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Mayer, R. E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American psychologist, 63(8), 760.
Background
In education, the relationship between theory and practice has been studied for more than 100 years. When speaking about learning, psychologists have developed three approaches to the relation between practice and theory. The one-way street approach suggests that psychologists use research to develop a theory on how people learn and educators implement this theory in their instruction. With this approach, there is no correlation between how people learn and effective instructional materials and methods. In the dead-end street approach, psychologists build a theory of learning that is not related to authentic educational challenges. This approach does not distinguish the educators need to instruct based on how and why something works. The final approach, two-way street approach, has a relationship between educational practice and learning theory. In order for this approach to be successful, learning theory needs to include how learning works in authentic learning situations. There needs to be a direct correlation between the science of learning and the science of instruction. This article focuses on how multimedia instruction can apply the science of learning to authentic practical problems, grounded in research-based theory (Mayer, 2008).
Key Points
Science of Learning
- Learning
- Change in the learner’s knowledge based on experience
- Depends on the learner’s cognitive processing
- Selecting relevant information
- Organizing this information
- Relating this information to prior learning
- Multimedia Learning- learning from words and pictures
- Words can be spoken or printed text
- Pictures dynamic (animated) form or static (non-animated)
- Examples:
- Reading a social studies textbook
- Watching and listening to a video clip
- Playing an educational game
- Powerpoint presentations
- How does multimedia learning work?
- Dual channels
- separate channels to process visual and verbal material
- Limited capacity
- a small amount of material at a time
- Active processing
- Deep learning is dependent on the cognitive process during learning
- Dual channels
The Science of Instruction
- Instruction
- Instructor’s manipulations of the environment that are intended to promote changes in knowledge
- How to present material that engages cognitive processes
- Learning Objective
- A clear description of the intended learning outcome
- Learning Outcome
- Change in the learner’s knowledge because of instruction
- Two ways to measure
- Retention tests that focus on remembering and recalling information
- Transfer tests that focus on understanding by using the presented information in a different way
- How does instruction work?
- Guiding the selection of relevant information, organizing this information and integrating new information with existing information
- Challenge of instructional desi