3 International Cognitive Load Theory Conference rd

Program

3 International Cognitive Load Theory Conference

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March 2-4, 2009, Heerlen, The Netherlands Monday, March 2 8.45 Registration & coffee 9.20 Opening Fred Paas 9.30

Keynote Cognitive Load

John Sweller Element interactivity as the basic mechanism of intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load

10.15 Coffee Rolf Schwonke, Anna Ertelt, Alexander Renkl, Vincent Aleven, & Ron Salden Reducing extraneous demands in learning from tutored problem solving and embedded worked examples Florian Schmidt-Weigand & Martin Hänze Inducing germane load while reducing extraneous load by incrementally fading-in a worked example Jörg Wittwer & Alexander Renkl Do instructional explanations foster learning from worked-out examples? A cognitive load perspective

10.30

Paper session Worked examples

Ron Salden, Ken Koedinger, Vincent Aleven, & Bruce McLaren Does cognitive load theory account for beneficial effects of worked examples in tutored problem solving?

12.00 Lunch Huei-Min Wu, Jia-Ling Li, Ni-Wei Shen, Zih-Guei Zeng, I-Fan Wu, & Shyh-Chii Tzeng Redundancy effect re-examined Katharina Scheiter & Florian Schmidt-Weigand Using eye tracking to investigate processes in learning from text and pictures: The role of redundant visuo-spatial information

Discussant: Roland Brünken Tim Kühl, Katharina Scheiter, & Peter Gerjets The influence of text modality on learning with static and dynamic visualizations

13.00

Paper session Multimedia Learning -Redundancy & Modality

Discussant: Maria Opfermann Chee Ha Lee & Slava Kalyuga Effectiveness of Pinyin in learning Chinese characters

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March 2-4, 2009, Heerlen, The Netherlands 14.30 Coffee

Organizers: Annett Schwamborn & Maria Opfermann Ferdinand Stebner, Morena Lebens, Joachim Wirth, & Maria Opfermann Learning from animations and static pictures: The impact of spatial ability and cognitive load Birgit Imhof, Katharina Scheiter, & Peter Gerjets Do simultaneous presentation formats of static visualizations lead to different processes and effects than sequential static or dynamic formats? Simone Herrlinger, Tim Höffler, Maria Opfermann, & Detlev Leutner Cognitive load during learning from expository science texts: Multimedia and modality effects Annett Schwamborn, Hubertina Thillmann, Maria Opfermann, & Detlev Leutner Cognitive load and instructionally supported learning with provided and self-constructed visualizations

14.45

Symposium Handling Visuo-Spatial Information in Multimedia Learning Environments

Discussant: Katharina Scheiter Paul Ayres Targeting points of high working memory load: Expertise reversal effects

Discussant: Alexander Renkl Fleurie Nievelstein, Tamara van Gog, Gijs van Dijck, & Henny P. A. Boshuizen Learning to solve legal cases: The effects of instructional support

16.15-17.20

Paper session Expertise (Reversal Effect)

Slava Kalyuga & Jose Hanham Facilitating the transition to adaptive expertise: A cognitive load perspective

18.00 Drinks In town

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March 2-4, 2009, Heerlen, The Netherlands Tuesday, March 3

Discussant: Joachim Wirth Greet Fastré, Marcel van der Klink, Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer, & Dominique Sluijsmans Drawing students' attention to relevant assessment criteria: Effects on self-assessment skills

Discussant: Slava Kalyuga Danny Kostons, Tamara van Gog, & Fred Paas Self-assessment and task selection difficulties in learner-controlled instruction: A cognitive load approach Liesbeth Kester Replicating the testing effect in an educational context: Using a cognitive load perspective to explain the results

9.00

Paper session Assessment

Tamara van Gog, Femke Kirschner, & Fred Paas When to measure cognitive load: Implications for results and conclusions

10.30 Coffee Discussant: Pascal van Gerven

Halszka Jarodzka, Tamara van Gog, Michael Dorr, Katharina Scheiter, & Peter Gerjets Training perceptual skills in the Natural Sciences by eye movement modeling Franck Amadieu, Claudette Mariné, & Carole Laimay Attention-guiding effect during a learning task from animation

Discussant: Paul Ayres Björn de Koning, Huib Tabbers, Remy Rikers, & Fred Paas Generating self-explanations leads to improved effectiveness of attention cueing in complex animations

10.45

Paper session Multimedia Learning -Attention Guidance

Shyh-Chii Tzeng, Li-Ping Lee, Huei-Min Wu Combining signaling and tracing in multimedia: Effects on the learning of physics concepts

12.15 Lunch 13.15

Keynote Cognitive Aging

Pascal van Gerven The role of modality in the inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging: Opportunities for instructional design

14.00 Coffee

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March 2-4, 2009, Heerlen, The Netherlands

Discussant: Peter Reimann Yvonne Kammerer, Peter Pirolli, Rowan Nairn, & Peter Gerjets The effects of an exploratory search system on performance and cognitive load

Discussant: John Sweller Nina Hollender, Cristian Hofmann, Michael Deneke, & Bernhard Schmitz Cognitive load theory and theories of human computer interaction

Discussant: Paul Chandler Eylem Kilic & Zahide Yildirim Cognitive load and goal based scenario centered 3D multimedia learning environment: Learners' satisfaction, motivation and mental effort

14.15

Paper session Human-Computer Interaction

Aubteen Darabi Human performance technology consequences of an analogy between organizational change and instructional design: A cognitive load perspective Niek van den Bogert Can collaborative ‘tags’ and annotations of classroom situations help novice student-teachers to recognize cues for teacher action? Shevaun Corey, Craig Bennell, Karla Emeno, & Catherine Martens A meta-analysis of the worked example effect Krista Deleeuw Does all cognitive load occur in Working Memory? Chantal Gorissen, Liesbeth Kester, & Rob Martens Optimizing the structure of hypermedia instruction with regard to cognitive load and motivation Anne Helsdingen, Tamara van Gog, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer Training complex judgment: The effects of critical thinking and contextual interference

15.45

Poster session & Coffee

Nina Hollender, Bernhard Schmitz, Michael Deneke, & Cristian Hofmann Cognitive load when exploring a video analysis database: Supporting comparisons and providing information on previous categorization processes

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Jase Moussa Inaty, Paul Ayres, & John Sweller The conditions under which reading alone may enhance listening skills of English as a foreign language: A cognitive load perspective Loredana Mihalca, Ron Salden, Gemma Corbalan, Fred Paas, & Mircea Miclea Using cognitive load for adaptive instruction in genetics education Rebecca Mugford, Shevaun Corey, Craig Bennell, & Catherine Martens A meta-analysis of the self-explanation effect Ingrid Spanjers, Tamara van Gog, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer Information transience in animations: Perceptual and cognitive difficulties Irene van Stiphout, Wim Jochems, Koeno Gravemeijer, & Jacob Perrenet Cognitive load theory and the development of algebraic skills Bettine Taminiau, Gemma Corbalan, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer Procedural advice on self-assessment and task selection Franck Tanguy Effect of guidance on the conceptualization in Biology: The case of learning to categorize species

Iwan Wopereis, Paul A. Kirschner, & Jeroen van Merriënboer Variability of practice as the key to creativity

17.30-18.15

Keynote Cognitive Neuroscience

Roland H. Grabner Impact of intelligence and expertise on superior performance and neural efficiency

19.30 Dinner (Informal) In town

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March 2-4, 2009, Heerlen, The Netherlands Wednesday, March 4 9.00

Keynote Expertise

Remy M. J. P. Rikers Why is not everyone Albert Einstein? Implications of expertise research for educational practice

Discussant: Sofie Loyens Sandra Wetzels, Liesbeth Kester, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer Adapting prior knowledge activation to learners' level of prior knowledge Kirsten Berthold, Heidi Röder, Daniel Knörzer, Wolfgang Kessler, & Alexander Renkl Focusing on conceptual aspects can hinder the acquisition of procedural knowledge Gemma Corbalan, Liesbeth Kester, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer Feedback and learner control: Effects on efficiency and motivation

9.45

Paper session Prompting, Feedback, & Strategy Training

Tina Seufert & Petra Herzmann Strategy trainings for children and their effects on cognitive load

11.15 Coffee Babette Koch, Stefan Münzer, Tina Seufert, & Roland Brünken Testing the additivity hypothesis of cognitive load theory: Combined variation of modality and seductive details in a self-paced multimedia instruction Hsin I Cindy Yung The role of the animated agent with instructional scaffolding strategies as moderator between instructional design and cognitive load Stéphanie Roussel, Angelika Rieussec, André Tricot, & Jean-Luc Nespoulous The management of intrinsic versus extraneous cognitive load in second language listening and a comprehension task

11.30

Paper session Multimedia Learning

Mingjang Chen & Yu-Ting Lin Adaptive Pointer - a cognitive guide in multimedia learning based on visual cognition theory

13.00 Lunch

Program


3rd International Cognitive Load Theory Conference

Wednesday, March 4, Afternoon: Cognitive Load Theory and Collaborative Learning sponsored by the ICT Division of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (VOR) Chair: Paul A. Kirschner

Kakin Chan & Liming Zhang A study on effectiveness of collaborative learning in computer technology teaching M. Asif Khawaja, Fang Chen, & Nadine Marcus Analysis of collaborative speech for grammatical cues of cognitive load

14.00

Paper Session CLT & CSCL

Nele S. Coninx Optimizing wireless communication using cognitive load theory: The use of a wireless earpiece in coaching trainee teachers facilitating collaborative learning groups Femke Kirschner, Fred Paas, & Paul A. Kirschner United brains for complex learning

15.00

Position Paper Session CLT & CSCL

Jeroen Janssen How does interaction affect group performance during CSCL?

15.45 Coffee 16.00

Debate

Paul Chandler vs. Peter Reimann

17.00-17.15

Closing

Fred Paas

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Monday, March 2 Monday, 9.30-10.15:

Keynote Cognitive Load

John Sweller

School of Education, University of New South Wales, Australia [email protected]

Element interactivity as the basic mechanism of intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive

load In cognitive load theory, element interactivity has been used as the basic, defining mechanism of intrinsic cognitive load for many years. In this paper, it is suggested that element interactivity underlies extraneous cognitive load as well. By defining extraneous cognitive load in terms of element interactivity, a distinct relation between intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load can be established based on whether element interactivity is essential to the task at hand or whether it is a function of instructional procedures. Furthermore, germane cognitive load can be defined in terms of intrinsic cognitive load, thus also associating germane cognitive load with element interactivity. An analysis of the consequences of explaining the various cognitive load effects in terms of element interactivity is carried out.

Monday, 10.30-12.00: Paper Session Worked examples

Reducing extraneous demands in learning from tutored problem solving and embedded worked examples

Rolf Schwonkea; Anna Ertelt a; Alexander Renkla; Vincent Alevenb; & Ron Saldenb

a Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany b Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

[email protected] In recent studies, we showed that worked examples further increase the effec-tiveness and efficiency of computer-based intelligent tutoring environments that usually employ learning by problem-solving only (Schwonke, Renkl, Krieg, Wittwer, & Salden, in press; Salden, Aleven, Renkl, & Schwonke, 2008). How-ever, we also found indication that the effects of worked examples could be more pronounced if problems in tutor handling can be ameliorated. Note that extraneous load imposed by the learning environment must be low in order to exploit the full potential of worked examples (Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988). Sources of extraneous load in intelligent tutoring environments are demands of orienting, coordinating, and translating between multiple representations (e.g. word problems and related graphics) as well as between multiple sources of information (e.g. support tools and a work area). In order to reduce extraneous load by a schema-driven approach to these demands, we provided novices in a geometry unit with a cue card containing a set of prompts that focused on the translation both locally between the word problems and related graphics as well as more globally between different support tools (e.g., a glossary) and the learning task. In our experiment the participants (N = 60 German high school students) either received prompts or no prompts. During the learning phase log-file data and gaze data were collected. Results showed that the prompts group acquired a deeper conceptual understanding of the geometry principles and needed less learning time. Especially for low-prior-knowledge learners, the reduction in learning time could largely be attributed to a decrease in time spent on support tools (e.g., glossary). In conclusion, prompting promoted more focused visual and cognitive processing of relevant aspects of the learning tasks and a

mailto:[email protected]


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more informed use of available information sources. Our parsimonious intervention approach might also be more generally appropriate to overcome extraneous demands in complex learning environments.

Inducing germane load while reducing extraneous load by incrementally fading-in a worked example

Florian Schmidt-Weigand & Martin Hänze

Department of Psychology, University of Kassel, Germany

[email protected] Worked examples are an effective method to reduce cognitive load compared to conventional problem solving (e.g. Paas, 1992; Sweller & Cooper, 1985; Zhu & Simon, 1987). However, even worked examples may induce a high cognitive load if the problem is complex or if students lack prior knowledge. Especially in those cases a worked example is not always studied accurately (e.g. Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989). In three experimental studies we investigated a mode of worked example presentation that aimed at reducing extraneous load while at the same time inducing germane load. The tasks consisted of physics problems implemented in high-school physics courses (8th and 9th grade).

