Observational Learning from Animated 1 Running Head: OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING FROM ANIMATED MODELS This is a pre-print of the article that was published as Wouters, P.J.M., Paas, F. & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2008). Observational learning from animated models: Effects of modality and reflection on transfer. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 1-8. Observational Learning from Animated Models: Effects of Modality and Reflection on Transfer Pieter Wouters* 1 , Fred Paas 2, 3 , and Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer 2 1 Institute of Information and Computing Sciences Utrecht University, the Netherlands 2 Educational Technology Expertise Centre, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, the Netherlands 3 Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Key words: cognitive load theory, modality, cognitive modeling, reflection ---------------------------------------------------- * Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Pieter Wouters, Utrecht University, Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, the Netherlands. E-mail: mailto: p.j.m.wouters@cs.uu.nl , Tel. +31 30 253 9219 Author Note This research project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, The Hague, project number: 411-02-163)