Lower grade students tend to give up early in multimedia learning

• Published in: European journal of psychology of education Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 545 - 565
• Main Authors: Zhao, Fang, Gaschler, Robert, Wagner, Inga, Schnotz, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adaptation; Age Differences; Cognitive ability; Education; Educational Psychology; Grade 5; Grade 8; Instructional Program Divisions; Metacognition; Multimedia; Multimedia Instruction; Pedagogic Psychology; Pictorial Stimuli; Predictor Variables; Secondary School Students; Skills; Student Behavior; Survival analysis; Task analysis; Written Language; Speed-accuracy trade-off; Grade; Regulation; Helplessness; Premature termination; Text-picture integration
• ISSN: 0256-2928; 1878-5174
• DOI: 10.1007/s10212-022-00612-1

This study examined the relationship between grade and the ability of text-picture integration in terms of task completion and the pattern of using textual and pictorial information. Children ( N = 144) from secondary schools were recruited from grade 5 and grade 8. Analyzing the time spent with the multimedia unit prior to an incorrect response, this study suggests that 5th graders tend to give up relatively early compared to 8th graders. Furthermore, early incorrect responses were more prevalent among students of the non-academic track and were predicted by a low proportion of fixations on the text in mental model construction and on the picture in adaptive mental model specification. An inappropriate approach of integrating text and picture can thus be the reason for giving up early. The work provides a basis for (1) automated feedback during the course of working on a multimedia unit. (2) Instructional design should be adapted to the characteristics of student groups to support text-picture integration and to avoid giving up early.