Abstracts - Earli

Replacing an instructional animation with a series of static pictures: Does the quantity matter?Tim N. Hoeffler, University of Duisburg-Essen, GermanyDetlev Leutner, University of Duisburg-Essen, GermanyIn a series of three experiments, a computer-based instructional animation about a chemicalprocess was compared to different series of static pictures taken from the animation at crucialpoints. It was hypothesized that the animation should be superior to a four-picture version butequally effective as an eleven-picture version. In the first two studies, however, it turned out thatthe animation was more effective in learning outcome than both static versions. This is in line witha current meta-analysis (Hoeffler & Leutner, submitted), but in contrast to other researchexamining animations versus static pictures (Tversky et al., 2002). Thus, the eleven-pictureversion did not seem to be as helpful as the animation to generate an accurate mental model(Hegarty, Kriz, & Cate, 2003). By including a higher amount of interactivity it is expected thatanimation and 11 static pictures will be equally effective for all learners (Betrancourt, 2005).Those results of the third study will be available at the conference as well. As to aptitude-treatmentinteractions in multimedia learning (see Mayer’s, 2001, “individual differences” principle),evidence was found that spatial ability plays a crucial role in constructing a mental model andtherefore is important to be considered in choosing between animations and static pictures forpurposes of learning and instruction. Spatial ability, measured with a paper-folding test, played acompensating role: Low-spatial ability students showed poor learning outcomes when learningfrom pictures while high-spatial students did not; when learning from animation, however,learning outcome was independent from spatial ability.How to improve complex mechanical system’s comprehension with animations?Emmanuel Schneider, University of Burgundy, FranceJean-Michel Boucheix, University of Burgundy, FranceIn a series of experiments, we studied when an animation could be necessary to elaborate a“runnable mental model” (Mayer, 2001) for learners with high and low spatial abilities. Weexplore three ways to improve comprehension of a complex mechanical system: the three pulleyssystem used by Hegarty, 1992, Hegarty & Just, 1993. The first way concerns the format of theillustration, the second is related to the control of the animation and finally the third way refers tothe learner’s attention orientation. For all experiments we measured comprehension performanceswith a comprehension test and we analyzed also the eye tracking data.Computational efficiency of static and animated pictures. Fostering the acquisition of structuraland procedural knowledgeTina Seufert, Saarland University, GermanyThomas Huk, Westermann Publishers, GermanyRoland Brünken, Saarland University, GermanyDifferent representational formats are used to provide different types of knowledge and to assistdifferent learning processes, i.e. they differ in their computational efficiency. In the present studywe aimed at specifying the computational efficiency of static versus animated pictures with regardto the acquisition of knowledge about processes and structures. We hypothesized that animatedpictures should be efficient in supporting the acquisition of procedural knowledge because theydepict the dynamic changes explicitly. Static pictures on the other hand should have advantages infostering the acquisition of structural knowledge as they are not transient. In order to test thesehypotheses we conducted an experiment (N=56) with one group that learned with an animated– 795 –