A critique and analysis of Multimodal Learning Environment: BrainPOP Math (Angles)

1. A critique and analysis of Multimodal Learning Environment: BrainPOP Math (Angles) Katelyn Casey EDU672

2. Summary of BrainPOP Math (Angles) • BrainPOP offers a variety of activities for learning about angles at this website: Click here! • The learning environment centers on a 2-minute video that explains what an angle is and the different types of angles that students often see.

3. Relation to NYS Common Core The activities support fourth grade math Common Core Standard 4.MD.5: Geometric Measurement: understand concepts of angles and measure angles, shown below:

4. Evidence of Common Core: 4.MD.5 The video explains that an angle is formed when two rays share a common endpoint, known as the vertex.

5. Analysis of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) • Guided Activity? • BrainPOP does not utilize any pedagogical agents throughout the activities to guide learning. Thus, students are left on their own to make sense of what they are seeing. • Interactive or non interactive? • The BrainPOP activities are non interactive. The lesson continues irrespective of what the student does. Further, the student cannot change what happens in the lesson, other than starting/stopping and pausing it.

6. Analysis of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) • Representational holding? • Students are presented with images as they are spoken. Therefore, the learner does not need to hold information until it is presented visually because the actions happen simultaneously. • Example: The image below to the right shows students what a right angle looks like. At the same time, Moby, a character in the video, verbally explains that a clock’s hands form a right angle when it is 3:00. He also explains right angles measure 90, as he uses the protractor to measure.

7. Analysis of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) Feedback? The activity does not offer feedback for learners. • Reflective? • Because there is nothing used to guide instruction, students are again left on their own. They are not encouraged to be mentally active or reflect throughout the lesson.

8. Analysis of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) • Pacing? • The entire video is continuous, and therefore does not give students the benefit of pacing. • Pretraining? • The video does not offer any type of pretrainingfor students to activate prior knowledge. It begins right away with getting into specifics about angles. It does utilize the example of a clock, but only as a reference for creating angles.

9. Critique of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) • BrainPOP Math can be critiqued based on the 7 categories used to analyze it: • If we had to give either a plus or a minus for each category based on the work of Moreno and Mayer, every category would get a minus with the exception of representation holding. This was the only category in which the activity possessed a quality characteristic, as it did not require students to hold representations of information.

10. Critique of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) Moreno and Mayer support the use of interactive, multimodal learning environments. This MmLE was strictly non interactive. Without any direction throughout the lesson via pedagogical agents, students miss out on valuable feedback and the opportunity to reflect on what they’re learning. As the lesson is continuous, students are also forced to think according to the pace of the lesson and not their own ability. With that being said… ”…The limited capacity assumption (c) suggests that the free exploration of a complex multimodal environment may generate a heavy cognitive load that is detrimental to learning, especially for novice learners, who according to CATLM’s assumption (d), lack sufficient background knowledge to guide their meaning-making process” (Moreno & Mayer, 2007, p. 318) “By the time that the learner selects relevant words and images from one segment of the presentation, the next segment begins, thereby cutting short the time needed for deeper processing” (Moreno & Mayer, 2007, p. 319)

11. Critique of the MmLE(using the work of Moreno and Mayer) …BrainPOP Math: Angles is not a very well-designed MmLE according to the guidelines presented by Moreno and Mayer. Students learn better when the MmLE utilizes guided activities, reflection, feedback, pacing, and pretraining (Moreno & Mayer, 2007, p. 316). Although we cannot say that students may not learn from this MmLE, incorporating the advice of Moreno and Mayer may provide a learning environment that manages essential processing and fosters generative processing in order to construct a meaningful learning experience. “… We introduce a set of instructional design principles aimed at optimizing learning by reducing extraneous processing and representational holding so that the learner’s available cognitive resources can be used to engage in essential and generative processing activities” (Moreno & Mayer, 2007, p. 315).