perception and whether this improvement could be maintained. To meet this objective participant students (n=40) were randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group. The Motor Free Visual Perception Test 3 (MVPT-3) was administered to assess the students’ baseline visual perceptual status. Students from the experimental group were trained in visual perceptual sub-skills such as visual discrimination, visual memory, figure ground, visual closure, and visual form constancy. Both groups were allowed to play the SET card game. After four weeks, 2nd MVPT-3 test was administered to assess the visual perceptual scores of both groups. Without any further training or practice, 3rd MVPT-3 test was administered again after four weeks. Results demonstrated a significant improvement (p=0.00001, 95% CI 7.66-14.04) in the visual perceptual test scores of students in the experimental group. Additionally, most of the students were able to retain their improvement after another four weeks without any further training. Comparison of reading scores of both groups also showed that the experimental group made significant improvement (p=0.02, 95% CI 4.6-19.07) in their scores when compared to the control group. Study findings indicate that sub-skill training can improve visual perceptual skills in children, which can, in turn, help them in academic-related tasks.