Present animations as distinct logical chunks separated by short pauses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends that, because learners rarely take advantage of self-paced flow control in animations, designers should pre-structure the material instead. As the authors state, "We therefore suggest presenting animations with distinct logical chunks, separated by a small pause, to help students in building a mental representation of the information." This operationalises Rieber's chunking finding as a design default when learner control goes unused.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Applies when learners do not actively use flow control to chunk the animation themselves

Constraints¶

• The article notes giving learners control of information chunking may be suboptimal when they do not use it; it does not claim chunking maximises outcomes

Target Learners¶

• Adult novices learning dynamic process content (e.g., human immunology)

Target Learning Goals¶

• Building mental representations of dynamic processes from animated presentations

Related Strategies¶

• Segmenting
• Pacing

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Guttormsen Schär, S., & Zimmermann, P. G. (2007). Investigating Means to Reduce Cognitive Load from Animations: Applying Differentiated Measures of Knowledge Representation. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40(1), 64–78. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ826063