College students who study integrated annotated illustrations alongside science text generate approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than students who view the same illustrations separately after reading¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 1995 · checked against its sources 2026-10-18 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? An integrated group that viewed illustrations adjacent to corresponding text paragraphs with annotations generated approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than a separated group that viewed the same illustrations on a separate page without annotations after reading. → Mayer 1995

Evidence¶

Mayer 1995¶

Mayer, R.E., Steinhoff, K., Bower, G., & Mars, R. (1995). A generative theory of textbook design: Using annotated illustrations to foster meaningful learning of science text. ETR&D, 43, 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02300480

q3 · i? · causal · r?

Across three experiments, college students read a text explaining how lightning works and took problem-solving transfer tests; the integrated group "generated approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than the separated group." No effect size is printed in the available text.

"The integrated group generated approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than the separated group, and this pattern was stronger for students who lacked experience in meteorology than for high-experience students."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Problem Solving — outcome: instruction changes it

Presenting related material contiguously in space and time yields large learning benefits — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
The positive effect of integrated illustrations depends on incorporating annotations (captions and labels) into the illustrations rather than on placing illustrations close to corresponding paragraphs — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
The positive effect of integrated illustrations on transfer is stronger for students who lack experience in the text's domain (meteorology) than for high-experience students — related
Integrating spatially or temporally separated but related elements of instructional information produces a large average learning benefit for novices — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`integrated-illustrations-increase-creative-transfer-solutions`
`title`	`College students who study integrated annotated illustrations alongside science text generate approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than students who view the same illustrations separately after reading`
`description`	`College students who study integrated annotated illustrations alongside science text generate approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than students who view the same illustrations separately aft...`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`1995`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-18`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-15`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `mayer-1995`

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