Set of 415 revisions to visuals in the 7th-grade CMP2 curriculum

Design · All designs
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description

The research team revised visuals in the Connected Mathematics 2 seventh-grade curriculum as part of a randomized controlled trial. Table 2 reports "The total number of revisions was 415 across 397 instances," with 69% being whole-visual removals of decorative or representational illustrations, 3% added mathematically-relevant visuals, and the remainder text-visual integration moves and modifications within existing visuals such as labels and color coding. Table 1 shows 47% of the original 432 visuals were math-irrelevant.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Revisions were guided by the multimedia, signaling, contiguity, and coherence principles and implemented by the research team

Constraints

• The article notes the math-relevant visuals were already well designed, so revisions focused mostly on removing math-irrelevant visuals and improving integration

Target Learners

• 7th-grade mathematics students

Learning Goals

• mathematics learning from textbook visuals

Claims

• Teacher viewpoints on visuals in the revised and original CMP2 curriculum were generally in line with theory and empirical evidence for the instructional design principles [+W]
• Treatment teachers generally liked the revisions to CMP2 visuals, especially increased color coding and labeling, and liked the revisions at least as much as control teachers liked the originals [+W]
• Treatment teachers viewed math-irrelevant visuals less favorably than control teachers, suggesting use of the revised curriculum and PD shifted views [+W]
• Both control and treatment teachers believed labeling benefits learning, disagreed that color coding made lessons too easy, and believed pictures help ELL students [+W]
• Open-ended responses on representational visuals differed by group, with treatment teachers more likely to see both pros and cons [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Clinton, V. & Cooper, J.L. (2015, April). Teacher Viewpoints of Instructional Design Principles for Visuals in a Middle School Math Curriculum. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	cmp2-visual-revisions-415-revisions
title	Set of 415 revisions to visuals in the 7th-grade CMP2 curriculum
description	The research team revised visuals in the Connected Mathematics 2 seventh-grade curriculum as part of a randomized controlled trial.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-01
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — clinton-2015

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