For the last two decades, learning from text and graphics has been extensively
studied, so that the conditions under which graphics can improve conceptual
learning have become clearer . With recent technology advances, computers
now offer animated graphic devices, which seem attractive and efficient to
instructional designers. However, the research carried out so far failed to
establish the advantages of using animated graphics over static ones on learning.
Among several problems, animations seem to increase the learners' cognitive
load, hence reducing the cognitive resources available for learning.
The use of animations is not limited to user-system communication but is also
often used in computer-supported collaborative learning. In these settings
as well, the empirical studies have not confirmed the benefits that one could
intuitively expect from the use of animations. This lack of positive results
may be explained either in terms of cognitive load, as in user-system interactions,
or may be used to the fact that peers use external representation to ground
their mutual understanding.
The originality of this project is to investigate the same phenomenon from
two different perspectives, mental models and social cognition. We do not
set these two theories as two opposite hypotheses that experiments would prove
to be right or wrong, but as complementary frameworks to interpret these experiments,
namely in terms of shared mental models. The role of external representations
in interactions, i.e. as part of language, is not in contradiction to mental
models, but may explain how these mental models get internalized.
Our basic claim is that animation can effectively promote the construction
of a mental model of dynamic systems since animation can depict the micro-steps
of dynamic systems more easily than static graphics. However, the processing
of animation induces a heavy perceptual and memory load. We assume that the
cognitive benefits of animation can appear only if delivery features are designed
in order to decrease this cognitive load by breaking down the continuous flow
of animation in small chunks or by decreasing the information learners should
maintain in working memory. In the first stage, this project will investigate
three delivery features: the continuity of the information flow, the learner's
control over the pace of animation and the permanence on the screen of previous
stages of the animation. In the second stage, we will investigate whether
the content of the animation should map the conceptual model or the events
as they actually happen. Both the individual and collaborative setting will
be used.
Contact persons: Cyril
Rebetez and Mireille
Betrancourt at TECFA- Uni of Geneva, Mirweis Sangin and Pierre Dillenbourg
at CRAFT - EPFL