As maravilhas dos power points

Computers & Education 41 (2003) 77–86 www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu Effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in lectures
Robert A. Bartscha,*, Kristi M. Cobernb a School of Human Sciences and Humanities, University of Houston, Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Boulevard,
Houston, TX 77058, USA b Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, TX, USA
Received 14 August 2002; accepted 28 January 2003

Abstract
We investigated whether students liked and learned more from PowerPoint presentations than from overhead transparencies. Students were exposed to lectures supported by transparencies and two different types of PowerPoint presentations. At the end of the semester, students preferred PowerPoint presentations but this preference was not found on ratings taken immediately after the lectures. Students performed worse on quizzes when PowerPoint presentations included non-text items such as pictures and sound effects. A second study further examined these findings. In this study participants were shown PowerPoint slides that contained only text, contained text and a relevant picture, and contained text with a picture that was not relevant. Students performed worse on recall and recognition tasks and had greater dislike for slides with pictures that were not relevant. We conclude that PowerPoint can be beneficial, but material that is not pertinent to the presentation can be harmful to students’ learning.
# 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Improving classroom teaching; Pedagogical issues; Teaching/learning strategies

1. Introduction and literature review
Although there has been much discussion over different methods to teach college students, lectures are not likely to stop being used. To emphasize particular points, many lectures use written material presented on a chalkboard, whiteboard, or by transparencies on an overhead projector.
In the last 10 years, another method of presenting visual