Multimedia Learning in an Interactive Self-Explaining Environment: What Works in the Design of Agent-Based Microworlds?

Students learned about electric motors by asking questions and receiving answers from an on-screen pedagogical agent named Dr. Phyz who stood next to an on-screen drawing of an electric motor. Students performed better on a problem-solving transfer test when Dr. Phyz's explanations were presented as narration rather than on-screen text (Experiment 1), when students were able to ask questions and receive answers interactively rather than receive...