1. Multimedia Worked Examples as an Engineering Problem-Solving Tool
Natalia Kapli
Roxanne Toto
Michael Gooseff
The Pennsylvania State University

2. Engineering Problem Solving
Problem solving is the analysis and transformation of information toward a specific goal (Lovett, 2002). In a well-defined problem, “the given state, the goal state, and the procedures that should be used to reach the goal are clearly stated” (Mayer & Wittrock, 2006, p. 288).
Engineering Conceptual Knowledge Base
Physical Principles
Analytical Procedures
Worked examples are instructional tools that are used to teach problem-solving skills in well-structured domains. Worked examples usually consist of modeling the process by presenting an example problem and demonstrating the solution steps, as well as the final answer to the problem (Moreno, 2006)
Conceptual knowledge is “knowledge of categories and classifications and the relationships between and among them”, and represents an individual’s understanding of how a particular subject matter is structured and organized, as well as how the parts of a system are interrelated and function together (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, p. 48).
Engineering Problem Solving
Worked Examples
Practice Problems

3. Why it doesn’t always work
1. Novice learners have difficulty connecting the attributes of practice problems with those of worked examples, when worked examples are separated from practice problems in time and space (Atkinson et al., 2000)
2. Without being prompted to make the connection, novices mostly attend to surface features in the examples, rather than deeper conceptual knowledge (Alexander, 2003).

4. What is a Multimedia Worked Example?
A multimedia worked example (MWE) is a worked example that is developed using multimedia authoring tools to facilitate integration of physical principles and analytical procedures into the problem-solving process.
It consists of 7 parts representing:
conceptual knowledge (parts 1-2)
solution outline (part 3)
solved problem steps (parts 4-7)
It is delivered online via a course management system.

5. 1. Novice learners have difficulty connecting the attributes of practice problems with those of worked examples, when worked examples are separated from practice problems in time and space (Atkinson et al., 2000)
Segmenting of a multimedia worked example is breaking the continuous multimedia presentation into separate parts that show only the conceptual and procedural information related to each step in the practice problem to facilitate learning by analogy (Anderson, 1995).

6. 2. Without being prompted to make the connection, novices mostly attend to surface features in the examples, rather than deeper conceptual knowledge (Alexander, 2003).
Self-explanation prompt is a question which purpose is to induce meaningful learning strategies, such as explaining the conditions and consequences of each procedural step in the example, as well as justifying the principles and definitions of concepts applied to them (Chi et al., 1989; Schworm & Renkl, 2007).

7. Context An undergraduate 300-level course in fluid mechanics
Covers fundamental fluid mechanics topics that are used in civil engineering
Course activities: two weekly lectures, seven homework assignments, and seven in-class quizzes.
Homework assignments and quizzes are focused on solving fluid mechanics problems

8. Design of Worked Examples
Tools
Tablet PC
Camtasia Studio by TechSmith Corp. (video-editing software)
Process
Storyboard
Multimedia presentation
3 step-by-step problems in CMS
Segmenting worked examples
Adding self-explanation prompts

9. Complete Storyboard Homework 1 / Problem 1 Step 2 Problem recap
Equation help - Link
Step 2
Calculate the velocity
Multimedia Worked Example Step 2 - Link
Self-explanation prompt
Worked examples are more effective when they:
are in proximity to matched problems
are integrated to avoid split-attention effect (e.g. video and text in same window)
use multiple modalities (e.g. audio and video, or audio and text)
use a clear subgoal structure (each step should be labeled)
(Atkinson et al. 2000)
What principle is involved in calculating the velocity?
Self-explanations can help students’ understanding by making them think about:
1. The conditions of application of the actions;
2. The consequences of actions;
3. The relationship of actions to goals;
4. The relationship of goals and actions to natural laws and other principles. (Chi et al., 1989)
Step solution
Solution for Step 2:
Submit Answer

10. Integrated into the Course Management System

11. Integrated into the Course Management System

12. Pilot Study Spring 2009 67 civil engineering juniors
Specific Energy topic

13. Purpose Refine the design Test logistical procedures
Determine evaluation strategy

14. Pilot Study Design Segmenting of the Multimedia Worked Example
Non-Segmented
No Self-Explanation Prompts
Segmented
No Self-Explanation Prompts
Self-Explanation Prompts
Non-Segmented
Self-Explanation Prompts
Segmented
Self-Explanation Prompts

15. Problem Statement - Introduction

16. Segmented / No Prompts

17. Non-Segmented / Prompts

18. Non-Segmented / No Prompts

19. Results – Descriptive Stats
Group n
Immediate Problem Solving
Delayed
Problem Solving
M (SD)
max score = 21
max score = 4
Segmented MWE and Self-Explanation Prompts 17
12.00 (3.18)
2.12 (.60)
Segmented MWE (No prompts)
13.76 (4.04)
1.94 (.74)
Non-segmented MWE and Self-Explanation Prompts 16
12.50 (4.13)
2.25 (.68)
Non-segmented MWE (No prompts)
13.82 (2.48)
1.94 (.75)
Total 67
13.03 (3.53)
2.06 (.69)

20. Results - Survey MWE were very useful for: Issues with MWE:
Demonstrating real world examples
Providing conceptual explanations
Providing step-by-step support for problem-solving process
Issues with MWE:
Didn’t support all 3 problems equally well

21. Results – Survey (cont.)
Self-explanation prompts were:
Useful for promoting conceptual understanding
Somewhat redundant for easier or repeating concepts
Technical / process issues:
Problem flow in CMS

22. Discussion
Both non-segmented and segmented MWE are perceived as useful by students
Self-explanation prompts are perceived as useful by some of the students, and redundant by others
Studying with self-explanation prompts possibly requires more cognitive processing
Problem-solving tests show that self-explanation prompts tend to make MWE more effective in the long run

23. Implications for Design and Research
MWE should be revised to better support all 3 problems in the problem-set
Number of self-explanation prompts should be decreased to reduce cognitive load
Some changes should be made in the problem flow
More testing is necessary to determine the effectiveness of MWE and self-explanation prompts for this content

24. Future Directions
Develop 7 multimedia worked examples to support concepts for each homework in the course
Turn these worked examples into stand-alone learning objects

25. Questions Natalia Kapli