Does animation enhance learning? A meta-analysis

•A meta-analysis was conducted to review the effect of animation on learning.•Overall positive effect of animation was found in multimedia material.•Animation found to be superior when learning with iconic visualizations.•Learning enhanced with animation when no accompanying text was provided.•Necessity to better describe visualizations in papers, whether static or animated.

This meta-analysis investigated whether animation is beneficial overall for learning compared to static graphics, while also identifying moderator factors affecting the global effect. A systematic search was conducted for experimental studies comparing the impact of animated vs. static graphics displays in the context of knowledge acquisition. A total of 50 papers were considered, and consecutively 61 primary studies (N = 7036), yielding 140 pair-wise comparisons of animated vs. static graphic visualizations in multimedia instructional material were analyzed using a random-effects model. An overall positive effect of animation over static graphics was found, with a Hedges’s g effect size of 0.226 (95% confidence interval = 0.12–0.33). Additional moderator analyses indicated substantial effect sizes when the animation was system-paced (g = 0.309), when it was coupled with auditory commentary (g = 0.336) or when the instruction did not include any accompanying text (g = 0.883).