Extraneous load was supposed to be reduced by presenting the solution stepwise and on learner demand. Germane load was supposed to be induced by prompts preceding each solution step. Dependent measures were learning success (self-report, retention, knowledge tests), basic learning experiences (i.e., feeling of competence, social relatedness, and feeling of autonomy), and several self-report items that aimed to disentangle intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load.

Incremental worked examples consistently led to higher learning success and more positive learning experiences than conventional worked examples. More detailed analyses of the measures revealed that students were able to indicate their invested effort (germane load) and perceived workload (intrinsic and extraneous load) on different scales. They were, however, not able to attributing the perceived workload to either intrinsic or extraneous factors. Furthermore, the correlations between cognitive load items and other subjective measures (feeling of competence, self-reported success) were higher for perceived workload compared to invested effort. Interestingly, incremental presentation reduced the perceived workload but did not increase the invested effort. The contribution discusses possibilities of a differentiated self-report measurement of cognitive load and proposes mechanisms of optimizing worked examples with respect to these aspects.

Do instructional explanations foster learning from worked-out examples? A cognitive load perspective

Jörg Wittwera & Alexander Renklb

aLeibniz-Institute for Science Education at the University of Kiel, Germany

bInstitute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany [email protected]

Learning from worked-out examples has been shown to be an effective means of instruction in early phases of cognitive skill acquisition. Its effectiveness largely lies in freeing up cognitive resources that can be used by the learner to devote attention to understanding the principles underlying the worked-out examples. This effect, however, does not always occur naturally. Therefore, recent research has proposed the use of instructional explanations to support example processing. From the viewpoint of cognitive load theory, adding instructional explanations to worked-out examples can raise the learner’s cognitive load by increasing the number of elements that have to be held in working memory simultaneously (i.e., intrinsic load), by improving the effective use of learning activities (i.e., germane load), or by imposing more demands on integrating the different sources of information (i.e., extraneous load). Accordingly, depending on which cognitive load is increased, learning is more likely or more unlikely to occur. In this contribution, we review empirical studies examining learning from worked-out examples with instructional explanations. Our review shows that instructional explanations are not effective or not necessarily more effective in improving example-based learning as compared

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with other instructional techniques such as self-explaining. We explain this finding with the help of the cognitive load theory (e.g., increased extraneous load, redundancy effect) and discuss further cognitive, motivational, and affective aspects that are likely to influence cognitive load positively or negatively (e.g., generation effect, illusion of understanding, feeling of learning success). In addition, we address conceptual and methodological issues in studying the effects of instructional explanations on example processing.

Does cognitive load theory account for beneficial effects of worked examples in tutored problem solving?

Ron Salden, Ken Koedinger, Vincent Aleven, & Bruce McLaren

Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

[email protected]

We use results from multiple studies to argue that Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is not sufficient to explain why adding worked examples to tutored problem solving enhances student learning. Most of the original investigations of the worked example used "untutored" problem solving as the control group. In contrast, our recent studies have used "tutored" problem solving as the control condition. In the problem solving activities in these studies, students solve problems in a Cognitive Tutor software environment that provides prompts for problem subgoals, immediate feedback on each student action, and as-needed hints for the next step to be performed. These automated tutoring features, especially the prompting of subgoals (which is analogous to completion problems) and the provision of "bottom-out" hints (which are worked examples of steps provided only as needed), are designed to reduce extrinsic cognitive load and maximize germane cognitive load. Nevertheless, a number of recent studies (Anthony, 2008; McLaren, Lim, & Koedinger, 2008; Salden et al., 2008; Schwonke et al. 2007) have demonstrated that students learn more or more efficiently when worked examples are added to tutored problem solving (by providing solutions for half of the steps in problems). While these results do not contradict CLT, the theory does not provide a clear account for them. First, it is not clear what extraneous load is being reduced by worked examples beyond the reduction in subgoaling already provided by tutored problem solving. Second, analysis of tutor log data suggests that other factors besides load reduction are in play including a) without the information provided by examples, students waste time tackling new skills during problem solving and b) problem-solving practice, even when tutored, appears to bias many students toward focusing more on how to get the job done and less on why and when problem-solving principles work (Shi et al., 2008).

Monday, 13.00-14.30: Paper Session Multimedia Learning

–Redundancy & Modality

Redundancy effect re-examined

Huei-Min Wu *, Jia-ling Li, Ni-Wei Shen, Zih-Guei Zeng, I-Fan Wu, & Shyh-Chii Tzeng

Department of Learning & Digital Technology, Fo Guang University, Taiwan [email protected]

The purpose of this study was to investigate why students did not appreciate a multimedia presentation mode that was designed according to research-based instructional principles and was shown to facilitate efficiency in learning. This study designed three types of multimedia presentation modes: animation with narration and full text (FT), animation with narration and key words (KW) and animation with narration only (NO). In addition, two types of learner control was designed: user segmenting and designer segmenting modes. The experiment was a 3(presentation modes) x 2(control modes) mixed design model, with repeated measurements on the first variable. The participants were 90 year seven students from a junior high school in Yilan, Taiwan. The students were randomly assigned to one of the control mode groups and randomly assigned to a presentation



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order within each group. Each participant experienced the three types of presentation modes and learned about one topic under each presentation mode. After each learning session, the participants were asked to complete a brief questionnaire regarding their perceived cognitive load during the learning process. After the questionnaire, the participants then completed a 12-question test which tested their learning regarding the topic. After the participants had completed the three learning-testing sessions, the participants completed another questionnaire regarding their opinion on multimedia learning and their preference of the designs. The data included quantitative information (the time used to learn, post-test scores, cognitive load measures) and qualitative information (preference of the design and opinions). The focus of this paper is to examine the relationship between participants’ performance and their preference, and the reasons for their preference. The result is counter-intuitive to the redundancy effect and will be explained with cognitive load theory.

Using eye tracking to investigate processes in learning from text and pictures: The role of redundant visuo-spatial information

Katharina Scheitera & Florian Schmidt-Weigandb

aApplied Cognitive Psychology and Media Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Germany

bDepartment of Psychology, University of Kassel, Germany [email protected]

Previous research has consistently shown that augmenting text with visualizations improves learning outcomes. A possibly explanation is that visualizations enable reasoning processes grounded in perception (e.g., Goldstone & Son, 2005) and are more computationally efficient for accomplishing visuo-spatial tasks (Larkin & Simon, 1987). This argumentation has been derived from situations, where only visualizations were present. However, in multimedia learning also the text may contain visuo-spatial information to varying extents, whereby it is yet an open question how this will affect learning. On the one hand, a dual representation of the spatial information may improve learning to a single-code representation only (Pazzaglia, 2008). On the other hand, a text with a high degree of spatial information may yield interference, as both, mental imagery induced by the text and the processing of the visualization demand visuo-spatial working memory resources (Logie, 1995).

Two experiments (each with N � 80 participants) addressed this role of verbal spatial descriptions in multimedia learning. One text version contained a high degree of spatial information, whereas in the other version this information was left out. Both versions were either presented with or without an illustrating animation, resulting in four experimental conditions. As dependent variables, learning outcomes and cognitive load were assessed. The first experiment revealed a multimedia effect predominantly for low rather than high spatial text, thereby confirming the important role of visualizations for conveying visuo-spatial information. In the second experiment with the same experimental design eye tracking data were registered in addition. Preliminary results of the ongoing analyses show that in the multimedia conditions increases in reading time for low spatial text are associated with improvements in learning outcomes, while the reversed pattern holds for high spatial text, suggesting a hindering effect of providing redundant information across text and pictures. The results will be discussed in detail at the conference.

The influence of text modality on learning with static and dynamic visualizations

Tim Kühla, Katharina Scheiterb,& Peter Gerjetsa

aKnowledge Media Research Center, Germany bApplied Cognitive Psychology and Media Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Germany

[email protected] The aim of this study was to investigate whether the modality of the text moderates the effectiveness of learning with static and dynamic visualizations. A 2x2-design with modality and type of visualization (static vs. dynamic) as independent variables was chosen (N = 80 university students). Learning outcomes were measured by means of factual knowledge and transfer tasks. It was hypothesized that a) as the materials conveyed knowledge on a dynamic phenomenon, learners who received dynamic



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visualizations should outperform learners with static visualizations, b) a modality effect would occur: Learning with spoken text should lead to better performance than learning with written text and c) that an interaction between type of visualization and modality would occur: The superiority of dynamic over static visualizations should be more pronounced for spoken compared to written text, as the advantages of dynamic visualizations might only unfold if the information conveyed by this kind of presentation format can be extracted appropriately. This might not be the case for written text, as information conveyed by the animation might be very hard to extract or may even be missed. Subjective cognitive load measures were assessed and expected to mirror the aforementioned findings for learning outcomes in accordance with Cognitive Load Theory (i.e., higher extraneous cognitive load related to lower learning outcomes).

Results indicated no main effects for factual knowledge, whereas for transfer tasks, the two hypotheses concerning the main effects could be confirmed. However, there was no interaction. Possibly, due to the fact that dynamic visualizations were looping, the disadvantages of written text (i.e., to miss important information in the dynamic visualization) were not as pronounced as had been expected. ECL was rated higher by subjects when learning with static compared to dynamic visualizations. However, there were no differences for ECL with respect to the text modality.

Effectiveness of Pinyin in learning Chinese characters

Chee Ha Lee & Slava Kalyuga


The study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of pinyin in learning Chinese as a second language from the perspective of cognitive load theory. Pinyin is one of the phonetic systems used to provide auditory information about Chinese characters and is commonly accompanies characters in learning Chinese language. The learning effects of two presentation formats, characters-pinyin-pronunciation and characters-pronunciation have been compared. It was expected that a concurrent presentation of visual pinyin spelling and its auditory pronunciation would impose extraneous load on novice second language learners (multimedia redundancy effect). A domain specific prior knowledge test was designed to identify two groups of learners (N = 43, Grade 7, 8 and 9) with identical levels of prior knowledge. Each group was assigned to a corresponding instructional format. 25 Chinese words were selected as learning material and presented in normal classroom settings using PowerPoint. The scores from a recall posttest were used to measure learning effectiveness. ANCOVA using the number of previously learned words as a covariate indicated a significant difference between the two groups, F(1,40) = 5.60, MSe=7.11, p=0.023, favouring the characters-pronunciation format over the characters-pinyin pronunciation format. A marginally significant difference for instructional efficiency indicators, F(1,39) = 3.84, MSe = 1.17 , p = 0.057, provided support to the cognitive load explanation of the findings. Redundant visual pinyin accompanying pronunciation of a character could become a source of extraneous cognitive load. The removal of this multimedia redundancy may enhance learning Chinese characters.

Monday, 14.45-16.15: Symposium

Handling visuo-spatial information in multimedia learning environments: The role of presentation format and cognitive load

Organizers: Annett Schwamborn, Duisburg-Essen University, Germany Maria Opfermann, Duisburg-Essen University, Germany Discussant: Katharina Scheiter, Eberhard Karls University, Tuebingen, Germany The four studies presented in this symposium deal with the question of how multimedia learning in the sciences can be enhanced by providing specific forms of visualizations. In all studies, a focus was placed on the roles of cognitive load (CL) and spatial ability when learning with visual information. In short, it was found that learners benefit from visualizations that are added to texts, that these benefits


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are higher for animations than for static pictures, and that providing visualizations has positive impacts on cognitive load in that perceived difficulty decreases and thus may free cognitive capacities, which, in turn can be used for efficient learning.

Learning from animations and static pictures: The impact of spatial ability and cognitive load

Ferdinand Stebner1, Morena Lebens1, Joachim Wirth,1 & Maria Opfermann2

1Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany 2 Duisburg-Essen University, Germany

[email protected]

The present study explored whether the outcome of learning with animations or static pictures is a function of individual differences in spatial ability. Additionally, it was investigated to what extent the type of visualization as well as spatial ability influence CL during learning.

102 university students were exposed to a multimedia learning environment on chemical processes during washing laundry. Students were randomly assigned to either an animation or static pictures condition. Prior to learning, students answered a pretest as well as the LOT (Logical Ordering Test) – a spatial ability test assessing the ability to mentally generate logical orders of static spatial information. Subsequently, a posttest as well as a measure of mental efficiency (including perceived difficulty and invested mental effort adapted from Paas, 1992) were administered.

