In many situations, readers are asked to learn from multiple documents. Many studies have found that evaluating the trustworthiness and usefulness of document sources is an important skill in such learning situations. There has been, however, no direct evidence that attending to source information helps readers learn from and interpret a…

Arithmetic word problems are often presented accompanied by illustrations. The present study examined how different types of illustrations influence the speed and accuracy of performance of both good (n = 67) and poor arithmeticians (n = 63). Twenty-four arithmetic word problems were presented with four types of illustrations with increasing…

In this study we examined the effects of skill training, in particular mental abacus and music training, on working memory. Two groups of participants--children who had received mental abacus training and their controls--participated in Experiment 1. All participants performed the following span tasks: forward digit span, backward digit span,…

This study examines the role of writing in learning scientific principles through analogy. Seventy-two university students observed two demonstrations concerning one of three topics: buoyant force of a fluid, projectile motion or forces internal to a system. Each composed an analogy on one of the topics through speaking-only, writing-only, or…

From the cognitive model of multimedia learning proposed by [Schnotz, W., & Barnett, M. (2003). Construction and interference in learning from multiple representation. "Learning and Instruction, 13", 141-156], two hypotheses regarding the learning of spatial arrangements of objects were derived: the integration hypothesis and the multiple source…