A Framework of Effective Science Explanation Videos Informed by Criteria for Instructional Explanations

Science explanation videos, especially online ones, have become popular. They cover nearly all topics from school science curricula. Teachers use them in a flipped classroom. Students watch them also in their leisure time. However, there is a lack of research on guidelines that effective science explanation videos should follow. The research on instructional explanations provides essential insights into the effectiveness of science explanation videos. The goal of the present article is to develop a framework for effective science explanation videos. The development consists of two steps. First, criteria for a high explaining quality are derived from the research on effective instructional explanations. That leads to a coherent theoretical framework that requires empirical justification. The second step, therefore, is an exploration of the effects of the framework. We developed two explanation videos: one high explaining quality (HE) video following the framework and one low explaining quality (LE) video explicitly not following the framework. Both videos, however, are scientifically correct and provide the same learning opportunities. Students from a German high school assigned to two groups (n = 90; n = 86) watched, respectively, the HE and LE videos, and participated in tests for declarative and conceptual knowledge before and after watching the videos. The main result is that the HE group outperformed the LE group in the achievement of declarative knowledge (Cohen’s d = .42, p = .007). We interpret that as an argument for the validity of the framework of effective science explanation videos presented in this article.