Overall, results show that learners benefit significantly more from the animation than from the static pictures condition (η2=.05) and that learners with high spatial ability outperform those with low spatial ability (η2=.17). The interaction between condition and spatial ability is evident on a descriptive level: Learners benefit more from high spatial ability in the static pictures condition than in the animation condition. However, this fails to reach statistical significance.

Correspondingly, mental efficiency was higher when learning with animations was concerned (η2=.04) as well as for learners with high spatial ability (η2=.13). Again, we find an interaction of condition and spatial ability, which slightly misses statistical significance. Regarding implications for educational practice, the results imply that the implementation of animations is particularly useful for dynamic contents with spatial alteration. Given that learners do not have to mentally transform static information into dynamic formats, more of the limited cognitive capacity is available for comprehending the content. Do simultaneous presentation formats of static visualizations lead to different processes and

effects than sequential static or dynamic formats?

Birgit Imhof1 , Katharina Scheiter2, & Peter Gerjets1

1Knowledge Media Research Center, Germany 2 Applied Cognitive Psychology and Media Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Germany

[email protected] To investigate the role of the presentation format of visualizations in a complex, dynamic domain (classification of locomotion patterns) two factors were varied in a multimedia learning environment: “dynamism” (dynamic versus sequential-static versus simultaneous-static visualizations) and “realism” (realistic versus schematic visualizations). We tested whether dynamic visualizations are superior over both static formats and whether simultaneous representations show benefits over sequential ones. We also investigated whether realistic or schematic visualizations are superior in complex domains.

One-hundred-and-twenty university students were randomly assigned to six conditions in a two-by-three design. We assessed cognitive load of the students with three questions (mental activity, perceived difficulty, and stress) after the learning phase. Learning outcomes were measured by different pictorial tests (recognition, transfer, and prediction). Additionally, we assessed eye-tracking data to investigate the cognitive and perceptual processes occurring especially during static picture comprehension.

Dynamic visualizations showed an advantage over sequential visualizations in recognition and transfer performance, but not for the prediction tests. Simultaneous visualizations did not differ in their



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performance from either dynamic or sequential ones. Moreover, there was no main effect for realism or an interaction with dynamism.

Sequential visualizations led to higher perceived difficulty than dynamic visualizations, whereas simultaneous visualizations did not differ from the other two conditions. There was no main effect for realism on the three cognitive load items. However, in the realistic conditions dynamic visualizations led to more mental activity than sequential visualizations, whereas in the schematic conditions dynamism had no influence. Dynamic visualizations also led to lower stress than the sequential conditions in the schematic conditions, whereas in the realistic conditions no differences occurred. Finally, preliminary analyses of the eye-tracking data indicate differences in the processing patterns of different static visualizations.

Our results have important implications for the design of instructional materials in the Natural Sciences.

Cognitive load during learning from expository science texts: Multimedia and modality effects

Simone Herrlinger1, Tim Höffler2, Maria Opfermann1, & Detlev Leutner1

1Duisburg-Essen University, Germany 2IPN-Leibniz Institute for Science Education at the University of Kiel, Germany

[email protected] This study investigated how primary school children learn from science texts about the heart and blood circulation, whether multimedia and modality effects hold true, and whether different forms of multimedia presentations are accompanied by different amounts of CL. We used a 2*2 design varying type of learning material (text vs. text & pictures) and text presentation mode (written vs. spoken). Participants were 151 fourth-graders, randomly assigned to treatment conditions. Two texts were read on two consecutive days. After learning, a posttest as well as reading comprehension and spatial ability measures were administered. CL was assessed two times, after each text had been read, with two items similar to the ones used by Stebner and colleagues.

MANOVAs with type of learning material and text presentation mode as factors and performance scores for the two texts showed significant main effects for type of learning material (Text 1: η2=.03; Text 2: η2=.09) and text presentation mode (Text 1: η2=.05; Text 2: η2=.04). Performance was better when pictures were added to text, and when spoken instead of written text was used. Additionally, an interaction for Text 2 (η2=.06) indicates that the picture effect is particularly strong in the spoken text condition. With regard to CL and specifically perceived difficulty, ANOVAs revealed main effects concerning text presentation mode (Text 1: η2=.04; Text 2: η2=.03), while there were neither effects for type of learning materials, nor interactions. According to this, perceived difficulty was higher when text was spoken. As for invested mental effort, there was a marginal interaction for the second text indicating that without pictures, written text led to higher effort than spoken text, whereas the opposite was the case when text was enriched with pictures (η2=.02). For this text, as indicated by linear regression, invested mental effort also led to higher performance (β =.19).

Cognitive load and instructionally supported learning with provided and self-constructed

visualizations

Annett Schwamborn1, Hubertina Thillmann2, Maria Opfermann1, & Detlev Leutner1

1Duisburg-Essen University, Germany 2Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

[email protected] This study focused on the question whether learning about chemistry from science texts can be enhanced by providing learners with different forms of visualizations in addition to textual information and whether these visualizations have differential impacts on CL. Learners worked with a computer-based environment containing (written) textual information on chemical processes during washing. This text was either enriched with static functional pictures or not. In addition, learners were either instructed to self-construct visualizations of what they had read or not. They could do so by moving and combining provided chemical elements on the computer screen by means of “drag and drop”. This



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resulted in a 2*2 design varying provision of visualizations (yes/no) and self-construction of visualizations (yes/no). Dependent variables were conceptual knowledge, transfer and ability to draw correct pictures of specific chemical molecules after learning. CL was assessed with the same items mentioned in the previous abstracts (difficulty and mental effort; cf. Paas, 1992). Participants were 102 ninth-graders randomly assigned to treatment conditions.

Three ANOVAs showed main effects of visualization provision for all three performance measures in that providing learners with visualizations while reading the text enhanced learning (conceptual knowledge: η2=.03; transfer: η2=.04; drawing: η2=.45). For the drawing test, a main effect for self-construction was found as well (η2=.42): Learners who had to self-construct visualizations outperformed those who had not.

With regard to CL, a two-factorial MANOVA with perceived difficulty and invested mental effort as dependent variables showed main effects for visualization provision in that learners who were provided with visualizations indicated less difficulty (η2=.07) and less mental effort (η2=.08). In addition, a main effect for self-construction was found with regard to mental effort (but not for difficulty) as well: Learners who were instructed to construct their own visualizations during learning indicated more mental effort (η2=.04). Finally, linear regressions revealed that perceived difficulty had a significant negative impact on all performance measures (all β <-.21). Monday, 16.15-17.20: Paper Session: Expertise (Reversal Effect)

Targeting points of high working memory load: Expertise reversal effects

Paul Ayres


Previous research by Ayres (2001) found that problem solvers in an algebraic domain would make errors corresponding to differences in working memory load; namely, at points of highest load within problems more errors were made. To alleviate this situation (reduce working memory load), Ayres (2006) adopted a strategy of isolating elements (see Pollock, Chandler & Sweller, 2002) by dividing whole problems into individual component parts. Using worked examples during an acquisition period a group that completed whole problems was compared with a group that completed equivalent isolated components. Test results indicated an expertise reversal effect (Kalyuga, Ayres, Chandler & Sweller, 2003): The isolated format was beneficial for students with low mathematical ability, but detrimental for students with higher mathematical ability. Although the isolated elements approach proved very helpful for novices, errors were still made, matching differences in working memory loads. Consequently it was hypothesized that error rates could be reduced further if learners spent more deliberate practice on component parts of the problems that evoked the highest cognitive loads. In two experiments, two groups of learners followed worked examples in an isolated format. One group (targeted group) spent more time studying components parts with the highest working memory load compared with parts with lower loads; whereas, a second group spent equal time (equal group) on all components. Test results indicated an expertise reversal effect: Students with the highest mathematical ability benefited from the extra practice on components of highest working memory load, but students with the least ability did not. Even though, novices were exposed to an environment that reduced extraneous load (worked examples) and intrinsic load (isolated elements), targeted extra practice could not compensate for the high working memory loads of the test problems. The implications of these results are discussed within the context of cognitive load theory.


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Learning to solve legal cases: The effects of instructional support

Fleurie Nievelsteina, Tamara van Goga, Gijs van Dijckb, & Henny P. A. Boshuizena

aCenter for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands bFaculty of Law, Tilburg University, The Netherlands

[email protected] Despite differences in law systems between countries, a common method for teaching students to reason about cases, is to have them do just that. However, reasoning about law cases is a complex skill to acquire, and there are indications that this learning by doing is less than optimal especially for novice students. In two experiments it is shown that instructional support can improve students’ learning to solve cases. Experiment 1 investigated the effect of supporting novices by targeting their lack of conceptual knowledge necessary for reasoning about cases (i.e., providing meaning of concepts), reducing the cognitive load imposed by search processes (i.e., providing a condensed code), or both. Reducing the amount of search required during learning led to higher performance on reasoning about a test case. No significant differences on mental effort invested was found in either the learning phases or the test phase. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of supporting reasoning itself, through worked examples and process-steps, both for novices and advanced students. It was found that studying worked-examples increased not only novices’, but also advanced students’ performance on reasoning about a test case. A main effect of worked examples on mental effort invested in the learning phase was found, indicating that students (i.e., novices and advanced students) who studied worked-examples experienced less mental effort during the learning tasks than students solving problems. No effects of instruction, nor an interaction were found on experienced mental effort on the test task. These findings indicate that studying worked examples was more efficient in terms of the learning process (higher test performance with lower investment of effort during learning) and in terms of the quality of learning outcomes.

Facilitating the transition to adaptive expertise: A cognitive load perspective

Slava Kalyuga & Jose Hanham


In contrast to routine (task-specific) expertise, adaptive expertise is focused on the ability to modify one’s knowledge structures and learn continuously. In order to be effective, the transition to adaptive expertise should be aligned with processing limitations of human mind. It is suggested that cognitively efficient instruction for adaptive expertise should support building generalized forms of schematic knowledge structures that are applicable to a greater variety of problems and are associated with top-down approach to learning and transfer. In addition to discussing relevant theoretical issues, the paper will present results of a preliminary experimental study that has investigated this approach in learning operation of a technical device (air-conditioning system). Forty five undergraduate university students with no prior knowledge of this technical system participated in the experiment that compared three learning conditions: (1) hierarchically (high to low levels of generality) structured description of the technical device using an explicit general schematic framework for technical systems; (2) single-level description of the technical device using the explicit schema; and (3) conventional description of the technical device without an explicit schema. Results of the study (currently under analysis), their instructional implications, and future research directions will be discussed.



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Tuesday, March 3 Tuesday, 9.00-10.30: Paper Session: Assessment Drawing students’ attention to relevant assessment criteria: Effects on self-assessment skills

Greet M. J. Fastréa, Marcel van der Klinka, Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb, & Dominique Sluijsmansa

aCentre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands bNetherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] In Secondary Vocational Education, students work on a series of learning tasks in the domain of Nursing and Care and must assess their own performance on each of those tasks. The study examines the effects of drawing students’ attention to the assessment criteria that are relevant for the particular task they have last been working on. For an experimental group called highlighted group, the relevant criteria are highlighted in the list with all criteria; for the control group called no-highlighted group, no criteria are highlighted. The findings show that after the training the highlighted group is better able to select relevant criteria for a test task, generates better points of improvement, and shows higher task performance in nursing and care than the control group. For mental effort our results show that the highlighted group reports higher perceived mental effort during the self-assessment in the test phase than the control group. A possible explanation is that the students who received the relevant criteria during practice are more engaged in finding the relevant criteria during the test phase and therefore spend more effort in the assessment. In this case, the mental effort they experience is germane load. Another possible explanation is that students in the highlighted group experience the assessment task in the test phase as more complex than the control group and thus invest more mental effort because a lot of redundant information (i.e., the irrelevant criteria) is at their disposal. In this case, the load is extraneous. Concluding, indifferent of the load experienced in the test phase, drawing students’ attention to the relevant criteria is an important step in improving self-assessment skills.

Self-assessment and task selection difficulties in learner-controlled instruction: A cognitive load approach

Danny Kostons, Tamara van Gog, & Fred Paas

Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] Although learner-controlled instruction has been proposed as a means to enhance learning outcomes, research comparing learner-controlled instruction with fixed or (adaptive) system-controlled instruction has revealed highly mixed results. The ability of learners to select learning tasks that fit their individual needs is considered to be a prerequisite for attaining higher learning outcomes in learner-controlled instruction. However, novices may not be able to determine their learning needs because the necessary self-assessment of performance requires them to divide limited cognitive resources between performance monitoring activities and task performance. In the first study presented here, we hypothesized that self-assessment support in the form of a video-based replay of the learner’s actions and eye movements during task performance might reduce the need for and load imposed by the monitoring process and lead to more self-assessment and more assessment criteria being used. This hypothesis was only partially confirmed, in that the replay seemed to reduce cognitive load, but did not lead to more self-assessment or more criteria being used. A possible explanation for these findings might be that novices lack knowledge of criteria and standards against which they can compare their performance. Novices may need to be trained on assessment criteria to improve their self-assessments, translate the outcomes of that assessment into learning needs and select appropriate learning tasks. To determine which aspects of self-assessment and task selection such a training should address, the second study presented here tried to uncover differences in self-assessment and task selection processes between novices that achieved higher posttest scores (corrected for pretest



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scores) and those that did not while studying in a learning environment on heredity. Results indicate that novices reaching higher posttest scores were more accurate in their self-assessments and used the outcomes of different assessment criteria to select tasks compared to novices that did not improve.

