ABSTRACT
As noted in the introduction to this special section of the journal (Fisch, 2016 ), it is increasingly common for educational media projects to span media platforms; an educational television series might be accompanied by a related website, hands-on materials, museum exhibit, or live show. Research on cross-platform learning indicates that combined use of multiple media can produce greater learning than a single media component, but also shows that “more media” is not always better (e.g., Fisch, Lesh, Motoki, Crespo, & Melfi , 2014 ; Piotrowski, Jennings, & Linebarger, 2012 ). The added benefi ts of cross-platform learning do not automatically occur whenever multiple media are employed. To obtain these outcomes, connections between educational content in related pieces of media must be made salient for children, and children must be encouraged to apply concepts and skills across varied contexts. As in traditional educational media, creators must build upon the aff ordances of each medium (i.e., characteristics of the medium that lend themselves to certain types of content); cross-platform learning also calls for complementarity among media components (Fisch, 2013 ). We will return to these themes-aff ordances and complementarity-throughout this paper.
