Abstract
While there has been extensive research on strategies for learning from text, the same cannot be stated for animations. Two important types of animation are distinguished: those that do not include verbal information and those that do include verbal information. According to the modality principle, verbal information in animations should be presented in spoken as opposed to written form, thus yielding narrated animations. Because animations without and without narration place different processing demands on the students respectively, different theories account for learning from each type. Both types of animation require the students to engage in perceptual and cognitive interrogations in order to identify events and the relational structures between them that characterize the animated processes locally as well as globally. The Animation Processing Model gives an account of how these interrogation processes can be realized. Narrated animations require the students to process not only the pictorial display as well as the narration, they also have to mentally relate and integrate both sources of information. The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning provides an account of how the integration of both sources of information in particular can be achieved. A learning strategy was developed and empirically evaluated on the basis of each theory. In four experimental studies overall, it was demonstrated that the strategy for learning from narrated animation substantially improves learning. The beneficial effects of the learning strategy were still observable 1 week after the learning period. The strategy for learning from animation without narration, in contrast, did not significantly enhance learning. It turned out that particularly the students’ perceptual interrogation processes are difficult to support by means of a learning strategy.
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This research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under contract PL 224/17-1. We thank Benjamin Fillisch and Patrick Gewald for supporting the data collection.
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Ploetzner, R., Breyer, B. (2017). Strategies for Learning from Animation With and Without Narration. In: Lowe, R., Ploetzner, R. (eds) Learning from Dynamic Visualization. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56204-9_15
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