Learning a Procedure from Multimedia Instructions: The Effects of Film and Practice.

College students were taught to build a model helicopter from an assembly kit. Their instructions consisted of a narrated film one viewing or two, hands-on practice using a model as a guide one building or two, or a combination see film first, build second or build first, see film second. Performance on assembly from memory was assessed either immediately or after a one-week delay. Both structural and functional measures were used. A new structural measure is introduced here Performance was best immediately for groups who had hands-on practice, either twice, or in conjunction with a film. After a week, the group who practiced first and saw the film second performed significantly better than all others. A theoretical framework, based on multimedia concept formation, is given to account for the results. In order for lasting concepts to be formed in memory, a precedence is suggested motoric elements should be put in first, followed by visual, followed by linguistic. Author