Sequencing Tracing with Imagination: A Cognitive Load Perspective

Abstract

Cognitive load theory has generated several instructional designs based on movement, including the tracing effect, occurring when learners benefit from instructions to trace out lesson materials with the index finger. Historical descriptions of children’s tracing behaviours while learning with Montessori’s “sandpaper letters” suggest some children sequenced their learning by first tracing the letters with eyes open, then with eyes closed. This description resonates with the imagination effect whereby students with sufficient prior knowledge benefit from imagining rather than studying lesson materials. This research replicated and extended the tracing effect by comparing a no-tracing control condition and a tracing condition to a condition where students traced elements of worked examples initially with eyes open, then with eyes closed. In Experiment 1, primary school students were presented with a geometry lesson. Tracing then imagining led to better learning outcomes compared to tracing only. Furthermore, tracing was found to increase motivation and decrease cognitive load. Different materials (i.e., mental mathematics of 2-digit multiplications) were used in Experiment 2 with adult participants which did not find evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of a tracing or tracing/imagination sequence. A ceiling effect was obtained in both pre-test and post-lesson test, possibly leading to the obscure findings. With several methodological improvements, Experiment 3 replicated and extended findings from Experiment 1, indicating that the positive effects of tracing/imagination could be generalized to a different mathematics subject in a different age group. A local meta-analysis on Experiment 1 and 3 indicated that tracing might facilitate learning by decreasing both intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. The present research replicated the tracing effect and provided initial evidence demonstrating that imagination following tracing might further enhance learning.