MULTIMODAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (MMLE)

-Kasey Schlager

Summary of MmLE

The life cycle of plants is an interactive website that provides information to students about the cycle of plants from seed to dispersal

There are multiple links that lead to various activities and knowledgeable material which ranges from seed growth, parts of a flower, seed dispersal, worksheets and plant identification

In particular, Seed Growth demonstrates the ability to see the growth of a seed when it receives little sunlight but plenty of water, little water but plenty of sunlight and both plenty of water and sunlight

Summary of Seed Growth

The Seed Growth simulation is a controlled animated visual that allows students to see how a plant grows

It is controlled by scrolling over the arrow which initiates the process and can be paused anytime by simply moving the mouse away from the arrow

A student could go forward or backward to look over what is happening as the seed grows and pause to make observations

It is a interactive alternative to actually growing a plant in certain environments because you can quickly see how it will grow, what happens to the roots and how it will look like when it is fully grown

Example of Seed Growth

Scroll over arrow to increase speed as the seed grows

Easily located back button that allows students to quickly go back and visit the other types of environments

Indicates which environment the students are observing

MmLE URL & Connection to NGSS The Life Cycle of Plants

NGSS2. Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

NGSS and Science and Engineering PracticesPractices Practice 1: Asking Questions

Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and/or designed world(s).

Practice 3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations Make predictions based on prior experiences.

Practice 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data Compare predictions (based on prior experiences) to what

occurred (observable events).

Mayer & Moreno: Interactive Multimodal Learning Environments

Pacing Principle “Allowing students to control the pace of presentation of instructional

materials in interactive multimodal environments is consistent with CATLM’s assumption of limited capacity. Pacing a presentation allows novice students to reduce representational holding my minimizing the amount of information that needs to be processed in working memory at one time” (Mayer, R. & Moreno, R. 2007. p. 320).

The simulation of Seed Growth allows students to control the speed of how the seed grows. The student is in complete control throughout the whole process. It starts when the student scrolls over the arrow, pauses when they move their mouse off the arrow and can scroll back to the beginning. This control allows students to focus on what is happening as the seed grows and to make scientific observations.

Mayer & Moreno Con’t.

When students are able to pace a simulation in order to understand the content, they are more likely to retain the information. “Students who learned with paced presentations gave lower ratings of difficulty than those presented with continuous presentations” (Mayer, R. & Moreno, R. 2007. p. 320).

The Life Cycle of Plants is a great representation of the Pacing Principle and allows students to be able to learn certain content at their own pace.