Designing a Hypermedia Tool for Learning about Children's Mathematical Cognition

This work compared learning in text and hypermedia environments by employing a novel single-subject methodology that afforded an economical means of assessment and indicated that participants learned significantly faster using the hypermedia system than they did using text-based materials.

Abstract

We designed a hypermedia tool for helping preservice teachers learn about the growth and development of children's mathematical reasoning. Design of the tool was guided by a small set of design principles derived from consideration of research in cognitive science. These included “criss-crossing” the conceptual landscape and developing navigational tools that made this landscape visible. We compared learning in text and hypermedia environments by employing a novel single-subject methodology that afforded an economical means of assessment. Results indicated that participants learned significantly faster using the hypermedia system than they did using text-based materials. Secondary analyses suggest that this finding could be attributed to several elements of the design, including the learners' access to examples, an interface that was flexible enough to meet readers' changing experience and goals, and the conceptual criss-crossing embedded in the structure of the system.