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31 - The Imagination Principle in Multimedia Learning

from Part VII - Principles Based on Generative Activity in Multimedia Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Claudia Leopold
Edited by
Richard E. Mayer  and
Logan Fiorella
Richard E. Mayer
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Logan Fiorella
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

Mental imagery is a generative learning strategy that encourages students to construct a mental representation – a mental image – of the content of a text. Mental images are valuable tools for thinking and learning because they provide a framework for remembering, organizing, and elaborating text information. The research base indicates that mental imagery strategies facilitate not only recall, but also comprehension and transfer performance. An important boundary condition is that students need to receive appropriate instructional support for imagining. Instructional support has been found to consistently improve learning performance across outcome measures for children and adults. Types of support range from training students on how to imagine text content to providing specific instructions on what to imagine, or offering additional material like external pictures.

Keywords

imagination principlegenerative learning strategymental imageryinstructional support for imagining
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning , pp. 370 - 380
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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