Learning from Multiphase Diagrams

Abstract

High spatial ability or visuospatial working memory sometimes enhances peoples’ ability to learn from good multimedia instructions and other times compensates for poor instructional designs. This pattern of enhancement and compensation might be an artifact of pairwise comparisons between instructional conditions. In the present study three instructional conditions were designed to examine both potential patterns of interaction. Participants learned about physical or biological systems from either text (the nominally poor instruction condition), text with a single phase diagram (the medium quality condition), or multiphase diagrams integrated with text (the good instruction condition). Greater spatial ability was associated with better learning in all three conditions, whereas greater visuospatial working memory was associated with better learning in the multiphase diagrams condition and unrelated to performance in the other two conditions. A main effect of instructional condition was also found, with better learning in the multiphase diagrams condition. The results have practical implications for instructional design and theoretical implications regarding the cognitive processes that underlie learning from multiphase diagrams.