EARLI Conference, August 2005 Mireille BETRANCOURT Cyril REBETEZ Pierre DILLENBOURG Mirweis SANGIN CRAFT Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne TECFA Dpt of Psychology and Education Why did learners in collaborative situation benefit more from animations than individual learners?

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Research context Static graphics facilitate the activity of elaborating a mental model from text information Learning from text information means constructing a mental model The case of understanding dynamic phenomena

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Animation supports learning Visualizes spatial changes over time Mayer, 2001 Supports the construction of a ‘runnable mental model’ Text-picture complementarity at the semiotic level Lowe, 2004 Levin, Anglin et Carney, 1989

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Type of animation matters

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Does animation actually help? Animation challenges cognitive processing capacities Conception of a functional MM Lowe, 2003; Schnotz, 2002 Tversky, Bauer-Morrison & Betrancourt, 2002 Attention paid to relevant features Memory load Perception of motion

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Animation and collaboration Schnotz, Boeckeler and Gzrondziel (1999) Interactive animation Static display For detail questions only Interactive animation Static display For both detail and understanding questions

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Hypotheses Continuous animation vs. series of static snaphots: Continuous animation facilitates understanding insofar as it depicts transitions between states. Collaboration increases extraneous cognitive load Pair of learners vs. single learner

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Methods Participants 160 university students, novices in the domain Material Two multimedia instructions on Venus transit and rift formation Two versions: 12 static snapshots12 animated sequences Factorial Design Format of material (animated vs static) Collaboration (one learner vs. 2 learners)

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Procedure Welcome - consent form Pre-testMaterialCog. loadPost-test Rift formation Intro Endcorsi blocks+ paper-folding Indiv learners Pre-testMaterialCog. loadPost-test Transit of Venus Intro

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Results (1) : Reflection - discussion times Format: no diff. Collaboration: p<.01

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Results (2) : scores to the retention test material: p<.01 collaboration: NS

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Results (3) : comprehension Material: p<.05 Collaboration: NS Interaction collaboration * material: p<.01

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Results (4) : cognitive load Format: NS Collaboration: p<.05

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Summary A continuous animation increased retention performance compared to a series of static frames. Learners in pairs reported lower mental effort than single. Regarding comprehension, only learners in pairs benefited from animation

EARLI Conference, August 2005 Further research Control study under analysis on verbalization instruction in single situation Study in progress: effect of level of interactivity and investigation of individual differences Additional data under analysis: content of verbal interaction, and free recall performance