Replicating the testing effect in an educational context: Using a cognitive load perspective to explain the results

Liesbeth Kester

Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] The testing effect is thoroughly studied in the verbal learning tradition, replicated with educationally relevant material and signifies that tests - as compared to restudy episodes - significantly improve learner’s long-term memory for wordlists and prose passages. The aim of this research is to continue to replicate the testing effect in an educational context by using expository texts. A 2 x 3 mixed-factorial design was used with the between subjects factor 'retention interval' (5 minutes; 1 week) and the within subjects factor 'learning strategy' (restudy; free recall; concept mapping). It was hypothesized that texts that are restudied will yield a higher final retention test performance after a five-minute-retention-interval than texts that are recalled or of which a concept map is drawn, while after one week this effect will be reversed. This hypothesis was not confirmed. After the five-minute-retention-interval, no differences in retention test scores were found for restudied or recalled texts. However, the restudied texts yielded a higher retention test performance than the texts of which a concept map was drawn. After the one-week-retention-interval no differential effects of learning strategy on retention test performance were found. So, what could explain these unexpected results? At the end of the study phase - during which learners studied three texts and used the three learning strategies – the learners were asked to indicate how much mental effort they invested in restudying, recalling and concept mapping. These results indicated that they invested significantly more effort in restudying a text than in recalling or drawing a concept map of a text. Therefore, it seems that restudying might impose an extraneous load: the learners in this study had to invest more mental effort in restudying, although this did not lead to better short-term or long-term retention than recall, and the short-term retention benefits over concept mapping disappeared.

When to measure cognitive load: Implications for results and conclusions

Tamara van Gog, Femke Kirschner, & Fred Paas

Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of The Netherlands [email protected]

We argue that measuring cognitive load after each problem is preferable over a single measurement at the end of a series of problems, for two reasons. On the one hand, it is unclear what the measurement at the end of a series of problems reflects. Do students estimate their invested mental effort as an average over all problems, the last problems, or the most complex problems they worked on? It seems unlikely that after a series of tasks they have a good recollection of the mental effort they invested in the first tasks in the series. On the other hand, single ratings cannot reflect fluctuations in cognitive load over time, which may occur amongst others as a result of a loss of motivation or of increasing expertise. With increasing knowledge or expertise, which may even occur during a relatively short learning phase, problems of a similar level of complexity will impose less cognitive load, because schemata are (being) developed for solving those problems that can be treated as a single element in working memory. This effect is likely to occur relatively fast for simple problems (relatively low in intrinsic load) and relatively slow for complex problems (high in intrinsic load), because building a problem schema for the latter kind may require more practice. Measuring cognitive load at the end of a series of problems will not allow one to detect such variations in intrinsic load.

This study investigated the implications of the timing of cognitive load measurements for results and conclusions. While working on a series of 6 problems (3 simple and 3 complex, order varied), students rated their perceived invested mental effort (a reliable measure of cognitive load, see Paas,



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1992; Paas, Tuovinen, Tabbers, & Van Gerven, 2003; Van Gog & Paas, 2008) either after completing each problem, or after completing a series of problems. Time on task was held constant. Tuesday, 10.45-12.15: Paper Session:

Multimedia Learning –Attention Guidance

Training perceptual skills in the natural sciences by eye movement modeling

Halszka Jarodzka a, Tamara Van Gog b, Michael Dorr c, Katharina Scheiter d, & Peter Gerjets a

a Knowledge Media Research Center, Germany

b Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of The Netherlands c Institute for Neuro- and Bioinformatics, University of Luebeck, Germany

d Applied Cognitive Psychology and Media Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Germany [email protected]

Tasks in the Natural Sciences with a complex, dynamic visual component require not only the acquisition of conceptual, but also of perceptual expertise. A prior study in the biological domain of classifying fish locomotion based on realistic videos revealed expertise differences in favor of experts with regard to performance and to process measures (Jarodzka, Scheiter, Gerjets, & Van Gog, 2008). Thus, the current study examined the effects of guiding learners’ attention based on experts’ perceptual processes in this domain by means of eye movement modeling (EMM; Van Gog, Jarodzka, Scheiter, Gerjets, & Paas, 2008), which is implemented by presenting the conceptual (by verbal comments) and perceptual processes (by eye movements) of a model pursuing a task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, which presented equally conceptual processes of the model but differed in the presentation of perceptual processes: 1) no perceptual guidance, 2) perceptual guidance by blurring out non-attended information based on the model’s eye movements via changes in the spectral energy of the video (Dorr, Vig, Gegenfurtner, Martinetz, & Barth, 2008), and 3) perceptual guidance by a solid disk on attended areas based on the model’s eye movements. Preliminary analyses based on 65 participants show neither differences in mental effort during learning (F<1) nor during testing (F=2.33, p=.11). Results concerning performance measures reveal an advantage of EMM in terms of learning outcomes with regard to perceptual information (F=3.52, p=.04), but not on learning of conceptual information (F<1). In detail, perceptual guidance by blurring out non-attended areas is superior to no guidance, whereas perceptual guidance by a solid disk on attended areas does not differ significantly from the other two groups. Thus, presenting perceptual processes of an expert seems to foster deeper elaborations during learning, whereas presenting unguided complex realistic videos seems to be overwhelming and thus hinders learning.

Attention-guiding effect during a learning task from animation

Franck Amadieu, Claudette Mariné, & Carole Laimay

CLLE-LTC, University of Toulouse le Mirail, France [email protected]

To be effective, animations for learning should avoid a high extraneous cognitive load imposed by high attentional requirements to select relevant elements. The attention-guiding principle (Bétrancourt, 2005) would improve learning. De Koning et al. (2007) confirmed that attention cueing supports learning with animation even if no effect was observed on mental effort. In order to improve our knowledge about the attention-guiding principle on learning from animation, we conducted a study that included guidance helping participants both to select relevant elements and to inhibit irrelevant elements in an animation.

Thirty six undergraduate psychology students studied an animation displaying a dynamic process in neurobiology domain. Half of the participants received a classical animation (displaying of the whole mechanism). The other half received the same animation with an attentional guidance focusing on the relevant elements at each step of the mechanism. Measures of cognitive load and comprehension



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performance (questions on low vs. high interactive elements) were introduced after one play of the animation and after three plays of the same animation.

The analyses revealed three important results. Firstly, whereas no effect was observed on the classical mental effort scale (Paas, 1992), a positive effect of guidance was observed with a composite score of cognitive load (mean of five subjective 9-points scales assessing perceived difficulties of parts of learning task). Secondly, improvement on learning performance for low interactive elements was found for both animation groups, whereas the learning of high interactive elements (i.e. causal relations) increased only in the guidance condition. Finally, a transfer task showed that guidance supported better learning.

The study suggests that subjective scales dealing with perceived difficulties on learning task elements may provide higher sensitive assessment than a global mental effort scale, and that an animation requiring less attentional processes may support learning of high interactive elements and reduce extraneous cognitive load, but only after several expositions.

Generating self-explanations leads to improved effectiveness of attention cueing in complex animations

Björn de Koninga, Huib Tabbersa, Remy Rikersa, & Fred Paasa,b

aErasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands bCentre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] Several recent studies have shown that attention cueing might help learners in focusing their attention on essential parts of an animation, but that it does not ensure that essential causal relations are detected (Kriz & Hegarty, 2007). Therefore, in this study cognitive load theory was used to investigate whether generating self-explanations while studying an animation of the cardiovascular system with visual cues that are intended to reduce the extraneous load associated with searching for specific elements might engage learners in effortful cognitive activities necessary for learning. Ninety secondary school students studied an animation of the cardiovascular system with or without visual cues (i.e., luminance change) and did or did not receive prompts to self-explain during the animation. Learning outcomes were measured by retention, inference, and transfer tests, whereas a subjective rating scale measured experienced cognitive load. It was hypothesized that studying an animation with cues enables learners to effectively generate self-explanations and improve their understanding of the depicted system, whereas self-explaining is more difficult and less effective in terms of learning when the animation is studied without cues. The results confirmed the hypothesized interaction between cueing and self-explaining, indicating that learners who generated self-explanations with a cued animation yielded higher performance on inference and transfer (but not retention) tasks than learners who generated self-explanations with an uncued animation and learners who did not self-explain. The self-explanation data support this conclusion. No significant differences on cognitive load were found. The findings suggest that learning from cued animations may be enhanced by eliciting self-explanations. Cues seem to enable learners to generate more meaningful self-explanations and hence construct a deeper understanding as they may make more cognitive resources available by reducing the need to locate task-relevant information.

Combining signaling and tracing in multimedia: Effects on the learning of physics concepts

Shyh-Chii Tzeng, Li-Ping Lee, & Huei Min Wu

Department of Learning and Digital Technology, Fo Guang University, Taiwan [email protected]

Although multimedia presentations have become very popular in educational settings, creating them without careful considerations of the nature of a task and the capacity and duration limitations of working memory can hinder learning. This research examined the effects of two instructional strategies (i.e., (a) combining signaling and tracing and (b) reflection) on students’ learning from two PowerPoint presentations. One presentation was designed to teach students about velocity while the



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other about acceleration. It should be noted that each presentation also contained four different versions.

Sixty-four eighth graders (34 boys and 30 girls) were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: (a) signaling plus tracing with self-controlled reflection, (b) signaling plus tracing with computer-controlled reflection, (c) no signaling or tracing with self-controlled reflection, and (d) no signaling or tracing with computer-controlled reflection. The “signaling” device was defined as using arrows to attract learners’ attention to relevant on-screen information and the “tracing” device was defined as leaving a trace of the motion of an animated ball. Upon completion of each slide presentation, students were encouraged to reflect on their learning. Students in the self-controlled reflection condition could click the “next” button whenever they were ready. Students in the computer-controlled reflection condition, on the other hand, needed to wait for 10 seconds before proceeding to the next slide.

Test questions were administered to measure students’ learning. Students were also asked to indicate their perception of task difficulty and the amount of effort invested. The results indicated that students’ learning of acceleration was better promoted when signaling and tracing devices were included in multimedia. No differences were obtained regarding students’ perception of task difficulty. Students in the computer-controlled reflection condition, however, were found to invest significantly more effort while studying the two presentations. Results are explained using cognitive load theory. Tuesday, 13.15-14.00:

Keynote Cognitive Aging

Pascal van Gerven

Maastricht University, The Netherlands [email protected]

The role of modality in the inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging: Opportunities for instructional

design

Since the seminal work by Lynn Hasher and Rose Zacks in the late 1980s, most cognitive aging researchers agree that older people have problems with inhibition. Irrelevant stimuli are less effectively suppressed, resulting in disproportionate interference in working memory (cf. extraneous cognitive load). The validity of this so-called “inhibitory deficit hypothesis” seems limited, however. It has been repeatedly demonstrated, for example, that older people who are involved in a visual memory task show the same level of interference from irrelevant background speech as their younger counterparts (which appears not to be due to age-related hearing loss). In my presentation, I will give an overview of research on the irrelevant speech effect in relation to aging and inhibition. I will show that auditory inhibition is possibly unaffected by aging, which limits the scope of the inhibitory deficit hypothesis. Furthermore, I will discuss some opportunities for instructional design aimed at older people that might arise from this research.


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Tuesday, 14.15-15.45: Paper Session: Human-Computer Interaction

The effects of an exploratory search system on performance and cognitive load

Yvonne Kammerera, Peter Pirollib, Rowan Nairnb, & Peter Gerjetsa

a Knowledge Media Research Center, Germany

b Palo Alto Research Center, USA [email protected]

The World Wide Web (WWW) offers easy access to an unprecedented amount of information and plays an important role in peoples’ information seeking and learning activities. In contrast to simple fact finding, ill-structured problems and more open-ended information goals usually afford a rather continuous and exploratory search behavior, with learning taking place during this exploratory process (Marchionini, 2006). In order to support users in their exploratory search a so-called Exploratory Search System was developed. Besides conventional search capabilities (search box and search results list), this system additionally presents keywords related to the search term and provides the opportunity for giving relevance feedback in order to refine search queries (cf. Baeza-Yates & Ribeiro-Neto, 1999). Thus, this system provides searchers with additional information and supports rich interaction, which might induce a higher cognitive load (cf. Wilson & schraefel, 2008). However, this is likely to be germane load, leading to more sophisticated exploratory search behavior and better learning.

