A Research of Applying Cognitive Load Theory to Science Education Webpage

This study employed three units, “Air and Combustion”, “Heat Effects toward Substances”, and “Healthy Diet”, from the Science Education Website set by the Ministry of Education (Tainan) to assist students´ learning. This multifunctional website offers teaching resources, interesting experiments, inquiry experiments, virtual animations, multi-assessments, and supplementary materials, which are highly interactive and simulative. Cognitive Load Theory was adopted in this study to investigate the influences on learning achievement under distinct multimedia combinations and learner-controlled modes. The subjects in this study were six classes of fifth graders (n = 192). Our findings were: (1) Learner-controlled modes were significantly influential. (2) Multimedia combination forms brought apparent influences on learning effects. We spied that the “animation + narration” group performed evidently better than the “animation + subtitles” group. This shows that inappropriate AV combinations may interfere with learning; more functions and information inputs don´t guarantee better learning effects.