A review of the literature shows that a variety of decisions must be made when choosing media that is appropriate to learning style. Visual media help students acquire concrete concepts, such as object identification, spatial relationship, or motor skills where words alone are inefficient. A distinction is drawn between verbal sound and non-verbal sound such as music. Sound media are necessary to present a stimulus for recall or sound recognition. Audio narration is recommended for poor readers.
Models force decisions among still, limited movement, and full movement visuals.
Motion is used to depict human performance so that learners can copy the movement. Several models assert that motion may be unnecessary and provides decision aid questions based upon objectives. Visual media which portray motion are best to show psychomotor or cognitive domain expectations by showing the skill as a model against which students can measure their performance. Decisions on color display are required if an object's color is relevant to what is being learned. Realia are tangible, real objects which are not models and are useful to teach motor and cognitive skills involving unfamiliar objects.