Abstract:

Do today´s students have the ability to shift focus by dividing their attention between two or more "didactic sources" to which they are exposed? This is a question that researchers raise up when they observe their students and the numerous possibilities of using didactic sources in the classroom. In this research, it was investigated through learning experiments in which the students were exposed to different didactic sources, being measured their performances through tests the way of understanding their learning abilities to shift focus between two or more didactic sources to which they were exposed. Here, a didactic source is understood as any source of communication that can pass information through people or machines, in order to teach a concept.

ICTs have enabled simultaneous access to several "didactic sources" by the same student at the same time. Although this access may lead to an excess of stimuli for learners, it is necessary to investigate the consequences of the learning process: for example, a student who is watching a film on YouTube through his cell phone can attend a lesson of a good teacher at the same time; the same student can choose to consult other educational resources available online, or simply decide to watch two learning objects at once, being an interactive and another visual, or a visual and auditory during the class. Is this way to study beneficial to the students´ learning process?

It is precisely in the search for answers to these questions that the present research investigated the way students navigate (shift focus) when exposed to two multimedia and multimodal presentations (didactic sources) considering the concept of learning trajectories and considering the study times involved. This study was based on Piaget's constructivism and interactionism, in this context of shifting focus during exploration of several didactic sources. The research had explanatory nature, quantitative approach, and quasi-experimental modality. A system was developed capable of presenting at the same time two didactic sources (one interactive and the other non-interactive learning objects) for the same student, and of monitoring the navigation of this learner.

In this research, students' performance was evaluated through two different tests (pre-test and post-test), but with the same difficulty levels (one before and one after the exploration of interactive and non-interactive learning objects). After the development of the system and the pilot study, two experiments were carried out to investigate the way students navigate between the two learning objects (one interactive and the other non-interactive), considering the preferred learning styles.

Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests were performed, and the results of the analyzes showed evidence to affirm that in multimedia adaptive presentations composed by interactive and non- interactive learning objects, it is recommended to prioritize interactive learning objects followed by non-interactive ones; students who carry out multiple transitions between didactic materials present poor performance; the time that students take to interact with a learning object does not influence their final achievement, but the longer the time of dedication to interactive learning objects the greater the likelihood of successful achievement in teaching and learning processes.

Keywords:

Learning Trajectories, Interactive and non-interactive Learning Objects, Didactic Sources.