Segment dynamic visualizations with pauses between meaningful segments for novice learners, choosing segment length deliberately¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 3 studies (1 causal, 1 quant-synthesis, 1 review), q2–q4 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The review supports showing complex dynamic visualizations in segments with pauses between them, since studies show benefits at least for novices. Segments should be meaningful pieces with identifiable begin and end points. The review notes there are "no clear guidelines on how to determine the length of a segment"; researchers have based length on theories of cognitive functioning or consulted experts to identify meaningful pieces. It also suggests learners with more prior knowledge might benefit from larger segments, and that having students segment visualizations themselves may benefit only higher prior knowledge learners.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Segments must be meaningful pieces with identifiable begin and end points; pauses give students time to process each unit without simultaneous incoming information

Constraints¶

• May be unnecessary or hampering for students with higher prior knowledge (expertise reversal); grain size for different learners is an open empirical question

Target Learners¶

• Novice students learning from complex dynamic visualizations

Target Learning Goals¶

• Learning processes, procedures, and their underlying structure from animations and videos

Affordances¶

• Transience Cognitive Load Account Segmentation
• Event Segmentation Theory Dynamic Visualizations

Claims¶

• Disrupting the event structure of dynamic visualizations — deleting event boundaries or inserting commercials between boundaries — reduces recall of the depicted events [+W]
• Segmentation of dynamic visualizations shows an expertise reversal effect: students with lower prior knowledge benefit, while students with higher prior knowledge learn equally well with or without segmentation [+W]
• Segmenting complex dynamic visualizations into pieces with pauses improves learning outcomes, especially transfer performance, at least for novices, compared with non-segmented presentations [+W]
• Temporal cueing of event boundaries, such as adding key frames to dynamic visualizations, improves posttest performance [+W]
• Segmenting Improves Multimedia Learning [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Spanjers, I. A. E., van Gog, T., & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2010). A Theoretical Analysis of How Segmentation of Dynamic Visualizations Optimizes Students' Learning. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9135-6