The effect of varied elaboration strategies in complementing visualized instruction and prior knowledge in a hypertext environment on student achievement of different educational objectives

The purpose of this study was to compare two different Elaboration-Theory-based hypertexts with a control-group design that did not employ any instructional theories and principles. The first instructional treatment designed a unit of hypertext materials by using two major Elaboration-Theory strategies: (1) sequencing the instructional materials using a simple-to-complex format; and (2) considering learners' prior knowledge. The second treatment employed the same structure used in the first treatment with the addition of three more Elaboration-Theory strategies. The three additional strategies involved the use of summarizers, synthesizers, and cognitive strategies (mnemonics).; One hundred and twenty five Penn State undergraduate students participated in the study. One general human physiology pretest was used to assess learners' prior knowledge. Four criterion posttests were used to assess learners' achievement of different educational objectives.; The results from a two-way MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) indicated that Elaboration-Theory-based hypertexts employing instructional strategies are superior to the linear hypertext in enhancing students' achievement of factual and conceptual knowledge. Low-prior knowledge students perform significantly better in the Elaboration-Theory-based hypertext than in the linear hypertext in terms of learning factual and conceptual knowledge. However, the impact of Elaboration-Theory-based hypertext is not significant for the high-prior knowledge students.