Cognitive dimensions of notations
Proceedings of the fifth conference of the British Computer Society, Human-Computer Interaction Specialist Group on People and computers V
Do algorithm animations assist learning?: an empirical study and analysis
CHI '93 Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Assessing dynamics in computer-based instruction
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
External cognition: how do graphical representations work?
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Evaluating animations as student aids in learning computer algorithms
Computers & Education
The ANIMAL algorithm animation tool
Proceedings of the 5th annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSEconference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Rethinking the evaluation of algorithm animations as learning aids: an observational study
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Applying cognitive load theory to the design of web-based instruction
IPCC/SIGDOC '00 Proceedings of IEEE professional communication society international professional communication conference and Proceedings of the 18th annual ACM international conference on Computer documentation: technology & teamwork
VisualGraph: a graph class designed for both undergraduate students and educators
SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
The effective use of quicksort visualizations in the classroom
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Algorithm visualization in CS education: comparing levels of student engagement
Proceedings of the 2003 ACM symposium on Software visualization
Exploring the role of visualization and engagement in computer science education
Working group reports from ITiCSE on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Semiology of graphics
A platform for visualizing digital circuit synthesis with VHDL
Proceedings of the fifteenth annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Review: Integrating cognitive load theory and concepts of human-computer interaction
Computers in Human Behavior
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The question of whether animations depicting running algorithms are beneficial in helping users has received mixed results. This paper provides evidence that the effectiveness of animations as an aid in performing a task is affected by several factors that have no influence on text-only aids. We make our case by comparing two separate studies designed to measure whether the addition of animations to textual descriptions of a running computation promotes understanding of distributed algorithms. The text-based conditions in both experiments resulted in statistically similar results, while the animation-added conditions resulted in different outcomes. The best visualization condition outperforms all other conditions by a significant margin. The factors that were different between the two experiments fall under the concept of cognitive economy. Therefore, the degree of cognitive economy is important both for empirical studies that involve animation and for practical applications in which people rely on dynamic visualization to solve an algorithmic problem.