Focus of attention and choice of text modality in multimedia learning

The term ‘modality effect’ in multimedia learning means that students learn better from pictures combined with spoken rather than written text. The most prominent explanations refer to the split attention between visual text reading and picture observation which could affect transfer of information into working memory, maintenance of information in working memory or the effective size of working memory. The assumption of a continuous need for split attention is questionable, however. Learners can keep pictorial information in working memory, when they have seen the picture before, especially if they have higher prior knowledge. Instead of suffering from a permanent split attention, learners frequently show tendencies to simply ignore pictures. This suggests guiding learners towards picture analysis by picture-related text paragraphs. We assume that these paragraphs are associated with stronger modality effects than content-related paragraphs, especially if the pictures are new to learners. These assumptions were tested in an experiment with 120 students learning about volcanism from illustrated text consisting of segments each including a content-related paragraph followed by a picture-related paragraph describing the accompanying visualization. Content-related and picture-related paragraphs were presented as visual or auditory texts leading to 2x2 conditions of text presentation. Picture novelty was manipulated by presenting a picture throughout the whole segment or only when the picture-related paragraph was read. As expected, picture-related paragraphs were associated with stronger modality effects than content-related paragraphs if picture novelty is high. The distinction between different kinds of paragraphs seems to be important for the prediction of modality effects.     

The Effect of Instructional Modality and Prior Knowledge on Learning Point Group Symmetry

Many topics in chemistry are difficult for learners to understand, including symmetry. Reasons for this difficulty include its multi-level content, instructional methodologies utilized, and learner variables. This study examined the effect of initial instructional modality and prior knowledge on learning of point group symmetry. Forty-four students in a sophomore-level inorganic chemistry class at a small private university were divided by pre-selected lab groups into two groups, lecture and computer, for introductory information about point group symmetry. Both groups had low prior knowledge of symmetry elements although the lecture group had significantly higher knowledge than the computer group. After initial instruction, the lecture group scored significantly higher than the computer group on a point group assessment, even when prior knowledge was controlled. A second assessment, given after both groups had follow-up information from computer courseware, showed no significant difference between the groups. The computer group significantly improved between the two assessments, the lecture group did not. At the end-of-the semester post-test showed no significant difference between the two groups, although only 50% of the students in each group achieved mastery. Factors affecting the significant improvement of the low prior knowledge, computer group were examined and recommendations for future research provided.     

Effects of Example Choice on Interest,Control, and Learning

We investigated example choice as a new method for the teaching of formal theoretical principles. Formal principles are presented with several examples from different topics, and students choose the one that interests them most. Example choice might be related to prior knowledge, interest, or perceived control. In an experimental study, we examined the effects of degree of example choice and degree of prior knowledge on interest, perceived control, and learning outcomes in a presentation on confirmation bias. The main finding was that participants who could choose an example showed more interest in the presentation of the formal principle than participants who either were given an example by the experimenter or only saw the presentation. Control was lowest for the group without example choice and without prior knowledge. Finally, prior knowledge, but not example choice, increased performance on a transfer of knowledge task. Example choice thus offers a new approach for closing the gap between formal principles as presented at school and a student's interests.     

Using Film and Intergenerational Colearning to Enhance Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Older Adults

This study evaluated whether two evidence-based methods used collaboratively, intergenerational colearning and use of films/documentaries in an educational context, enhanced knowledge levels and attitudes toward older adults in nursing, social work, and other allied profession students. Students participated in a gerontology film festival where they were exposed to two documentary films related to older adults. The films were followed by a discussion led by a panel of persons who had knowledge of the topic and were models of healthy aging. A pretest/posttest design was used to measure aging knowledge and attitudes toward older adults. Additional data consisted of demographics and information on prior older adult-related trainings. Significant increases were found in aging quiz and attitude scores. The combination of exposure to the documentary films and an intergenerational panel consisting of older adults leading a discussion of the films appears to have an immediate positive effect not only on knowledge of aging, but also on attitudes. Combining the two modalities can be done using existing resources that are available cross-nationally at no or little cost.     

The effects of worked examples in computer-based instruction: focus on the presentation format of worked examples and prior knowledge of learners

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of presentation formats of worked examples and the interaction effects between the presentation formats of worked examples and the prior knowledge of learners. An investigation with 97 middle school students working in four conditions (CPWE, CWE, PWE, and the control group) was conducted. The results indicate that CPWE was the most effective condition in retention and transfer. In addition, a partial expertise reversal effect was revealed in the element transfer test. High prior knowledge learners in both CPWE and PWE were superior to those who were in CWE and the control group, while low prior knowledge learners in CPWE were superior to those who were in other conditions.     

