Learning strategies and multimedia techniques for scaffolding size and scale cognition

Size and scale cognition is a critical aptitude associated with reasoning with concepts and systems in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, the teaching and learning of concepts related to size and scale present major challenges because objects at certain scales are unable to be perceived by humans with the naked eye. A potential way to overcome this challenge could be by means of learning strategies coupled with multimedia learning. In this study we propose learning strategies, instantiated by multimedia are for learning tools that may result in improved learning of size and scale cognition based on the FS2C framework. This framework consists of five levels to characterize size and scale cognition and the cognitive processes supporting them. Participants of this quasi-experimental design included 224 undergraduate students who experienced one of three different multimedia for learning tools, and then were assessed through five tasks whose design was based on the FS2C framework. Results suggest that learning strategies prompting students to compare objects of different sizes, may increase their abilities in ordering and classifying objects. Having students to interact with a logarithmic scale may also have increased participant posttest performance scores in the numerical proportional and absolute measurement tasks. Finally, we propose that the use of multimedia for learning affordances like 3D interaction, zoom in and zoom out, and direct interaction with a scale metaphor may help students make explicit connections and become familiar with objects of different sizes and scales.