Triggering situational interest by decorative illustrations both fosters and hinders learning in computer-based learning environments

Who Benefits from Diagrams and Illustrations in Math Problems? Ability and Attitudes Matter

“…Having to process seductive details along with the sheer demands of integrating text and visuals may exceed their available working memory, leading to detrimental effects. In contrast, Magner et al (2014) suggest that students with very high prior knowledge may rely on prior knowledge to reduce the overall demands of the learning task on their working memory resources. In this case, the learners' processing of irrelevant details did not exceed their capacity, and the illustrations enhanced students' interest, thus having a net positive effect on learning.…”

“…Thus, the authors argued that the diagrams with detailed text resulted in unnecessary additional cognitive load, dampening learning. Magner et al (2014) found that learners with low prior knowledge were more susceptible to the detrimental effect of mathematically irrelevant, but contextualizing details added to a sparse diagram. Decorative details added to geometry diagrams decreased learning for eighth-grade students with low prior knowledge, but fostered learning for students with very high prior knowledge.…”

“…Some studies report beneficial effects of visual representations (e.g., Hegarty & Kozhevnikov, 1999); others report detrimental effects (e.g., Berends & van Lieshout, 2009), and still others report no effects (Dewolf, van Dooren, Ev Cimen, & Verschaffel, 2014) or mixed effects (e.g., Magner, Schwonke, Aleven, Popescu, & Renkl, 2014;McNeil, Uttal, Jarvin, & Sternberg, 2009). In many studies, findings differ across subgroups of students, particularly subgroups based on student ability (e.g., Berends & van Lieshout, 2009;Booth & Koedinger, 2012).…”

“…However, there is little data about how visual representations such as context-relevant illustrations affect performance. It again appears that individual difference factors such as ability, attitudes towards mathematics, and problem difficulty (Belenky & Schalk, 2014;Koedinger et al, 2008;Magner et al, 2014;Walkington, 2013) may moderate the effects of contextualization; however, there are mixed findings about which combinations are most beneficial.…”

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“…And the teachers should spare no efforts to encourage college students to take part in designing contextbased tasks, some of which will be chosen for teaching materials after being carefully qualified. However, the teachers should be careful in choosing instructional methods, for some teaching modes which are helpful for some students with low prior knowledge may have less effect on others with high prior knowledge [6].…”