Abstract

This chapter examines how people understand diagrams, animations, and multimedia presentations in order to learn about physical systems. Comprehension of these representations is analyzed within an information-processing framework that specifies the cognitive processes involved in understanding external displays, including attention, encoding, inference, and integration of different representations. The chapter first reviews the literature on comprehension of physical systems from diagrams (both static and animated) alone and then reviews how people understand physical systems from multimedia presentations in which diagrams are augmented by verbal instruction. The picture that emerges is that diagram comprehension is an active process of knowledge construction, rather than a passive process of internalizing the information presented in an external display. Because multimedia understanding depends on active information processing, it can be influenced considerably by the abilities, skills, and knowledge of the student. What is learned from a multimedia display is jointly determined by aspects of the display and aspects of the learner.

Introduction

Diagrams accompanied by text have been a common means of representing and communicating information throughout history (Ferguson, 1992). In recent years, with advances in graphic technologies, innovations such as animations and interactive visualizations have made diagrammatic representations even more prevalent in scientific and technical discourse and in everyday life. These new media, and graphical displays in general, are believed to have enormous potential for education and training. But in order to realize this potential, we need basic research on how people comprehend and make inferences from diagrams and multimedia displays.