Supporting learners’ experiment design

Inquiry learning is an educational approach in which learners actively construct knowledge and in which performing investigations and conducting experiments is central. To support learners in designing informative experiments we created a scaffold, the Experiment Design Tool (EDT), that provided learners with a step-by-step structure to select variables and to assign values to these variables, together with offering built-in heuristics for experiment design. To further structure the students’ approach, the EDT was offered within a set of detailed research questions which again were grouped under a set of broader research questions. Learning results for learners who worked with the EDT were compared to results for learners in two control conditions. In the first control condition, learners received only the detailed research questions and not the EDT; in the second control condition, learners received only the limited set of general research questions. In all conditions, learners conducted their experiments in an online learning environment about the physics topic of Archimedes’ principle. Conceptual knowledge was measured before and after the intervention using parallel forms of a knowledge test. Overall results showed significant learning gains in all three conditions, but no significant differences between conditions. However, learners who started with low prior knowledge showed a significantly higher learning gain in the EDT condition than in the two control conditions. This result indicates that the effect of providing learners with scaffolds does not follow a “one-size-fits-all” principle, but may depend on specific learner characteristics, such as prior knowledge.     

教学视频中线索类型与学习者先前知识经验对学习的交互影响

教学视频因其多通道展现教学内容的特性而成为数字化学习资源的首选形态。线索作为教学视频中的重要引导性教学设计手段,探究其类型及学习者先前知识经验对学习效果的交互影响,有益于优化教学视频的设计策略。基于学习者先前知识经验水平(高水平和低水平)和线索类型(言语线索和视觉线索)两个维度,运用眼动追踪技术和认知负荷、学习满意度、学习效果等测量工具,通过实验考察二者对学习的影响及其内在机制后发现:学习者先前知识经验水平对认知负荷的影响显著;线索类型对学习满意度的影响显著,且线索类型与学习者先前知识经验水平在学习满意度上的交互效应显著;学习者先前知识经验水平对学习效果的影响显著,且线索类型与学习者先前知识经验水平在迁移测验成绩上的交互效应显著。实验结果表明,线索类型与学习者先前知识经验水平对学习满意度和学习效果存在明显的交互作用,即只有低知识经验水平学习者在学习含有视觉线索的教学视频后,学习满意度与学习效果才有显著提升。这可能是由于该类学习者在信息选择时存在困难,视觉线索可以帮助其提高信息搜索效率,而言语线索却会使其认知负荷超载。     

Role of cognitive prompts in video caregiving training for older adults: optimizing deep and surface learning

Enhancing the cognitive functionality of digital technology can be critical in learning complex topics like caregiving for older adults. This study examines the deployment of cognitive prompts in video-based training to optimize older adults’ cognitive information process in both deep and surface learning. The path analysis revealed the relationship among cognitive prompts, crystallized knowledge and learning outcomes showing crystallized knowledge as a significant mediator between cognitive prompts and learning outcomes. Additionally, cognitive prompts were shown to be significant in activating older learners’ prior knowledge, rendering the learning process more meaningful and purposeful for older adults.     

Relationships between students' meaningful learning orientation and their understanding of genetics topics

This study explored factors predicting the extent to which high school students (N = 140) acquired meaningful understanding of the biological topics of meiosis, the Punnett-square method, and the relationships between these topics. This study (a) examined mental modeling as a technique for measuring students' meaningful understanding of the topics, (b) measured students' predisposed, generalized tendency to learn meaningfully (meaningful learning orientation), (c) determined the extent to which students' meaningful learning orientation predicted meaningful understanding beyond that predicted by aptitude and achievement motivation, (d) experimentally tested two instructional treatments (relationships presented to students, relationships generated by students), (e) explored the relationships of meaningful learning orientation, prior knowledge, instructional treatment, and all interactions of these variables in predicting meaningful understanding. The results of correlations and multiple regressions indicated that meaningful learning orientation contributed to students' attainment of meaningful understanding independent of aptitude and achievement motivation. Meaningful learning orientation and prior knowledge interacted in unique ways for each topic to predict students' attainment of meaningful understanding. Instructional treatment had relatively little relationship to students' acquisition of meaningful understanding, except for learners midrange between meaningful and rote. These findings imply that a meaningful learning approach among students may be important, perhaps as much or more than aptitude and achievement motivation, for their acquisition of interrelated, meaningful understandings of science.     

