Use four embodied strategies — gestures, manipulation, body metaphors, and reconstructive eye movements — to ground animation movements in learners' bodies¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article proposes four strategies for making learning from animations more effective by involving human action: letting learners follow depicted movements with gestures or observe gestures embedded in the animation, letting learners manipulate the movements through interaction, embodying movements with body metaphors such as human characteristics on moving elements, and stimulating learners to reconstruct the perceptual processing of movements at test, for example via a static picture as a spatial marker. The authors state "we have suggested four different strategies to enhance learning from dynamic visualizations" and that these strategies ground the animation's movements in learners' bodily experiences.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Gestures and manipulations should be related to the movements depicted in the animation to aid retention and comprehension
• Animations must be designed to allow different forms of interaction for the manipulation strategy

Constraints¶

• The strategies have not yet been tested within the domain of instructional animations
• For the gesture strategy, learners can only follow one or two movements at a time, posing a problem for animations with several simultaneous movements
• Following movements is a rather passive strategy that does not automatically induce constructive mental processes, and may be inferior for learners with prior knowledge
• Research evidence on the utility of such linkage for educational practice is really just emerging

Target Learners¶

• learners studying mechanical or technical processes via dynamic visualizations

Target Learning Goals¶

• understanding the movements of dynamic systems depicted in animations

Affordances¶

• Embodied Cognition Simulation Account

Claims¶

• Adding body metaphors to abstract stimuli improves mental rotation performance [+W]
• Eye movements during retrieval reenact encoding eye movements and predict memory accuracy [+W]
• Gesturing during learning improves retention and reduces cognitive load [+W]
• Manipulating objects during learning improves comprehension, and virtual manipulation can be as effective as physical manipulation [+W]
• Observing gestures embedded in instruction aids learning, especially when gestures convey a different strategy than speech [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Gestures
• Use Body Language and Demonstrations
• Encourage learners to make movements during learning as an instructional implication

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Björn B. de Koning & Huib K. Tabbers. (2011). Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: an Embodied Perspective. Educ Psychol Rev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9173-8