The design of an animation-based test system in the area of Earth sciences

A study was conducted to develop an animation-based test system (ABTS) that had applications in the area of Earth sciences. The design of the animation-based system was based on cognitive load theories where the theory emphasized the importance of a well-designed instruction to reduce the load in the working memory. This process facilitated the changes in long-term memory to be associated with schema acquisition. The kinds of load in the working memory included extraneous cognitive load on the basis of the theory. It was imposed by the effort to process instructional design and the intrinsic cognitive load was imposed by inherent difficulty of the material. The study reduced the students' extraneous and intrinsic cognitive load through the use of animation so that more cognitive resources were released to contribute to schema construction and automation.