Multimedia Learning

320 Pages·2009·1.728 MB·English

by  Richard E. Mayer

This page intentionally left blank
Multimedia
Learning
Second Edition
For hundreds of years verbal messages such as lectures
and printed lessons have been the primary means of
explaining ideas to learners. Although verbal learning
offers a powerful tool, this book explores ways of going
beyond the purely verbal. Recent advances in graphics
technologyhavepromptedneweffortstounderstandthe
potential of multimedia and multimedia learning as a
meansofpromotinghumanunderstanding.InMultimedia
Learning, Second Edition, Richard E. Mayer asks whether
people learn more deeply when ideas are expressed in
words and pictures rather than in words alone. He
reviewstwelveprinciplesofinstructionaldesignthatare
basedonexperimentalresearchstudiesandgroundedin
a theory of how people learn from words and pictures.
The result is what Mayer calls the cognitive theory of
multimedia learning, a theory introduced in the first
edition of Multimedia Learning and further developed in
The CambridgeHandbookofMultimediaLearning.
Richard E. Mayer is Professor of Psychology at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has
servedsince1975.HeistheauthorofMultimediaLearning
(Cambridge University Press, 2001) and editor of The
Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge
UniversityPress,2005).In2008hereceivedtheAmerican
Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions
ofApplicationsofPsychologytoEducationandTraining
Award.

Multimedia
Learning
Second Edition
Richard E. Mayer
UniversityofCalifornia,
Santa Barbara
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521514125
© Richard E. Mayer 2001, 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-50070-1 eBook (Adobe Reader)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-51412-5 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-73535-3 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Dedicated to Beverly

Contents
PREFACE ix
SECTION I. INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA
LEARNING 1
1 The Promise of Multimedia Learning 3
2 The Science of Instruction: Determining What
Works in Multimedia Learning 28
3 The Science of Learning: Determining How
Multimedia Learning Works 57
SECTION II. PRINCIPLES FOR REDUCING
EXTRANEOUS PROCESSING IN
MULTIMEDIA LEARNING 85
4 Coherence Principle 89
5 Signaling Principle 108
6 Redundancy Principle 118
7 Spatial Contiguity Principle 135
8 Temporal Contiguity Principle 153
SECTION III. PRINCIPLES FOR MANAGING
ESSENTIAL PROCESSING IN MULTIMEDIA
LEARNING 171
9 Segmenting Principle 175
10 Pre-training Principle 189
11 Modality Principle 200
vii
viii Contents
SECTION IV. PRINCIPLES FOR FOSTERING
GENERATIVE PROCESSING IN
MULTIMEDIA LEARNING 221
12 Multimedia Principle 223
13 Personalization, Voice, and Image Principles 242
SECTION V. CONCLUSION 263
14 Principles of Multimedia Design 265
REFERENCES 281
AUTHORINDEX 295
SUBJECT INDEX 300