Formats and prior knowledge on learning in a computer-based lesson

This study investigated the effects of presentation format (animation, still graphics, text) and the students' prior knowledge on learning a computer-based physics lesson. A total of 357 eighth-grade (novice learners) and ninth-grade students (experienced learners) were randomly assigned to different treatments on a class basis. A 3 x 2 ANCOVA (Animation/Still graphics/Text x Novice/Experienced) (controlled by covariants, physics and mathematics scores) was used to determine the effect of these two variables. The significant interaction effect found between presentation format and prior knowledge in both descriptive and procedural learning (p<0.05 and p<0.005, respectively) reveals that the use of specific presentation format (animation or still graphics) is not equally effective for the different prior knowledge groups. Among novices, the use of still graphics was better than text (p<0.05) in descriptive learning, and better than text and animation in procedural learning (p<0.05). While among experienced students, no significant differences were found among treatments (p>0.05).