In an experiment with 30 participants, we compared the Exploratory Search System to a baseline version without the exploratory search features, varied between subjects. Participants were required to write short coherent summaries regarding three different domains of search (varied within subjects). Keyboard and mouse operations were registered during search. Subsequent to each search domain participants rated their subjective level of cognitive load using an adapted version of the NASA TLX.

Results showed that the Exploratory Search System resulted in summaries of significantly higher quality compared to the baseline system. At the same time, participants using the Exploratory Search System experienced a significantly higher cognitive load than Baseline participants. Moreover, the use of the exploratory search features positively correlated with participants’ cognitive load.

Hence, the Exploratory Search System seems to impose germane cognitive load, leading to better performance as a result of a more intense exploratory search process.

Cognitive load theory and theories of human computer interaction

Nina Hollendera, Cristian Hofmannb, Michael Denekea, & Bernhard Schmitzc

a Center for Development and Research in Higher Education, TU Darmstadt, Germany b Interactive Graphics Systems Group, TU Darmstadt, Germany

c Institute of Psychology, TU Darmstadt, Germany [email protected]

With software tools that engage learners in the construction of media, the goal to present learning materials in a way to manage intrinsic cognitive load, to reduce extraneous cognitive load and to foster germane cognitive load becomes also a question of human computer interaction design. The present paper reviews the application of cognitive load theory in the field of human computer interaction (HCI) and compares concepts of cognitive load theory with concepts of HCI.

A general paradigm in HCI is the reduction of cognitive load, with cognitive load meaning extraneous load. It is aimed to design software that places as little cognitive burden as possible on users in order to complete a certain task. The concept of germane cognitive load, however, has not attracted much attention in the field of HCI so far. This may be due to the fact that its implication to increase germane cognitive load contradicts the general goal in HCI to reduce cognitive load. Despite this neglect of the concept of germane cognitive load in HCI up to now, it is shown that it can be well fitted into existing theoretical HCI frameworks. By doing so, it helps to understand the particularities of software design aimed to support learning and allows focusing on software features that foster germane learning processes.



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Cognitive load and goal based scenario centered 3D multimedia learning environment: Learners’ satisfaction, motivation and mental effort

Eylem Kilica,b & Zahide Yildirima

a Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technology, Middle East Technical University,

Turkey b Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technology, Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

[email protected] The purpose of this study is to investigate learners’ satisfaction motivation and mental effort in Goal Based Scenario centered 3D multimedia learning environment (GBSc3DM) designed based on Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) principles. GBSc3DM developed in two versions. While Cognitive Load Theory principles were considered in the design of the first version (+CLT) of the multimedia, those principles were not applied in designing the second version (-CLT).82 9th grade high school students participated in the study, and mixed methods were used to gather the data. Reflective journal and semi-structured interview were used as a qualitative method to investigate how learners’ perception, motivation and satisfaction affected with extraneous cognitive load, In addition, subjective rating scale was used to investigate the difference between learners’ mental effort invested in the first and second version of GBSc3DM as a quantitative method. An independent sample t-test was conducted to find out difference in mental effort between first (+CLT) and second version (-CLT) of the multimedia. The data gained from reflective journal and interviews were subject to content analysis. The findings of the study indicated that learners were satisfied with Goal-Based Scenario components and CLT principles implemented in the first version of GBSc3DM. They also found that GBSc3DM and CLT principles motivated them to learn the topic. However, learners were not satisfied with the second version (-CLT) of the GBSc3DM, and they found it distracting. Learners invested higher mental effort in the second version (-CLT) compared to first version (+CLT). Human performance technology consequences of an analogy between organizational change

and instructional design: A cognitive load perspective

Aubteen Darabi

The Learning Systems Institute, Florida State University [email protected]

This paper applies the principles of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) to organizational change. The author hopes to provide a CLT perspective for conducting empirical research in the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT).

HPT is concerned with improvement of organizational performance through designing systemic interventions (Pershing, 2006). The Design of these interventions, aimed at producing a desired change, follow a thorough analysis of the organizational system and its interactive components (Gharajedaghi, 1999; Stolovitch & Keeps, 1999). This process has striking similarities to designing instruction for improving learner’s performance. Both cases deal with subjects (learners and organizations) with certain capabilities that are exposed to novel information designed for producing a desired change.

In his analogy between evolution by natural selection and human cognitive architecture, Sweller (2004) suggests that when facing novel information, human cognition relies on random combinations of the information elements that are tested for their effectiveness. This is due to the lack of “Central Executive Function” which becomes available when individual deals with familiar information. Due to this limitation, Sweller concludes that in designing instruction, new information must be presented incrementally and according to the learner’s cognitive capabilities as nature introduces small random genetic variation to be tested by the environment.

This analogy is used here to provide an evolutionary approach to organizational change. As “living systems” (Ackoff, 1999), organizations are exposed to information novel to their structure and environment when required to change their current status. Organizations have their own “genetic” characteristics and “cognitive architecture” that rule the interactions of the workforce with work environment. The workforce is wrapped in organizational environment that facilitates its performance and contributes to the organization transition. Because of these evolutionary characteristics, this



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author applies the principles of CLT and suggests that in HPT and organizational change, similarly to instructional design, any changes to the organization and its workforce must be introduce incrementally according to a careful design and implementation plan. The theoretical framework of this argument will be presented in the conference. Tuesday, 15.45-17.30: Poster Session Can collaborative ‘tags’ and annotations of classroom situations help novice student-teachers

to recognize cues for teacher action?

Niek van den Bogert

Eindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven University of Technology [email protected]

Novice student-teachers’ knowledge of classroom situations is fragmented and hardly automatized. For novices, the task of simultaneously teaching and managing a classroom, demands a considerable amount of mental effort, because they must allocate more attentional resources to process information, and teaching decisions (Feldon, 2007). Berliner (2001) suggests that this problem can be overcome by helping student-teachers build a knowledge base of classroom cases. We present a recently started research project that aims to investigate how annotated video registrations of classroom situations can help student-teachers to better recognize cues for teacher action.

This presentation will focus on the first experiment in which we aim to obtain the annotations, in an experiment where we compare novice and expert teachers’ performance in identifying cues for teacher action in video registrations of classroom situations. Also, the role of collaborative social tagging/annotating as a knowledge elicitation method will be explored.

Tags (i.e., index terms) of, for instance videos (youtube.com), provided by users are used to create a sort of taxonomy of the content (i.e., folksonomy). Several tools for tagging/annotating have emerged from research in CSCL (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1992). It will be interesting to see how novice annotations differ from expert annotations. Furthermore, the resulting annotations will be used in several experiments as worked examples to see if they provide a scaffold for novices in observing and analyzing classroom events. We expect that as these skills become more automatized they impose less cognitive load, and more cognitive resources will become available for pedagogical skills. We are particularly interested on which kind (expert or peer) annotations help reduce mental effort the most.

A meta-analysis of the worked example effect

Shevaun Coreya, Craig Bennella, Karla Emenoa, & Catherine Martensb

aDepartment of Psychology, Carleton University bCriminology Department, University of Ottawa

[email protected]

A worked example is an instructional strategy used to teach problem-solving skills by breaking problems down into their constituent solution steps (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006; van Merriënboer, 1997). It has been suggested that for inexperienced learners, learning via worked examples should result in greater learning outcomes than learning via problem solving because worked examples help to focus the learner’s attention on the information necessary to acquire knowledge (Sweller, 2006; van Gog, Paas, & van Merriënboer, 2006). Although it is has been extensively studied (Ayres, 2006; Cooper & Sweller, 1987, etc.), the impact of worked examples has yet to be studied empirically using meta-analytic techniques.

Studies were identified by conducting searches of various computer databases (e.g., PsychINFO), examining the reference sections of articles, and contacting researchers. A total of 119 studies have been identified and will be examined to determine if they meet the following inclusion criteria: (1) the study has an experimental group receiving worked examples and a control group who does not, (2) outcome data (e.g., a test score) are available for each group indicating the degree of learning that



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has occurred, and (3) sufficient information is provided to enable the calculation of an effect size. Studies will be coded for: (1) study characteristics (e.g., publication type), (2) sample characteristics (e.g., type of participants), and (3) outcome characteristics (e.g., near transfer test scores). The central goal of this meta-analysis is to determine whether the use of worked examples is superior to other instructional strategies and to determine the magnitude of the effect. In addition, various moderator variables will be examined to determine their effect. These will include, but may not be limited to, the kind of learning task, the structure of the worked example, the media used to present them, the number of problems studied, etc.

Does all cognitive load occur in working memory?

Krista DeLeeuw

Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara [email protected]

Cognitive load theory (CLT) draws on an understanding of human cognitive architecture to provide explanations for why certain designs of multimedia educational materials are effective and why some are not. The theory assumes that the effects of cognitive load occur because working memory is occupied with processing that is either harmful or beneficial to learning. However, this basic assumption has not yet been directly tested. An alternative explanation might be that cognitive load affects processing that occurs before working memory. Because many manipulations of cognitive load involve changes to a physical stimulus (such as adding redundant on-screen text or placing text closer to a relevant diagram), they may load sensory channels rather than working memory channels. Such a distinction in types of load has been made in the field of attention using a distractor paradigm. Using this paradigm, Lavie and her colleagues (e.g. Lavie, Hirst, deFockert, & Viding, 2004) have shown that during a visual attention task, participants are more distracted by irrelevant distractors under working memory load but less distracted under perceptual load. If some types of cognitive load do occur perceptually, the difficulty in learning from these materials might be in processing that proceeds working memory, for example the categorization of the information into “relevant” and “irrelevant”. I propose a series of studies that will test CLT’s basic assumption – that cognitive load occurs in working memory – against this alternative explanation – that cognitive load occurs in perceptual processes – using the distractor paradigm in concert with sensitive measurement techniques (eye tracking and event-related potential). In addition, the proposed studies have the potential to further distinguish among types of cognitive load.

Optimizing the structure of hypermedia instruction with regard to cognitive load and motivation

Chantal Gorissena, Liesbeth Kestera, & Rob Martensa,b

aCentre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands bRuud de Moor Centre, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] The objective of this proposal is to compare and contrast Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and Self Determination Theory (SDT) with regard to the amount of structure that is needed for learning. When looking at the structuring of learning from an instructional point of view, these theories seem to contradict each other. Where CLT states that extraneous load should be kept low by keeping instructions clean and simple, tasks well structured, and too many confusing options avoided, SDT states that people learn best from intrinsic motivation. To sustain this motivation, students should not be controlled, and should be free to follow personal interests. However, when examining both theories more closely some aspects seem to overlap or complement each other quite well. This is important for both theories because they both tend to fall short on certain aspects. For instance, the CLT lacks a motivational aspect. There is ongoing debate on how to optimize the cognitive (germane) load which becomes available in good instructional material and which is not automatically used. People will need to be motivated to actively use that free capacity in working memory. Here, the three basis psychological needs proposed by SDT could provide insight. The problem with the SDT concerns the



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need for competence. SDT claims that a sense of competence is needed to sustain intrinsic motivation, but does not provide guidelines on how to accomplish this. CLT can relate to this concept of competence, because one cannot feel competent, when there is cognitive overload. CLT aims to prevent cognitive overload and provide optimal use of working memory capacity, which in turn helps to strengthen feelings of competence. This paper results in a model in which both theories are represented and which is placed in an evolutionary framework to further explain it.

Training complex judgment: The effects of critical thinking and contextual interference

Anne Helsdingena, Tamara van Goga, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb

a Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of The Netherlands

b Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, Open University of The Netherlands [email protected]

Aim. The aim of the studies presented here was to investigate: (a) whether critical thinking instruction benefits transfer of complex judgment skills, (b) the effects of random and blocked practice schedules on learning, retention and transfer of complex judgment skills and (c) the effects of critical thinking prompts in random and blocked practice schedules.

Studies. Two field experiments (N=16, N=16) were undertaken to determine whether critical thinking instruction (critical thinking, control) yields better performance in complex judgment tasks. In six exercises of one hour, students were taught military command and control. During near and far transfer test, students’ judgment performance was evaluated by experts who were not informed of the experimental manipulation. The results showed a benefit of critical thinking instruction, especially for the far transfer test.

The effects of practice schedule (random, blocked) on retention (study 1) and near transfer (study 2) of complex judgment skills were studied in two laboratory experiments (N=54, N=64). Random practice yielded better retention and improved transfer performance, without having a detrimental effect on performance during learning.

