Imaginal elaboration of illustrations to facilitate fact learning: Creating memories of Prince Edward Island

Canadian students in grades 5 and 6 studied facts about the 10 Canadian provinces (e. g. Many very good plays are put on in Prince Edward Island). At study, each fact was accompanied by a picture of a stereotypical setting in the province (e. g. a picture of the lush farmland in Prince Edward Island). Half the subjects were instructed to learn by imagining the fact as stated occurring in the depiction (e. g. very good plays being produced in the lush farmland setting); half were told only to try hard to remember that the fact occurred in the particular province. The imagery instruction was effective, but only when children had previously mastered associations between the provinces and the pictures of the provinces. Naturalistically occurring pictures can be used by grade‐school children to create elaborative images that facilitate acquisition of confusing facts, but only if children first know what the illustrations represent.