Improved Effectiveness of Cueing by Self-Explanations when Learning from a Complex Animation

A major problem in learning from instructional animations is that the complex perceptual and cognitive processing exceeds the learner's limited processing capacities. Although attention cueing might help learners in focusing on essential parts of an animation, previous studies have shown that it does not necessarily improve learning performance. This study investigated whether generating self-explanations while studying a cued or an uncued animation might engage learners in cognitive activities necessary for learning. It was hypothesized that learning from a cued animation that reduces working memory load associated with searching for specific elements might be improved by generating self-explanations, whereas self-explaining with an uncued animation would have no positive effect on learning. The results confirmed the hypothesized interaction between cueing and self-explaining. They suggest that self-explanation enhances learning if visual cues are used to structure and highlight the essential parts of an animation. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.