The final experiment used a 2 x 3 factorial design (N = 120) with the factors practice schedule (random, blocked) and critical thinking prompts (proactive, retrospective, none). Here, a blocked schedule led to better performance than random practice during learning, but not on the transfer test, where a random schedule was beneficial. An interaction effect was also found: whereas retrospective critical thinking prompts have surplus value in a random schedule, transfer test performance following a blocked schedule is enhanced through proactive critical thinking prompts.

Conclusion. Critical thinking instruction teaches students a better judgment strategy and enhances understanding of the domain. Furthermore, with a correct timing of critical thinking prompts, not only random but also blocked practice schedules can greatly enhance learning and transfer performance.

Cognitive load when exploring a video analysis database: Supporting comparisons and providing information on previous categorization processes

Nina Hollendera, Bernhard Schmitzb, Michael Denekea, & Cristian Hofmannc

aCenter for Development and Research in Higher Education, TU Darmstadt, Germany bInstitute of Psychology, TU Darmstadt, Germany

cInteractive Graphics Systems Group, TU Darmstadt,Germany [email protected]

In computer supported collaborative video analyses, learners categorize objects or sequences in digital videos and compare and discuss their individual analysis results with their peers. The resulting video analysis database can be explored by novice learners before they analyze new videos themselves. With regard to this learning scenario, the present study evaluates two features of a video analysis database that aim at both, reducing extraneous cognitive load, and fostering germane cognitive load.

A comparison feature that allows comparing different categorized sequences within spatial proximity rather than spatially separated should reduce extraneous load according to the split-attention principle. Providing learners with information on critical previous categorization processes is



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hypothesized to prevent superficial processing when conducting comparisons between sequences, thus fostering germane cognitive load. An example for such a critical categorization process is a disagreement between learners with regard to the category of a certain sequence, and a following process to reach an agreement.

The hypotheses are experimentally tested in a 2x2-factorial design, with the factor “Comparison” (spatially integrated/spatially separated) and the factor “Provision of information on previous categorization processes” (yes/no). Overall cognitive load is measured by means of subjective rating scales as well as by secondary task methodology. In order to assess learning outcomes, participants categorize a set of new video sequences in a post-test. Furthermore, time to explore the analysis database and time to complete the posttest are measured. The study is currently being conducted and will be completed in January 2009, with 60 participants scheduled.

Using cognitive load for adaptive instruction in genetics education

Loredana Mihalcaa, Ron Saldenb, Gemma Corbalanc, Fred Paasc, & Mircea Micleaa

aDepartment of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania

bHuman-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA cCentre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected] The acquisition of complex skills by novice learners is constrained by the limited processing capacity of their working memory and as a consequence, their cognitive system might become overloaded (e.g., Sweller, van Merriënboer & Paas, 1998). In order to prevent a possible cognitive overload, the task difficulty and amount of support of each newly selected learning task should be adapted to the learners’ competence level and perceived mental effort (Corbalan, Kester & van Merriënboer, 2006). This study will examine the differential effects of three conditions in a genetics training program on learning efficiency, effectiveness and motivation. In the fixed program condition, the tasks are presented in a fixed, predetermined simple-to-complex sequence, designed according to the 4C/ID model (van Merriënboer, 1997). Furthermore, the support level is gradually decreased within each increasing difficulty level of tasks. In the adaptive program condition, the tasks are dynamically selected for each individual student: initially based on their pretest performance and subsequently on the individual student’s performance and mental effort scores of each following training task. In the learner control condition, students have full responsibility over their learning process, including the assessment of their own performance and the selection of learning tasks. According to Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) it is expected that the adaptive program condition should be superior to the fixed program condition because it provides the possibility to adjust the training to the individual learner’s cognitive state (Salden, Paas, Broers, & van Merriënboer, 2004). Furthermore, the adaptive program condition should be superior to the learner control condition because it provides adequate levels of support whereas the task requirements of the learner control condition might overload the novice learners. The results will be discussed in the CLT framework and future research suggestions will be provided. The conditions under which reading alone may enhance listening skills of English as a foreign

language: A cognitive load perspective

Jase Moussa Inatya, Paul Ayresb, & John Swellerb

a Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE b University of New South Wales, Australia

[email protected] A growing body of CLT and second/foreign language learning research has shown that learners are often faced with the challenge of having to listen to, read, and write in a particular language in order to learn that language (see Diao & Sweller, 2007; Moussa, Ayres, & Sweller, in press). In an example of the redundancy effect, leaning English as a foreign language is inhibited when written and spoken text containing the same information is presented simultaneously rather than in written form only. Moreover, material presented in written form where students are required to only read has shown to



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enhance listening skills. The current research is designed to investigate the conditions under which reading alone may enhance listening skills by comparing three instructional formats, reading only, reading plus listening, and listening only. The primary research question under investigation is, in considering CLT effects, what instructional materials would be most efficient to assist ESL learners in acquiring enhanced listening skills? Sixty participants similar in age will be recruited from various classes of first-year students required to undertake English as a foreign language prior to taking regular university courses from Zayed University. The students will be randomly assigned to each of the Read Only, Listen Only, and Read + Listen groups. It is hypothesized that when the aim is to teach ESL listening to beginning learners, if the material in varying formats (e.g. auditory only, written only, or auditory plus written) is presented in stages, this will have a positive influence on learning to listen. More specifically, during acquisition, if learning material is presented in two single modes (e.g. listening only and reading only) following each other, and then presented in dual-mode (e.g. listening plus reading simultaneously), listening skills may be enhanced. Once auditory and written materials is then simultaneously presented a redundancy effect is less likely to occur due to increased expertise.

A meta-analysis of the self-explanation effect

Rebecca Mugford, Shevaun Corey, Craig Bennell, & Catherine Martens

Department of Psychology, Carleton University [email protected]

The current study represents the first meta-analytic review of the self-explanation effect, which generally holds that actively explaining instructional materials to oneself enhances learning outcomes (Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989). Studies were located by conducting computer searches of various electronic databases (e.g., PsycINFO). The reference sections of all studies found via this method were also examined for any additional studies and several researchers were contacted in order to obtain any relevant unpublished articles or data. A total of 83 studies have been identified and will be examined to determine if they meet the following inclusion criteria: (1) the study has an experimental group who engages in some form of self-explanation and a control group who does not, (2) outcome data (e.g., a test score) are available for each group indicating the degree of learning that has occurred, and (3) sufficient information is provided to enable the calculation of an effect size. Studies will be coded on the basis of many factors, some of which include: publication type, type of self-explanation, instructional format, type of task, field of study, and outcome measure. The central goal of this meta-analysis is to determine whether self-explanation is superior to no self-explanation and to estimate the magnitude of this effect. In addition, various moderator variables will be examined to determine how they influence the self-explanation effect. These will include, but may not be limited to: type of self-explanation (e.g., spontaneous, prompted, instructional, etc.), instructional format (e.g., worked-examples, conventional, text-based formats, etc.), and type of task (e.g., probability, biology, geometry, etc.).

Information transience in animations: Perceptual and cognitive difficulties

Ingrid Spanjersa,b, Tamara van Goga,b, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb

a Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of The Netherlands

b Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, Open University of The Netherlands [email protected]

Animations are a highly popular means to depict procedural, natural, biological, or mechanical processes; however, they are not always more effective for learning than a series of static pictures. One of the reasons for this lack of effectiveness is the transience of animations. This theoretical contribution provides a discussion of some perceptual and cognitive problems that arise from transience, as well as a review of some potential solutions. The main problem with transience is that information which is not perceived is not available for cognitive processing and as a result, for learning. We propose to make a distinction between three types of perceptual problems with animations. The first is that perceiving information can be impossible due to the presentation speed (e.g., the movements of the legs of a galloping horse). The second type is that concurrent changes at



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different places in the animation cannot be attended to simultaneously, and due to transience will go undetected. The third type is that events may not be detected, because they are not salient enough to be perceived. Depending on the content of the animation, when information is presented too slowly (e.g., baking a cake) or too fast (e.g., different hand movements during slicing tomatoes), events may not be categorised as separate happenings. But even when these perceptual problems do not occur or can be overcome by instructional interventions, transience of animations poses challenges for learning. Working memory is limited in time and capacity. Having to maintain information in working memory to integrate it with information presented later in time or at other places induces high load. Finally, the time to engage in cognitive processes such as rehearsal, elaboration, or integration, is often insufficient, because new information keeps on being presented.

Cognitive load theory and the development of algebraic skills

Irene van Stiphout, Wim Jochems, Koeno Gravemeijer, & Jacob Perrenet

Eindhoven School of Education [email protected]

Aims. In the Netherlands, students entering higher education face problems with algebraic skills. We investigate the development of algebraic skills in pre-university education in a partly longitudinal and partly cross-sectional study, using two perspectives. From cognitive psychological perspective, we use an instrument of cognitive load theory to measure mental effort. From mathematics education perspective, we use distinctions of mathematics in procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. Students are assessed in these aspects by measuring performance and mental effort. We expect the analysis of the whole series of assessments to provide information about where in the curriculum problems arise in the mastering of algebraic skills. In addition to this quantitative study, we plan a qualitative study into the nature of these problems.

Methods. We follow individual students during 1 ½ year. We have constructed paper and pencil tests for students in grade 8 till grade 11. The tests consists of 12 up to 16 mathematics items. Four schools participate. Half the items aim at measuring procedural fluency (F-items); the other half aims to measure conceptual understanding (U-items). We use scores 0 and 1 to measure performance on the items. After each item, students were asked to report their mental effort invested on the 9-points scale developed by Paas (1992). We use Paas and Van Merriënboers (1993) efficiency to combine those measures.

Findings. First results show that students perform better and experience less mental effort on the F-items than on the U-items. Further, on nearly half of the items, performance does not increase and mental effort does not decrease with the grades. Efficiency scores are higher on the F-items than on the U-items. Also, efficiency does not increase with the grades.

Conclusion. Unexpectedly, algebraic skills do not increase through the grades. A fine-grained analysis of the development of algebraic skills is needed.

Procedural advice on self-assessment and task selection

Bettine E. M. C. Taminiaua, Gemma Corbalana, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb

aCentre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

bNetherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, Open University of the Netherlands [email protected]

Positive effects of learner control over task selection decrease when learners make suboptimal task selections and are cognitively overloaded by the amount of choice. Self-assessment and task selection skills are necessary for selecting suitable tasks according to one’s learning needs. However, especially novices in a domain have not yet developed these skills. We propose ‘procedural advice’ on self-assessment and task selection to tackle these problems.

Procedural advice on self-assessment provides learners a scoring rubric with task-relevant standards (e.g., criteria, values, attitudes) and a rating scale for these standards. This focuses learners’ attention on the specific criteria needed to evaluate their performance. Procedural advice on task selection provides task-relevant aspects (i.e., difficulty and support level) and task selection rules



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based on students’ performance and invested mental effort on previously performed tasks (e.g., if you performed this task correctly and invested relatively low mental effort, then select a task from the same difficulty level with lower support).

Procedural advice may be the first step towards the development of self-assessment and task selection skills, at least within the same domain. Additionally, this advice is believed to help learners to set an appropriate learning trajectory, and, hence, to promote the development of domain-specific skills.

Under the assumption that the ability to self-assess is prerequisite for meaningful task selection, advice on self-assessment in combination with advice on task selection is most advisable. Moreover, procedural advice on task selection is expected to decrease perceived mental effort because it helps learners to recognize relevant task aspects from the range of tasks available, reducing the amount of choice.

A 2x2 factorial randomized design with the factors self-assessment (advice, no advice) and task selection (advice, no advice) will study the effects of procedural advice on the development of domain-specific skills and on self-assessment and task selection skills.

Effect of guidance on the conceptualization in Biology: The case of learning to categorize species

Franck Tanguya,c, Jean-Noël Foulina,b, & André Tricotc

aLaboratoire de Psychologie Santé et Qualité de Vie, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, France

bI.U.F.M. d’Aquitaine, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux 4, France cLaboratoire Travail et Cognition, Université de Toulouse 2 le Mirail, France

[email protected]

The study we present concerns the role of guidance in learning scientific concept. It is focused on the cognitive processes underlying learning by instruction. Taking into account those processes, and the situation (or socio-cultural context), is equally relevant (Vosniadou, 2007). In science as in other fields, two types of knowledge can be distinguished (Geary, 2007): on one hand, biologically primary knowledge, which is knowledge we have evolved to acquire easily, with relatively little effort (e.g., case of native spoken language); on the other hand, biologically secondary knowledge which depends on the culture and as a consequence evolves with successive changes in the culture (e.g., case of history or writing script). Whereas primary knowledge can be acquired incidentally or from implicit learning, secondary knowledge needs explicit learning, and often formal instruction, to be acquired.

