Computer simulations and animations for developing statistical concepts are often not understood by beginners. Hands-on physical simulations that morph into computer simulations are teaching approaches that can build students' concepts. In this paper we review the literature on visual and verbal cognitive processing and on the efficacy of…

The effects of dynamic and static visualizations in understanding physical principles of fish locomotion were investigated. Seventy-five students were assigned to one of three conditions: a text-only, a text with dynamic visualizations, or a text with static visualizations condition. During learning, subjects were asked to think aloud. Learning…

This study examined the effects of contiguity and feature animation on the recall, map reconstruction, inference performance, and en-route behavior of university students studying a computer-delivered reference map with associated text. Participants were randomly assigned to six versions of a computer program created by crossing three contiguity…