Temporal+Contiguity+Principle



**Temporal Conti​guity Principle**

Provided to you by: Kathy Cash Dwight Cischke Ryan Shetler

** What is Temporal Contiguity? ** This principle states that students learn information when narration and images are used at the same time. Studies indicate that students perform better on tests of transfer when they are exposed to pictures at the same time as the corresponding verbal explanation is given. We believe many people may know this anecdotally, as they have already had an experience of better understanding when they had both a description and an image with which to connect those words.

**What does this mean for me?** When creating multimedia students designed to teach, it is best to present narration and animation simultaneously so as to best facilitate learning. Don't give long periods of verbal explanation and then show a diagram. Allow both to run or be shown at the same time. The visual helps students to understand what is being explained and the gives meaning to the images.

Are there any exceptions? The only major exception is when the narration is very short and images are shown immediately after the narration ends. In other words, if you break up information into very small segments, then students get the same experience that they would if pictures and text were presented simultaneously.

**But I still don't understand? What does this mean?** ​Check out the VoiceThread for examples of temporal contiguity and nontemporal contiguity.

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Temporal contiguity can be accessed without the use of technology. How can technological multimedia tools make the temporal contiguity more effective?
 * Question for discussion/reflection: **

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After reading the Mayer text, we were! The above video offers a great audio/visual explanation of what the Temporal Contiguity Principle is. But more importantly, the video uses temporarl contiguity to help us understand the topic and offers real examples of what it is and how to achieve the effects.
 * Still confused? **