Examining Generative, Extraneous, and Essential Features in Chemistry YouTube Videos: Recommendations for Practice
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Melinda E. Barman [1] ; Miciah L. Mikes-Thacker [1] ; Maddie E. Moorehead [1] ; Maxwell Wissman [1] ; Waverley Gerken [1] ; Sabrina M. Ryland [1] ; Ellen J. Yezierski [1]
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[1] Miami University
Miami University
Township of Oxford, Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 103, Nº 4, 2026
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
Over 1,600 channels disseminate multimedia chemistry education videos on YouTube’s free-to-use platform. The expansive use of YouTube by students and educators as a vehicle to promote learning outcomes, along with its seemingly ubiquitous presence, drives the growth of evidence-based research on the quality of YouTube videos. However, the extent to which educators and students can discern if a video provides a sense of perceived learning, supports cognitive growth, or neither is mainly unknown. Because YouTube maximizes visual and verbal channels for learning, we applied Mayer’s Multimedia Principles (MMP) to evaluate educational chemistry videos based on enthalpy search terms. Videos selected through two common search parameters, view counts and popular creators, reflected adherence to MMP, with some exceptions (e.g., those from CrashCourse). To maximize meaningful learning as described by the theory of cognitive learning, YouTube still requires support through implementation. Based on evidence from video features and multimedia learning theories, we derived four recommendations, (1) quality vs quantity, (2) pretraining, (3) segment and generate, and (4) beware of seductive details, to aid in selecting and using YouTube videos. Although future research on student learning with YouTube is needed, the results and theory- and evidence-based recommendations herein provide educators with selection criteria and intervention strategies until a richer body of empirical work is available for guidance.
