Chapter 18. The Animation and Interactivity Principles in Multimedia Learning Mireille Betrancourt TECFA Geneva University Mireille.Betrancourt@tecfa.unige.ch
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Producing a cognitive conflict
Animation can be used to visualize phenomena that are not spontaneously conceived the way they are in the scientific domain. For example, there are many situations in physics in which naïve conceptions dominate over the scientific conceptions (e.g. the fact that objects of same volume and different weights fall at the same speed, or the trajectory of falling objects from moving objects). In this case an instructional scenario can provide several animations of the same phenomenon and ask the learner to pick up the correct situation. Kaiser, Proffitt, Whelan and Hecht (1992) used such situations, but though learners recognized the correct animation, they were still unable to produce in a drawing the correct trajectory afterwards.
Review of Research on Animation and Interactivity
It seems reasonable to assume that providing a visualization of what “really” happens in a dynamic system will facilitate learners’ comprehension of the functioning of the system. Space in graphics is used to convey spatial and functional relations between objects, which are directly perceived by learners whereas they must be inferred from verbal information.
The question whether animation is more effective than static graphics can not been answered in the general case. Rather the question should be: when and why is animation more effective than static graphics? In many cases, animation does not add any benefit compared with static graphics, even when the content involved change over time (Betrancourt & Tversky, 2000; Tversky, Bauer- Morrison and Betrancourt, 2002). For example, Narayanan and Hegarty (2002) report studies on learning in the domain of mechanics in which animation could be expected to improve understanding of novices, since the behavior of the system is not predictable from naïve conceptions. In one experiment, they compared two hypermedia and two printed versions of instruction about the functioning of flushing cistern: The first hypermedia was designed following guidelines deriving from a cognitive model of multimedia comprehension (Hegarty, Quilici, Narayanan, Holmquist, & Moreno, 1999); the second hypermedia instruction was a commercially available products. The two hypermedia instructions were compared to printed versions of either the cognitively designed hypermedia material or the commercial product.
Implications for Instructional Design
Animations are attractive and intrinsically motivating for learners. However, they are hard to perceive and conceive, their processing requires a heavy cognitive load and there is chance that learners do not get any benefit from studying the animation compared with static graphics.
Instructional Implications
The effect of using animated display is often investigated in laboratory experiments with the traditional mental model paradigm, involving studying the material and then answering explicit and transfer questions. From a designer or practitioner point of view, some reflection is needed on pedagogical uses of animation. Three main uses of animations in learning situations can be distinguished:
- Supporting the visualization and the mental representation process: From a pedagogical perspective, animation is not opposed to static graphics but to the observation of the real phenomenon.
- To produce a cognitive conflict: animation can be used to visualize phenomena that are not spontaneously conceived the right way.
- To have learners explore a phenomenon: here interactivity is a key factor. It can be a simple VCR control on the pace and direction of the animation with a suitable learning activity.
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