How prior knowledge affects word identification and comprehension

While prior knowledge of a passage topic is known to facilitate comprehension, little is known about how it affects word identification. We examined oral reading errors in good and poor readers when reading a passage where they either had prior knowledge of the passage topic or did not. Children who had prior knowledge of the topic were matched on decoding skill to children who did not know the topic so that the groups differed only on knowledge of the passage topic. Prior knowledge of the passage topic was found to significantly increase fluency and reduce reading errors, especially errors based on graphic information, in poor readers. Two possible mechanisms of how prior knowledge might operate to facilitate word identification were evaluated using the pattern of error types, as was the relationship of errors to comprehension. Implications of knowledge effects for assessment and educational policy are discussed.     

Online discussion compensates for suboptimal timing of supportive information presentation in a digitally supported learning environment

This study used a sequential set-up to investigate the consecutive effects of timing of supportive information presentation (information before vs. information during the learning task clusters) in interactive digital learning materials (IDLMs) and type of collaboration (personal discussion vs. online discussion) in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) on student knowledge construction. Students (N = 87) were first randomly assigned to the two information presentation conditions to work individually on a case-based assignment in IDLM. Students who received information during learning task clusters tended to show better results on knowledge construction than those who received information only before each cluster. The students within the two separate information presentation conditions were then randomly assigned to pairs to discuss the outcomes of their assignments under either the personal discussion or online discussion condition in CSCL. When supportive information had been presented before each learning task cluster, online discussion led to better results than personal discussion. When supportive information had been presented during the learning task clusters, however, the online and personal discussion conditions had no differential effect on knowledge construction. Online discussion in CSCL appeared to compensate for suboptimal timing of presentation of supportive information before the learning task clusters in IDLM.     

A model to design interactive learning environments for children with visual disabilities

Current interactive learning environments cannot be accessed by learners with disabilities, in particular for students with vision disabilities. Modeling techniques are necessary to map real-world experiences to virtual worlds by using 3D auditory representations of objects for blind people. In this paper, a model to design multimedia software for blind learners is presented. The model was validated with existing educational software for these users. We describe the modeling of the real world including cognitive usability testing tasks by considering not only the representation of the real world but also modeling the learner’s knowledge of the virtual world. The software architecture is also described by using this model, displaying the components needed to impact learning. Finally, we analyze critical issues in designing software for learners with visual disabilities and propose some recommendations and guidelines.     

Effect of prior domain knowledge and headings on processing of informative text

College students with either high or low prior domain knowledge (PK) read a text chapter presented in short pages on a computer monitor. Half of the participants read with headings present and half with headings absent. The computer recorded time spent reading and rereading each short page. Learning was assessed through a structured recall task. In general, headings seem to improve recall of high importance information, and headings were more effective for high PK learners. Analysis of time data showed that participants with headings spent more time per word reading the pages with headings than participants that did not have headings. Prior knowledge had no effect on attention to either high importance information or important supporting detail. Low prior knowledge readers decreased the amount of time spent reading each word as they progressed through the passage and neither the presence nor absence of headings influenced this effect.     

Spatial ability,visual imagery,and mathematical performance

116 Foundation Year Engineering Students, at the University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea, were given a battery of mathematical and spatial tests; in addition, their preferred modes of processing mathematical information were determined by means of an instrument recently developed in Australia by Suwarsono.Correlational analysis revealed that students who preferred to process mathematical information by verbal-logical means tended to outperform more visual students on mathematical tests. Multiple regression and factor analyses pointed to the existence of a distinct cognitive trait associated with the processing of mathematical information. Also, spatial ability and knowledge of spatial conventions had less influence on mathematical performance than could have been expected from recent relevant literature.     

The Role of Visual Indicators in Dual Sensory Mode Instruction

Advances in our knowledge of the structure of working memory suggest that under some circumstances, effectively more processing capacity is available to learners if instructional materials use multiple information modes (e.g. auditory and visual) instead of equivalent single mode formats. This paper examined this modality effect from a cognitive load perspective in three experiments using geometry instruction. In accordance with cognitive load theory, it was predicted that the additional processing capacity provided in an audio/visual format would only enhance learning if mental resources were not devoted to extensive visual based search in order to coordinate auditory and visual information. Using two different areas of geometry, Experiments 1 and 2 found that if visual search was clearly high, then audio‐visual instruction was only beneficial if visual indicators in the form of electronic flashing were incorporated into the instructional format. Under high search conditions, a standard audio/visual format without the aid of flashing proved no better than visual only instruction. Experiment 3 attempted to clarify earlier results by using instructional materials trivially low in visual search. Data indicated that a standard, audio‐visual format resulted in superior learning to a visual only format. There was no beneficial effect of electronic flashing in Experiment 3, suggesting that visual indicators were not necessary in areas of low visual search. It was concluded that cognitive load as determined by visual search established the effectiveness of visual indicators.     

