The role of spatial ability in learning from instructional animations – Evidence for an ability-as-compensator hypothesis
Introduction
In recent years, the role of individual differences on learning with visual representations has been more and more focused on. As overall comparisons between animations and static pictures (cp. Höffler and Leutner, 2007, Tversky et al., 2002) did not lead to consistent results, it seems plausible that different conditions moderate the efficacy of static or dynamic representations, for example the role of animation (decorational versus representational, cp. Höffler & Leutner, 2007), the task that is to be learned (Ayres, Marcus, Chan, & Qian, 2008), or the course topic. Likewise, individual differences can account for different learning results with animations or static pictures. For instance, such an effect is well documented for prior knowledge (Kalyuga, 2007). Another important individual difference which plays a role in learning with representations is spatial ability. In a very recent review, Höffler (2010) showed the significant influence of spatial ability and its sub-dimensions on the processing of visualizations and identified some moderators of this effect. As spatial ability can be defined as the ability to establish and retain an internal representation (a mental model) of a perceived scene in such as way that a mental manipulation is possible (Carroll, 1993, Höffler, 2010), it seems obvious that this ability might make a difference when handling either static or dynamic visualizations. In case of animations, a ‘ready-made’ model is presented which may be easily transferred into a dynamic mental model even by learners with low spatial ability. In case of series of static pictures, different scenes must be connected, and different static elements must be mentally manipulated in order to establish a dynamic mental model; a highly developed spatial ability should help accomplish this task. As a competing hypothesis, animations might be especially difficult to process for learners with low spatial ability because of the transitivity of animations.
Therefore, the present paper investigates the role of spatial ability when learning from an instructional animation versus a series of static pictures. The results of two experiments are reported. Furthermore, we examine different aspects of spatial ability and discuss the results in relation to divergent results of other authors.
Section snippets
Animations versus static pictures
Much research has been conducted in recent years on the question of whether dynamic animations or static pictures are superior for learning. Many authors reported benefits of animations (e.g., Catrambone and Seay, 2002, Spotts and Dwyer, 1996, Yang et al., 2003), while many others did not (e.g., Lewalter, 2003, Mayer et al., 2005, Swezey, 1991). In a review (Bétrancourt and Tversky, 2000, Tversky et al., 2002), the authors showed that very often animations had no learning advantages over static
Research questions and hypotheses
This study aimed at investigating the specific role of spatial ability on learning with dynamic as well as non-dynamic visualizations. With more empirical evidence supporting the ability-as-compensator hypothesis, we hypothesized to find a compensator role of spatial ability in learning from animations versus static pictures, that is, learners with low spatial ability should be supported by animations in their learning process, or, respectively, a high spatial ability should support a learner
Experiment 1
In Experiment 1, students with low prior knowledge who scored high and low on the Paper Folding test learned about the role of surfactants during the washing process.
Results and discussion
First of all, it was obtained that participants did not significantly differ between groups as to their spatial ability or pre-test result. Data were analyzed within the General Linear Model
Experiment 2
Experiment 2 was conducted in order to replicate the findings of Experiment 1 with a larger sample size from another population, that is, students at school. This validating proceeding seemed appropriate as the respective topic was part of the curriculum of the participating schools. Furthermore, besides spatial-visualization ability, the role of spatial-relations ability in learning from animations was to be studied.
Results and discussion
Again, at first it was assured that participants did not significantly differ between groups as to their spatial ability or pre-test results. Data were analyzed within the General Linear Model, and a sequential decomposition of variance (SPSS procedure GLM, option SSTYPE 1) was applied with post-test achievement as the dependent variable. As independent variables two continuous measures that were used for reducing residual variance only were specified first in the SPSS-design statement (grades
General discussion
The present set of experiments suggests that spatial ability – or, more precisely, spatial-visualization ability – plays a crucial, but also rather specific role in learning with animations and static pictures. In previous studies, often no interaction of spatial ability and type of visualization were found (e.g., Hegarty et al., 2003, Narayanan and Hegarty, 2002). In the present study, however, an interaction was obtained that is in line with the spatial-ability-as-compensator hypothesis: High
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