The two types of knowledge also differ with regards to the cognitive cost of learning. The cognitive load related to the learning process depends on the amount of attentional resources requested by the activity of working memory and the insertion of new information in the structures of long-term memory (Sweller, 2004). While primary knowledge can be learnt with a low cognitive load, learning secondary knowledge requires a high cognitive load. It follows that young learners are not capable to manipulate and acquire secondary knowledge without direct, explicit and well organized instruction (Geary, 2007). Some types of instructional guidance, (e.g., worked examples) have been shown to improve the efficiency of learning processes (Renkl, 2007). Instructional guidance may facilitate knowledge acquisition because it reduces the amount of cognitive resources requested by the learning process.

In this, if Sweller and Geary’s theories are right, learning primary knowledge does not require instructional guidance, yet secondary knowledge with a high cognitive load demands instructional guidance to help young learners. Many empirical results are coherent with these theories, but, to our knowledge, no comparison between guided / no guided instruction to learn primary / secondary knowledge about the same topic has been done.

Also, the present study was designed to examine the effect of instructional guidance in a biological specific context: the classification of species.


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Variability of practice as the key to creativity

Iwan G. J. H. Wopereisa, Paul A. Kirschnerb, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb

a Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University of the Netherlands

b Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, Open University of the Netherlands [email protected]

It is frequently stated that creativity is an important quality for both the individual and society at large and that educating for creativity should be conceived a key mission in contemporary educational practice (Sawyer, 2006). Unfortunately, until now both education and psychology have largely failed to deduce a universal set of guidelines for creativity enhancement (Sweller, 2004; in press). We initiated a four study research project in order to fill this gap and to contribute to a sound and empirically based instructional theory for enhancing creativity. Since an instructional theory for enhancing creativity is extremely broad, the scope of the project is restricted to the effect of variability-of-practice on learning the improvisation skill. The poster presentation addresses the second study of the research project –a learning biography study which aims at describing and analyzing learning histories of both expert and non-expert improvisers. For this second study the Autobiographical Self-Thematisation Method of Kelchtermans (1999) is selected to uncover effective learning strategies and instructional procedures for improvisation skill development of ten musical experts (five recognized expert improvisers and five renowned musicians lacking improvisational expertise). It is hypothesized that by choosing both experts and non-experts it is possible to distinguish successful and unsuccessful learning strategies and instructional procedures. The preliminary results of within-case analyses and cross-case analyses will be presented at the CLT conference. Effective instructional procedures that address the variability effect will be presented. Further, consequences for two subsequent experimental studies on the variability effect will be discussed. Tuesday, 17.30-18.15:

Keynote Cognitive Neuroscience

Roland H. Grabner

Institute of Behavioral Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland [email protected]

Impact of intelligence and expertise on superior performance and neural efficiency

Individual differences in cognitive performance have been explicated from an intelligence perspective, emphasising domain-general properties of the human information processing system, and from an expertise perspective, stressing the indispensable role of elaborated domain-specific knowledge. Brain imaging studies have begun to unveil the neural correlates of superior performance and have provided substantial evidence underlining the role of intelligence for efficient brain functioning. Little is known, in contrast, about the neural underpinnings of expertise and its interplay with general mental ability. In this talk, two studies in the domains of taxi driving and tournament chess will be reported that demonstrated dissociable impacts of intelligence and domain-specific knowledge on cognitive performance and neural efficiency. In light of these findings, I will discuss brain mechanisms that may underlie individual differences in intelligence and expertise. Finally, conclusions of how cognitive neuroscience can further our understanding of individual performance differences will be drawn.



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Wednesday, March 4 Wednesday, 9.00-9.45:

Keynote Expertise

Remy M. J. P. Rikers

Psychology Department, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands [email protected]

Why is not everyone Albert Einstein? Implications of expertise research for educational

practice

The conviction that individuals can only excel in a domain if they are blessed with some innate qualities is still very dominant in our Western world. Already from a young age children are identified by teachers or trainers as either talented or as untalented. These judgments may even have determined the way their career has developed. For instance, the fact that your science teacher has denied you mathematical qualities may have resulted in your career as an educational psychologist. Obviously this “talent account” is not limited to teachers and trainers, but has also become part of your own thinking. We experience ourselves as competent in certain areas and less or even incompetent in others. Often we experience hitting the wall if we try to overcome these limitations, and practice often seems to contribute little to our performance. However, studies on the development of expertise seem to indicate that this wall is less impenetrable as we thought it was. In this presentation I will provide an overview of recent developments in expertise research and may even give you an answer to the question why you have not become Albert Einstein. Wednesday, 9.45-11.15: Paper Session:

Prompting, Feedback, and Strategy Training

Adapting prior knowledge activation to learners’ level of prior knowledge

Sandra Wetzelsa, Liesbeth Kestera, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb



This study focuses on the effects of note taking during prior knowledge activation on learning effectiveness and efficiency depending on learners’ prior knowledge. In addition, the effects of two different prior knowledge activation strategies are investigated.

Method. Sixty-three students participated in this study. A randomized 2x2 factorial design with note taking (yes, no) and prior knowledge activation strategy (mobilization, perspective taking) was used. Learners’ prior knowledge was assessed by means of a prior knowledge test and used as a continuous variable. Participants activated their prior knowledge about the circulatory system by means of mobilization or perspective taking. Half of the participants was allowed to take notes while activating their prior knowledge, whereas the other half was not. After activating their prior knowledge, students worked on eight learning tasks with diminishing learner support. Subsequently, students solved eight transfer tasks. Students rated their invested mental effort after each learning and transfer task.

Results. Multiple regression analyses were used. Preliminary results revealed an interaction effect between prior knowledge and note taking for invested mental effort during the learning phase (see Figure 1). In addition, an interaction effect between prior knowledge and activation strategy was found for learning task performance (see Figure 2).



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Conclusions. The effects of note taking and different prior knowledge activation strategies on learning seem to be influenced by learners’ prior knowledge. Note taking may offload working memory for learners with low prior knowledge and mobilization may enable them to extend their limited prior knowledge. High prior knowledge learners may not be overloaded by prior knowledge activation and will therefore, not benefit from note taking. In addition, perspective taking enables these learners to refine their already elaborated knowledge base. Figure 1 Figure 2

Focusing on conceptual aspects can hinder the acquisition of procedural knowledge

Kirsten Berthold, Heidi Röder, Daniel Knörzer, Wolfgang Kessler, & Alexander Renkl

Psychology Department, University of Freiburg, Germany [email protected]

In previous research explanation prompts were shown to be a very promising instructional support measure. They request the learners to process the to-be-learned contents in an active way that can foster learning. The focused processing stance (Renkl & Atkinson, 2007), however, proposes that active processing per se is not sufficient. Rather, the learners should focus on the central concepts and principles to be learned. Against this background, we developed prompts that induce focused processing in an e-learning module from the domain of tax law, and we tested their effects on conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge.

Methods. Participants were 40 university students of tax law. They were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: (a) Prompts inducing focused processing; (b) no such prompts.

Findings. A t test yielded a significant difference for conceptual knowledge in favor of the prompts group. However, learners who did not receive focused processing prompts acquired more procedural knowledge.

Conclusions. We found a discriminant effect of focused processing prompts: a positive effect on conceptual knowledge and simultaneously a negative effect on the acquisition of procedural knowledge. We call this pattern of results, which we have also found in another recent study on learning probability, “paradox prompt effect”. This "paradox" effect might be due to high complexity of the learning environment. Evidently, the learners reached their upper limit of their working memory capacity by the prompt-induced focus on central principles and concepts (i.e., conceptual aspects) so that processing procedural aspects was hindered.


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Feedback and learner control: Effects on efficiency and motivation

Gemma Corbalana, Liesbeth Kestera, & Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboerb



Structural task features are relevant for problem solving but not salient for domain novices. Feedback is expected to help learners recognize the structural features and thus to enable them to select personally relevant tasks with beneficial effects on learning and motivation. A 2x2 factorial experiment (N = 118) studied the effects of feedback (present, absent) and control over task selection (learner, program) on efficiency and motivation. The task-database contained 54 genetic tasks. Each task comprised five solution steps (the structural features) from which three were solved by the program and two by the learner. In the program-control conditions, one task containing 0, 1 or 2 steps not completed by the learner in the preceding task was presented. In the learner-control conditions, the learners selected a task from three tasks containing 0, 1 or 2 steps not completed in the previous task. In the feedback conditions, the solution of the steps completed by the learner was presented. Participants received 12 training tasks. The transfer test contained 10 (4 near, 6 far) transfer tasks. Mental effort was measured after each training and transfer task. Results revealed that feedback yielded lower mental effort during training, higher efficiency on near transfer, and higher learner motivation. This seems to indicate that feedback helps learners to recognize structural features, enabling them to connect the tasks presented to already performed ones. No effects on efficiency of far transfer were found. This could indicate that feedback on each step located where the error exactly was, probably yielding ‘restricted’ cognitive schemas that allowed learners to perform the steps of the near transfer test whereas for far transfer, deep understanding of the rationale behind the solution steps is crucial. Finally, an interaction between feedback and control, indicating extra beneficial effects of feedback when learners control task selection, was not found.

Strategy trainings for children and their effects on cognitive load

Tina Seuferta & Petra Herzmannb

aUlm University, Germany bUniversity of Cologne, Germany

[email protected]

The change from primary to secondary school comes along with a lot of new affordances. Not only that students have to learn more in shorter time but they also have to deal with different types of learning materials, like complex pictures, tables, longer and more difficult texts etc. Hence, we developed a training for 5th graders where teachers (who had a pre-training about strategies and strategy training) taught and trained strategies for reading texts, pictures and for mapping between texts and pictures or other kinds of representations during 8 weeks. Moreover, to enable students to self-regulate their strategy use we also fostered metacognitive strategies like planning and regulation by using monitoring questions. The training was implemented in two different geography classes with different amount and intensity of strategies used. While one group trained all the mentioned strategies the other group only learned to use text reading strategies. Besides this difference both classes had the same lessons, tests and comparable cognitive prerequisites. We compared learning performance and ratings of strategy use and found that the fully trained group revealed better learning outcomes and reported more intensive use of note-taking, underlining, systematic picture scanning and mapping. Moreover, we analyzed different aspects of cognitive load (mental effort and interfering effects between strategies and learning itself) by using suitable items for children. While the fully trained group invested more mental effort they report less interfering effects. For subjects like geography it seems especially helpful to learn how to read texts and pictures and to learn how to regulate the strategy use effectively. The metacognitive support may have reduced extraneous load because students always knew what to do and how to react in case of difficulties. These freed up resources could be used for more intensive processing resulting in better learning outcomes.



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Wednesday, 11.30-13.00: Paper Session: Multimedia Learning Testing the additivity hypothesis of cognitive load theory: Combined variation of modality and

seductive details in a self-paced multimedia instruction

Babette Kocha, Stefan Münzera, Tina Seufertb, & Roland Brünkena

aSaarland University, Germany

bUniversity of Ulm, Germany [email protected]

Cognitive Load Theory predicts that effects of load-creating factors on learning are additive. In a research program, different combinations of extraneous and germane load factors are investigated to examine this additivity hypothesis. The present study tested the combination of two extraneous load factors on learning from a self-paced multimedia learning system. The instruction explained a molecular process in the domain of Biology and contained 11 screens with static pictures accompanied by verbal explanations. As extraneous load factors, modality of the verbal explanation (visual text vs. auditory narration) and seductive details (with vs. without) were varied in a 2x2 factorial design. Prior to the present study, main effects of modality and seductive details were confirmed in two separate studies using the same learning material. The present experiment was conducted with 74 high school students. Results on recall, comprehension, and transfer performance served as dependent variables. Cognitive load was measured using a subjective rating scale. Main effects of modality and seductive details could be found on different learning measures. Taking time-on-task into account, a non-expected interaction effect appeared. Learners reached the highest transfer performance under the auditory narration condition including seductive details. However, no differences on cognitive load measures could be found. Thus, results suggest that combined effects of extraneous load factors are not necessarily additive. In the present study, the effect of one extraneous load factor turned out to reverse depending on the kind of the second factor. While seductive details impeded learning under a high load design condition, they fostered learning under a low load condition. The role of the animated agent with instructional scaffolding strategies as moderator between

instructional design and cognitive load

Hsin I Cindy Yung

Graduate School of Education, Ming Chuan University, Taipei, Taiwan [email protected]

Important multimedia instructional design principles have been identified based on cognitive load theory, especially in decreasing extraneous cognitive load. In order to investigate the effects of the animated agent design in multimedia learning on instructional efficiency and cognitive load, the study was aimed to focus on the animated agent with providing two instructional scaffolding strategies (story mnemonic or cuing question with feedback) as moderator on knowledge and comprehension tests when controlling learner’s prior knowledge and cognitive style (field independence/ field dependence) in learning human heart function.

