The impact of pedagogical agent gesturing in multimedia learning environments: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis consisting of 20 experiments (N = 3841) on the influence of pedagogical agent (PA) gesturing in multimedia environments revealed that gestures have a small-to-medium impact on near transfer of knowledge (g = 0.39), retention of learning (g = 0.28), and agent persona (g = 0.44), but a minimal impact on reducing cognitive load (g = 0.13). Moderator analysis discovered that humanoid agents had a small effect on decreasing cognitive load (g = 0.24), while character agents had a minimal to small effect on increasing cognitive load (g =-0.18). Interestingly, a deeper analysis found that the differences in effect sizes for near transfer and retention might be due to the learning outcome measured and not the design of the PA. Overall, the findings revealed that PA gestures are beneficial for student learning and perception in multimedia learning environments.