What neurosurgeons should discover about the science of learning.

Medical education, particularly in neurosurgery, represents the epitome of multimedia learning because instruction often involves both words (e.g., printed or spoken text) and pictures (e.g., illustrations, photographs, animation, video). For example, multimedia instruction occurs when a medical professional narrates what is happening in a video of a surgical procedure, when a textbook shows a photograph of the brain along with printed labels for various parts, or when a conference speaker presents PowerPoint slides consisting of medical graphics and text. The premise of this chapter is that the design of medical education should be informed by a research-based theory of how people learn (i.e., the science of learning) and evidence-based principles for how to help people learn (i.e., the science of instruction). In this chapter, I provide an introduction to the science learning and the science of instruction and examine research-based principles for how to design multimedia instruction.