Use of static picture prompts versus video modeling during simulation instruction.

The team compared two ways to teach ATM and debit-card use.

One group saw still photos of each step. The other watched a short video of the whole task.

Students with moderate intellectual disability joined both lessons in random order.

Both groups learned the skill in the same number of trials.

Picture cards worked just as fast and just as well as the movie.

Milata et al. (2020) later added a twist. They used video modeling inside a general-case plan and teens with autism then used four new ATMs they had never seen. The 2005 study shows the video itself is not magic; Milata shows you still need varied examples to make the skill travel.

Meuret et al. (2001) warned that students with moderate ID gain less from plain simulation than students with mild ID. The 2005 null result fits that warning: pictures and video both worked, but only in the training room.

Mazur et al. (1992) taught furniture assembly with one photo shown only after an error. That tiny dose of static support was enough for mastery, backing the 2005 finding that still pictures can carry a heavy load.

You can save prep time. If shooting and editing a video feels hard, just snap clear photos of each swipe, insert, and button press. Arrange them in order and you will get the same learning speed. Add Milata’s general-case trick later—show two or three different ATMs—when you want the skill to survive out in town.