Solving problems with graphs increased mental effort, shown by a higher proportion of silence in think-aloud data¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Participants spoke less when problems included a graph; the proportion of silence rose from 62.3% to 66.3% in the multimedia condition. → Ögren 2017

Evidence¶

Ögren 2017¶

Ögren, M., Nyström, M., & Jarodzka, H. (2017). There's more to the multimedia effect than meets the eye: is seeing pictures believing? Instructional Science, 45, 263–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-016-9397-6

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Verbal-data measure across eight problems; a multi-level regression on the proportion of silence showed a marginally significant effect of presentation condition (p = 0.07). The authors interpret silent pauses as indicators of increased mental effort.

"the proportion of silence increases from 62.3 % (SD ¼ 7:0) to 66.3 % (SD ¼ 9:1) for participants in the multimedia condition"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Contrasting problems show a graph can help on one problem and harm on another: verbal data reveal both more active graph use and more shallow, confident confirmation when graphs were present — related
• Graphs drew visual attention away from text: proportion of dwell time on input and problem statement was significantly shorter when a graph was present — related
• No overall multimedia effect on problem-solving performance in vector calculus: graphs did not significantly improve correctness — related
• Performance was unrelated to dwell time on the graph but increased with dwell time on the problem statement — related
• Picture bias: graphs made students more likely to confirm problem statements, irrespective of whether the statements were true — related