One hundred and twenty-five undergraduate students were participated in this study and provided both empirical and practical implications for instructional design .The empirical data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to determine if the treatment groups differed on knowledge, comprehension tests and perceived mental effort. The analysis revealed the significant interaction regarding the animated agent with providing instructional scaffolding strategies (cuing question with feedback) and cognitive style (field independence/ field dependence) on comprehension test. With further investigation on multiple comparisons, the data showed that learners in the animated agent with providing instructional scaffolding strategy (cuing question with feedback) invested less mental effort than other treatment groups. The finding may imply that dual instructional cognitive supports (the animated agent with instructional function and instructional scaffolding strategies) were perceived as multiple sources of information reduced extraneous cognitive load and facilitated learning



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abstract concepts. In addition, the interactive feedback design imposed lower germane cognitive and reflected on learner’s performance. On the practical side, the study contributes to the future study on considering the role of the animated agent in the multimedia design principles for reducing extraneous cognitive load. To elaborate, instructional designers should combine the role of the animated agent with instructional scaffolding strategies (verbal explanations or interactive feedback) as moderating variable to reduce the cognitive load and facilitate learning.

The management of intrinsic vs extraneous cognitive load in second language listening and comprehension task

Stéphanie Roussel, Angelika Rieussec, André Tricot, & Jean-Luc Nespoulous

University of Toulouse, France [email protected]

Aim. The analysis of the use of MP3-players (the stop, pause, rewind and fast forward movements) provide information about the learners’ self-controlled listening strategies and comprehension in second language learning (Roussel, Rieussec, Nespoulous & Tricot, 2007). In the present experiment, we explore the effect of intrinsic vs extraneous cognitive load on these strategies. Our hypothesis is that cognitive load is managed by the participants: different strategies are implemented by different participants and have different consequences on learning (Tricot, Sweller, Amadieu, Chanquoy & Mariné, 2008).

Method. In an oral discourse comprehension task, cognitive load was introduced by a specific linguistic difficulty: 6 compound words in German (Der Unternehmensberater, Das Wirtschaftsleben, etc.), unknown but inferable after time and effort, were placed in a short discourse (100 seconds). We examined which strategies learners use in two conditions: a) when compounds are in a non salient-position in incoming discourse, i.e. difficult words are not useful to comprehend the discourse (extraneous cognitive load condition); b) when the same compounds are in a salient position in another speech sample, i.e. it is necessary to understand the difficult words in order to comprehend the discourse (intrinsic cognitive load condition).

Results. There is a significant difference between comprehension of the two groups (F=4,97 ; p< 0,05): The performance was better in the extraneous cognitive load condition than in the intrinsic. In condition (a) there is a negative correlation between the number of moves and the quality of the overall recall (r = -0,36), or the quality of the situation model (r = -0,21). It is the opposite, within condition (b).

Conclusion. Learners seem to be able to manage and reduce their own cognitive load in second language listening and comprehension task, but it is probably easier when extraneous cognitive load is concerned than intrinsic.

Adaptive Pointer: A cognitive guide in multimedia learning based on visual cognition theory

Mingjang Chena,b & Yu-Ting Lin b

aCenter for General Education, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

bDegree Program of E-Learning, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan [email protected]

In previous studies by Patricia D. Mautone and Richard E. Mayer (2001), they added a signaling principle to their collection of multimedia design principles. In their experiments, students who received signaling generated significantly more solutions on transfer test than students who did not receive signaling. The authors continued the above researches and proposed a mechanism for cognitive guidance in multimedia learning: adaptive pointer. Adaptive pointer is a kind of dynamic presentation based on triggered-based animation that can help learners process their materials more efficiently. The difference between the original signaling principle and the adaptive pointer is the effect of motion, especially the abrupt onset of objects and motions. These features appear to capture attention in a stimulus-driven, bottom-up fashion. There were two objectives in this study. The first is to find evidence for the effects of adaptive pointer from visual cognition theory. We began with an overview of preattentive processing, and then organized the features identified as preattentive into a number of



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categories based on form, color, depth, and motion. The second is to conduct a quasi-experimental design using nonequivalent groups to investigate the effects of adaptive pointer during math-learning. The results showed that students who received adaptive pointer performed significantly better during the retention test and the matching test than those who did not receive it. The outcomes are consistent with visual cognition theory, analogical transfer and cognitive load theory. Based on these results, we suggest that adaptive pointer is a considerable factor in multimedia learning.

Wednesday Afternoon

Cognitive Load Theory and Collaborative Learning

Sponsored by the ICT Division of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (VOR)

Chair: Paul A. Kirschner 14.00-15.00: Paper Session: CLT & CSCL

A study on effectiveness of collaborative learning in computer technology teaching

Kakin Chan & Liming Zhang

Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau [email protected]

Computer Technology is one of the curriculum subjects in the secondary education in Macao. It aims at equipping the students with the contemporary computer technology to support their further tertiary education and professional applications. The contents usually cover computer architecture and software applications, including Microsoft Office, VB, Flash, Website Development, etc. The usual teaching method is that the teacher demonstrates the software operation step by step through computer, and then the students practice the operation in class followed by individual homeworks or group project. Computer Technology is not a major subject in secondary education. There is only one or two hour lectures per week. The problem is that students easily forget what they have learned and do not have confidence in applying the technology in their daily life.

To improve the learning effectiveness, an experiment was designed in relation to four different teaching methods illustrated in table 1. There were four classes of F3 in a Macao secondary school participating to the Quasi-experiment. The lecture contents in experiment focused on the homepage development using FrontPage. The experiment last for two months, consisting of 8 lecture hours taught by the same teacher. Table 1. Teaching methods in experiment

Class Teaching Method Class A Class B Class C Class D

Traditional lectures with individual assignments Traditional lectures with collaborative assignments Traditional lectures with collaborative project Student self-exploration based collaborative learning with collaborative project

The research instruments include individual websites evaluation marks, computer attitude questionnaire and the cognitive load measurement through NASA-TLX 6 dimension questionnaire. There are following findings.

1. There is no significant difference with attitude toward using computer software in daily life between each two groups; however, there is significant difference in the confidence of using computer between collaborative learning group and others.


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2. There is significant difference in learning achievement between collaborative learning group and others.

3. There is significance correlation between attitude towards computer application and the learning achievement within the collaborative learning group.

4. Cognitive load is claimed to be significantly reduced by the collaborative learning group. We therefore conclude that collaborative learning is effective in Website development course. The software FrontPage has the similar interface with Microsoft Office, which are familiar by the students. The students could easily learn the software operation by themselves. This therefore form one of the important foundations of the collaborative learning.

Analysis of collaborative speech for grammatical cues of cognitive load

M. Asif Khawajaa,b, Fang Chena,b,c, & Nadine Marcusb

aNICTA, Sydney, Australia bSchool of CSE, UNSW, Australia cSchool of EET, UNSW, Australia

[email protected] In complex and time-critical situations, system users can experience extremely high cognitive load, which can interfere with task completion. An understanding of the users’ cognitive load will enable us to alleviate these problems by implementing strategies to adjust the system’s behavior, support, and resources needed as per their cognitive burden and help them complete the task effectively. Moreover, for complex collaborative tasks where many users have to cooperate to solve task-related problems, understanding cognitive demands can be very helpful.

We present a speech content analysis method to determine cognitive load of users working in a highly complex, time-critical, and data-intense collaborative environment. A detailed study of the use of a part-of-speech namely pronouns, was carried out for bushfire management team members involved in several tasks around Australia. The team members worked collaboratively to share information, assign tasks, plan activities, and carry out operations to manage the fire. During each bushfire management task, there were several cognitively low and high load events to manage. All the critical members’ communication was recorded for analysis purposes.

The results show that team members use singular pronouns (e.g. I, you, he, she) and plural pronouns (e.g. we, they) differently in different load situations. Specifically, it was observed that members used more singular pronouns under low load tasks than high load tasks, i.e. there was a negative correlation between singular pronouns and cognitive load; the higher the cognitive demand, the lesser use of singular pronouns. In contrast, they used more plural pronouns under high load tasks, i.e.; the higher the cognitive load, the more they used plural pronouns.

This finding leads us to conclude that in collaborative team working environments, when dealing with low cognitive load tasks, members prefer to perform tasks individually. In contrast, when dealing with complex and high cognitive load tasks, they try to involve other team members in order to share the high and otherwise unmanageable cognitive load amongst others, to effectively solve the problem and improve the team’s overall performance.

Optimizing wireless communication using cognitive load theory: The use of a wireless earpiece in coaching trainee teachers facilitating collaborative learning groups

Nele S. Coninx

Eindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven University of Technology

[email protected]

This research project aims to increase the efficacy of coaching trainee teachers while they facilitate collaborative learning groups in different conditions. Three modes of coaching will be investigated: the delayed, immediate, and combined/mixed mode. The different conditions are competence level (low versus high competent trainee teachers) and coaching condition (the use of peers versus teacher trainers).


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It has been suggested that if a trainee teacher would be equipped with a wireless earpiece, then this would enable an immediate or synchronous mode of coaching while the trainee teacher is facilitating collaborative learning groups. Immediate coaching allows for direct interventions so that the trainee teacher immediately can correct her or his behavior if anything might get wrong. However, the use of an earpiece requires that the communication should be kept short as at the moment of the actual communication two information sources which address different sets of modalities compete for the attention of the trainee teacher; the first being the collaborating learning groups (various modalities, including visual and auditory channels) and the second being the peer of the teacher trainer (one modality, if using an earpiece: auditory channel). In cognitive load theory this is referred to as the split attention effect. The message should also be clear. In various media theories, such as the media richness theory a clear message means that the message should not display any ambiguity and uncertainty. The leaner the media the longer the messages should be in order to compensate for the loss of certainty and of unambiguity. Succinctly, there is tension between reducing split-attention- and modality effects on the one hand and reducing uncertainty and ambiguity on the other hand. The research project will combine cognitive load theory with media theories. The presentation will elaborate this combined theoretical framework.

15.00-15.45: Position Paper Session CLT & CSCL -In Preparation for Debate

A cognitive-load approach to collaborative learning: United brains for complex tasks

Femke Kirschnera, Fred Paasa, & Paul A. Kirschnerb


bNetherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning / Psychology Department, Open University of the Netherlands

[email protected]

A review of the literature on research comparing the effectiveness of individual learning environments with collaborative learning environments, revealed that there is no clear and unequivocal picture of how, when and why the effectiveness of these two approaches to learning differ. Based upon cognitive load theory, this presentation argues that learning by an individual becomes less effective and efficient than learning by a group of individuals as task complexity increases. Dividing the processing of information across individuals is useful when the cognitive load is high because it allows information to be divided across a larger reservoir of cognitive capacity. Although such division requires that information be recombined and that processing be coordinated, under high load conditions these costs are minimal compared to the gain achieved by this division of labor. In contrast, under low load conditions, an individual can adequately carry out the required processing activities, and the costs of recombination and coordination are relatively more substantial. Implications of these ideas for research and practice of collaborative learning are discussed.

How does interaction affect group performance during CSCL?

Jeroen Janssen

Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands [email protected]

This presentation focuses on how students interact when collaborating on complex inquiry tasks in a CSCL-environment and how this interaction affects group performance. To answer these questions, the collaborative process of 310 groups of secondary education students when working on historical inquiry tasks is analyzed. The analysis of the collaborative process was done using a coding scheme consisting of four main coding categories: exchange of task-related information, regulation of task-related activities, social activities, and regulation of social activities. Our analyses show that group members devote most of their efforts to regulation of task-related activities, for example by formulating plans and strategies or monitoring task progress. Group members also engaged in social activities



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often (e.g., disclosing personal information, joking). Less attention was paid to exchange of task-related information and regulation of social activities. Exploratory factor analysis supported the idea that four main categories of collaborative activity exist: critical exchange of information, regulation of task-related activities, regulation of social activities, and social activities. These activities were then correlated with a measure of group performance. No correlations between critical exchange of information and regulation of task-related activities and group performance were found. Regulation of social activities correlated positively with group performance, whereas social interaction correlated negatively with group performance. These results suggest that regulation of social activities is of critical importance for successful collaboration. Attempts should therefore be made to stimulate group members to also regulate the social aspect of collaboration. 16.00-17.00: Debate: Paul Chandler vs. Peter Reimann This will be a real debate. That is, rather than seeking nuances, the issue of whether or not the CLT approach can make a unique contribution to CSCL, or whether CSCL research can do very well without (thank you) is explored by having Paul and Peter defend extreme positions (pro and con, respectively) concerning the following premise:

Effective collaborative learning environments can only be designed by adopting a CLT approach

The audience will be given plenty of room to actively engage.

Documents

3 International Cognitive Load Theory Conference rd