Interactions between cognitive disequilibrium, interactivity with instructional videos, and learning

Abstract

The use of videos as instructional tools has increased dramatically in recent years. However, most research on student learning from videos has been conducted in clinical settings and has not explored the mechanisms that underlie connections between students' interaction with videos and their learning. This study explores the relationship between students' experiences of cognitive disequilibrium–operationalized in terms of Harel's (2013) theory of intellectual need–their use of video playback controls, and their learning from instructional videos in introductory calculus classes at the undergraduate level. The data reveal that students who paused or skipped backward in the video were more likely to demonstrate learning, and that this effect was stronger for students who exhibited lower background knowledge. Similarly, students who experienced cognitive disequilibrium were more likely to improve their performance. However, when we controlled for temporal interactions, cognitive disequilibrium was no longer a significant predictor of enhanced learning, which suggests that the experience of disequilibrium could underlie students' interaction with and promote their learning from mathematics instructional videos.