People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone. This hypothesis is the basis for the promise of multimedia learning. Multimedia instruction consists of words and pictures rather than words alone. How can we design multimedia instruction that improves learner understanding of the presented material? This is the central question addressed in this book.

Chapter 1 explores the promise of multimedia learning by offering definitions of key terms and by examining fundamental distinctions that will help you understand research on multimedia learning. A key distinction is between two goals of multimedia research – to contribute to instructional practice (i.e., the science of instruction) and to contribute to learning theory (i.e., the science of learning). The multimedia design principles presented in this book are intended to address both goals and reflect an example of what Stokes (1997, p. 73) calls “use-inspired basic research.”

Chapter 2 explores the science of instruction by summarizing the methods we used to test the instructional design principles described in this book. The chapter gives you examples of the multimedia lessons and tests we used, including computer-based narrated animation, paper-based annotated illustrations, and computer-based games and simulations. I also show you how we created experimental comparisons in which we compared the test performance of a group that learned from a multimedia lesson containing a to-be-tested feature versus a group that learned from the lesson without the feature.