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32 - The Self-Explanation Principle in Multimedia Learning

from Part VII - Principles Based on Generative Activity in Multimedia Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Michelene T. H. Chi
Edited by
Richard E. Mayer  and
Logan Fiorella
Richard E. Mayer
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Logan Fiorella
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

This chapter briefly describes what the self-explanation principle is, in terms of self-explaining as a generative activity to enhance learning, the utterances of self-explanations, and the cognitive processes of self-explaining. It expands on inferring, the key underlying process of self-explaining, and contrasts inferring in the context of self-explaining while learning from inferring in the context of reading comprehension. Self-explaining is shown to play a central role in multimedia learning, analogous to learning from multiple sources in a single medium, such as multiple texts. This chapter introduces the ICAP theory of active learning and uses it to provide a coherent framework to interpret the multitude of studies of self-explanation.

Keywords

self-explanation principlegenerative learning activityICAP theoryactive learning
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning , pp. 381 - 393
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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