Exploring the Impact of Animation-based Genetic Instruction on Students' Perceived Cognitive Load and Learning Outcomes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop an animation-based curriculum and to evaluate the effectiveness of animation-based instruction. The curriculum was designed in certain principles considered cognitive load theory for reducing perceived cognitive load and improving learning. The curriculum was comprised of four subunits to teach the abstract concepts of genetics. There were 190 participants consisted of 7th grade junior high school students. 97 students participated in static graphicinstruction (SI group) and 93 students participated in animation-based instruction (AI group). The effectiveness of the instruction was evaluated by the Genetic Concept Test (GCT test) and a self-rating cognitive questionnaire (CLQ). The results indicated that: (1) Animation-based instruction may be a good strategy to improve abstract concepts comprehensive, (2) Animation-based strategy can reduce the cognitive load than static graphic-based, when students perceived lower levels of cognitive load, they showed better learning outcome.