Abstract
The effects of different presentation styles on learners' understanding are examined in a study of 73 junior high school students who learned the mechanical system of a toilet tank, which was presented with static diagrams and text. They were divided into three groups. Group 1 was shown four sets of the explanation of the mechanism on one sheet (whole presentation style); Group 2 was presented the explanation with four separate sheets shown sequentially (continuous presentation style) ; Group 3 (control group) was given the whole explanation on one sheet Although no evidence was found that any one presentation style led to superior performance than others concerning the retention of simple facts such as the names of parts, Group 2 produced significantly more inferences than the other two in inference tests. The results indicate that the continuous presentation style could be most effective when the instructional goal is to help learners understand how mechanical system works. Particularly this could be true to low working memory learners.
