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...college student volunteers. Two-way multiple analysis variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Important findings included equivalent, nonsignificant differences in performance between high and low prior knowledge participants. No main effects were found among the three treatment groups. The effects of the web-based animation strategies on the achievement of participants with low prior knowledge are discussed in detail.
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Technological advances make it possible to present computer- and web-based multimedia instruction that includes motion, voice, data, text, graphics, and still images (Moore, Burton, & Myers, 2003). One important advancement is animation, in which images are exhibited in motion (Dwyer & Dwyer, 2003). Animation has been the focus of recent attention and interest and has become more popular in computer and web-based instruction (CBI/WBI). Although animation appears to attract learners' attention and increase their motivation to learn, it is still unclear whether animation strategies can facilitate learning. Reiber (1990) suggested that animation can have one of three functions in instruction: (a) attention-gaining, (b) presentation, and (c) practice. However, he pointed out that not enough research had been conducted to ascertain its instructional effectiveness. This lack of empirical research was especially true for animated attention-gaining and practice strategies.
This study sought to add to this literature by investigating the instructional effects of two specific web-based animation strategies in facilitating participants' academic achievement: animated attention-gaining and animated elaboration strategies and compare them against static graphics. Animated arrows that directed learners' attention to specific image parts were used as an attention-gaining strategy to arouse participants' interest and aid them in attending to relevant cues and details. Animated text prompts were used as an elaboration strategy to provide additional information and emphasize the most important information in a corresponding instructional text passage.
RELATED LITERATURE
Information Processing
Many early information-processing theories (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Klatzky, 1980) described the human brain as similar to a computer, while human learning has been likened to a computer's information processing function. The memory system has three main storage structures: (a) sensory register, which gathers stimuli in the memory system; (b) short-term memory (STM), which serves as temporary storage; and (c) long-term memory (LTM), which permanently stores information. In the sensory register, only a portion of the information is attended to and transferred into STM. Information is selected through a process known as selective perception (Gagne & Driscoll, 1988). Short-term memory can only hold five to nine chunks of information (Miller, 1956). Information in STM may be encoded and stored into LTM. However, not all information stored in LTM may be retrieved. Retrieval is more likely when appropriate cues are provided in the encoding process (Driscoll, 2005).
Animation as an Aid in Information Processing
Reiber, Boyce, and Assad (1990) maintained that "... although animation did not affect learning, it helped decrease the time necessary to retrieve information from long-term memory and then subsequently reconstruct it in short-term memory" (p. 50). Reiber (1990) further explained that animation facilitates the reconstruction process during retrieval by encouraging organization.
One animation strategy used in this study was animated arrows used to gain attention. As noted earlier, Rieber (1990) pointed out that attention-gaining is one of the three major functions of animation. Attention-gaining animations provide additional ways to ensure selective perceptions of specific presentation features as they are stored and processed in the STM (R. M. Gagne, 1985). Similarly, Hannafin and Peck (1988) suggested that animations can help emphasize important information by providing contrasts with a static background. In addition, Levin, Anglin, and Carney (1987) argued that attention-gaining graphics can make relationships between ideas more apparent by facilitating organization.
Another strategy used in this study was elaboration using animated text prompts. Rieber (1990) suggested that animation can be used with accompanying text to elaborate a lesson fact, concept, rule, or procedure. According to E. D. Gagne (1985), "... elaboration is the process of adding to the information being learned" (p. 83). Elaboration may take many forms: a logical inference, a continuation, an example, a detail, or anything that serves to connect information. She further stated that elaboration facilitates retrieval by providing alternative pathways and extra information to generate answers (E. D. Gagne, 1985).
Animation as an Aid in Dual Coding
Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory further explained two separate information-processing subsystems in human cognition: a visual system that processes visual knowledge and a verbal system for processing verbal knowledge. The two subsystems are structurally and functionally independent yet interconnected in the encoding, storage, organization, and retrieval of information. According to dual coding theory, learning is enhanced when information is coded both visually and verbally (i.e., dually coded). The chances of retrieval are doubled when information is dually coded because learners have two ways to retrieve the information. This prediction has been used to explain the superiority of pictures to words in recall (Kobayashi, 1986; Paivio, 1991; Paivio & Caspo, 1973; Rieber, 1996). Animation, due to its unique dynamic qualities, is more likely to be dually coded "deeper" and "harder" into the long-term memory than are static graphics (Lin, 2001, p. 20). Therefore, animation should do a better job of facilitating the encoding and...
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