e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning

9.2. Psychological Reasons for the Segmenting Principle

Suppose that, as part of an e-course, the learner clicked on an entry for "lightning" from a multimedia encyclopedia, and then watched a 2.5 minute narrated animation explaining lightning formation—as shown in Figure 9.2. The figure shows some of the frames in the animation along with the complete spoken script, indicated in quotation marks at the bottom of each frame. As you can see, the lesson is complex—with many interacting elements—and is presented at a fairly rapid pace. If a learner misses one point, such as the idea that a cloud rises to the point that the top is above the freezing level and the bottom is below, the entire causal chain will no longer make sense. If a learner is ...