This article reports findings on the use of a partly auditory and partly visual mode of presentation for geometry worked examples. The logic was based on the split-attention effect and the effect of presentation modality on working memory. The split-attention effect occurs when students must split their attention between multiple sources of information, which results in a heavy cognitive load. Presentation-modality effects suggest that working memory has partially independent processors for handling visual and auditory material. Effective working memory may be increased by presenting material in a mixed rather than a unitary mode. If so, the negative consequences of split attention in geometry might be ameliorated by presenting geometry statements in auditory, rather than visual, form. The results of 6 experiments supported this hypothesis.In recent years, working memory limitations have been identified as a major factor that needs to be considered when instruction is designed. Researchers have used cognitive load theory (e.g., Sweller, 1988Sweller, , 1989Sweller, , 1993Sweller, , 1994 to suggest that many commonly used instructional procedures are inadequate because they require learners to engage in unnecessary cognitive activities that impose a heavy working memory load. Alternatives that reduce extraneous cognitive load have been devised. This research has been generated by the following assumptions concerning our basic cognitive architecture: (a) People have a very limited working memory that is able to hold and process only a few items of information at a time; (b) People have a huge long-term memory that is effectively unlimited in size; (c) Schema acquisition is a primary learning mechanism. Schemata are defined as cognitive constructs that permit people to categorize information in the manner in which it will be used (see Low & Over, 1990Low, Over, Doolan, & Michell, 1994;Sweller & Low, 1992 functions of storing information in long-term memory and of reducing working memory load by permitting people to treat multiple elements of information as a single element; (d) Automation of cognitive processes, including automatic use of schemata, is a learning mechanism that also reduces working memory load by effectively bypassing working memory. Automated information can be processed without conscious effort.A limited working memory is central to this architecture and central to cognitive load theory. Recent work has expanded researchers' knowledge of working memory characteristics and in turn, this work has the potential to expand the instructional techniques generated by cognitive load theory. In this article, we discuss the split-attention effect that previous research has suggested is a cognitive load phenomenon. The split-attention effect occurs when learners are required to divide their attention among and mentally integrate multiple sources of information. Mentally integrating multiple sources of information results in less effective acquisition of information than if learners are presented the same mater...
In this study, the authors examined the hierarchical and multidimensional nature of English self-concept. University students (N = 321) responded to survey items on listening, speaking, reading, and writing self-concepts and a global English self-concept adapted from H. W. Marsh's (1990Marsh's ( , 1992 Academic Self-Description Questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found 4 distinct English skill-specific self-concept constructs, demonstrating the multidimensional nature of self-concepts in different skill areas. Hierarchical CFA found that self-concepts of the 4 English skills can be represented by either a higher order English self-concept factor or by a global English Self-concept factor. The correlation between the higher order and global English factors was .97, indicating that they cannot be distinguished as two separate constructs. Within a specific subject domain such as English, academic self-concept can be both hierarchical and multidimensional.In the present study we attempted to examine the multifaceted and hierarchical nature of self-concept within the specific subject domain of English. There have been two major studies of the structure of self-concept (Marsh & Shavelson, 1985;Shavelson, Hubner, & Stanton, 1976). Shavelson et al. proposed a self-concept model that could empirically be scrutinized. According to their model, there is a general self posited at the apex of the self-concept hierarchy, which is divided into academic and nonacademic facets. Under the nonacademic facet are social, physical, and emotional self-concepts in contrast to the academic facet with self-concepts for various academic domains such as English and math. There are self-concepts further down the hierarchy that are even more specific. Since the advent of this model, research on self-concept has shifted to an emphasis on construct validation and its delineation of the hierarchical and multidimensional nature of the self. Marsh and Shavelson (1985) further scrutinized the self-concept model and found that the self-concept structure was, in reality, more complicated than the one originally proposed in the Shavelson et al. (1976) model. Specifically, they found that the multifacets described in the original model were so distinct and diverse by late adolescence that the hierarchy was necessarily weak. Marsh and Hocevar (1985) then demonstrated that students' verbal and mathematical self-concepts are typically so distinct (with a near-zero correlation) that the two constructs could not be incorporated into a general academic self-concept. To ex-
Two experiments using the science topics of Magnetism and Light were conducted with younger learners (Year 5) who had no prior knowledge of the topics, and older learners (Year 6) who had studied the topics previously. Half of the learners were presented the information in auditory form only while the other half were presented the auditory information simultaneously with a visual presentation. Results indicated that older students with prior knowledge of the topic learned more from the auditory only presentation. For these students, the addition of visual information was redundant and so they were disadvantaged by the use of an audio-visual presentation. However, for younger students with no prior knowledge of the topic, the difference between means reversed. Some of these students might require a visual presentation to make sense of the auditory explanation. These two sets of results were discussed in the context of the redundancy and the expertise reversal effect.Keywords Cognitive load theory Á Multimedia Á Redundancy effect Á Expertise reversal effect Á Modality effect Á Science instructionThe use of multimedia in teaching science is ubiquitous. It has become increasingly easy to use technology to present and manipulate information in a variety of auditory and visual formats such as animations and simulations. Frequently, the use of multimedia is associated with an implicit assumption that the introduction of educational technology is desirable and beneficial in its own right. That assumption may not always be valid. Human cognition has evolved over many generations and the same cognitive architecture is required to process information whether or not educational technology is used (Sweller in
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