Altering the Modality of Instructions to Facilitate Imagination: Interactions between the Modality and Imagination Effects

Under some conditions, learning is improved by using a dual mode presentation involving for example, visual diagrams and auditory, rather than written text (modality effect). Under other conditions, learning is improved by asking learners to imagine rather than study instructional material (imagination effect). Both effects have been explained using cognitive load theory. This paper investigates interactions between the modality and imagination effects. It was hypothesized that the imagination effect would be facilitated when accompanied by audio/visual instructions compared to visual only instructions. Experiment 1 provided evidence to suggest that for the materials used, audio/visual instructions were required to obtain an imagination effect. Experiment 2 through verbal protocols aimed to investigate the cognitive mechanisms required when studying and imagining and found that learners who studied tended to engage in search while learners who imagined focused on entities and relations that needed to be learned. in final form: 8 December 2005     

Text-Comprehension Strategies Based on Outlines

Prior to studying an instructional text, college students were given either a topically relevant outline or a topically irrelevant (control) outline and asked to generate propositions about the topics by drawing upon their existing knowledge. The results indicate that comprehension was highest among those students who activated relevant prior knowledge before text study, and who were again provided with an outline of that knowledge during testing. The measure of comprehension used here was total meaningful recall: It included text propositions plus valid elaborations based on the interaction of text information and students’ existing knowledge. The results of conceptual clustering analyses suggest that organization was one of the mechanisms by which topical outlines increased meaningful recall. Additional analyses conducted only on the elaborations indicate that students produced more of them during long-term (six week) recall than during immediate recall.     

Cerebral laterality effects in the dual processing of prose

The degree to which the concreteness of prose material presented in an auditory fashion would interact with learners' lateral preference under different right hemispheric presentation conditions was investigated with 96 normal adults. Forty-eight subjects with consistent right preference patterns and a like number of bilateral individuals were either instructed to image, given a visual-spatial interference task, or given no instructions before listening to passages which differed in abstractness. As predicted across conditions, learners recalled a significantly greater number of ideas when the passage was concrete. Importantly, the abstractness was found to interact with subjects' inferred cerebral dominance. Whereas instructions to image and visual interference had little significant effect on mixed dominant subjects, for more consistently lateralized subjects imagery instructions increased and right-hemispheric interference decreased concrete recall. The results were interpreted in terms of visual and verbal encoding concomitant with cerebral lateralization.     

Sources of math and science self-efficacy in rural Appalachia: A convergent mixed methods study

Rural living, particularly in economically distressed areas, may reduce students’ educational opportunities and alter their self-beliefs. According to social cognitive theory, the contexts in which people live influence how they feel about their capabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences that raise and lower the math and science self-efficacy of students living in a rural, high-poverty area in Central Appalachia. A convergent mixed methods design was used to examine quantitative and qualitative survey data from 673 students in Grades 6–12 who took part in a multi-year study on academic motivation (Year 1 = 511; Year 2 = 391; Year 3 = 418). In the quantitative phase, structural equation models showed that Year 1 mastery experience raised and physiological states lowered students’ math and science self-efficacy in Year 2. Deductive coding of students’ responses to 4 open-ended questions in Year 3 indicated that other sources were also salient and differed by domain, their effect on self-efficacy, and student gender. Integrative analyses showed that students consider information from multiple sources when judging their capabilities. This research extends findings related to the sources of self-efficacy to the understudied population of rural learners, the less-studied context of science, and to the factors that not only increase but decrease perceived efficacy.     

泛在技术环境下教学体验与教师角色

随着3G技术、人工智能和云计算等关键技术的快速发展,泛在技术开始出现在多种教育场景中。然而目前国内关于泛在学习的研究,还主要集中在基本理论、技术支持、环境构建、资源服务设计以及标准规范等问题,对泛在技术在教学应用方面的研究还不太突出。深化泛在技术的具体教学应用和实践,对泛在学习研究由理论走向实践,并向教育应用纵深发展具有积极的意义。泛在技术环境下教学系统的各个要素及其关系与传统教学环境存在着内在属性的差异,需要教育实践者亲身体察。华中师范大学教育技术学62名研究生,从体验的视角,在无线网络和笔记本电脑终端构建的学习环境中,探究泛在技术环境下的学习方式、教学交互、课堂参与以及教师角色。研究发现：在泛在技术环境下,学习者以问题为中心,选择自主探究和学习共同体协作为主的方式,进行以人为本的多维互动,其整体参与度呈现多波峰的波浪式变化规律,而个体则以显性参与为主,参与体验的终端数对学生的深层参与影响较大。同时,泛在技术对教师能力提出了更高要求,强化了教师作用,教师转变为集教学组织、引导、帮助和评价于一身的多元角色。但是为了形成平等、互助、协商的学习氛围,教师需适度参与学习者互动。