Animation is being used extensively for instructional purposes; however, it has not been found to be effective on measures of higher order learning (concepts, rules, procedures) within the knowledge acquisition and knowledge integration domains. The purpose of this study was to examine the instructional effectiveness of two visual scaffolding strategies (simple and complex scaffolding) used to complement animated instruction. About 90 undergraduate level students were randomly assigned to three treatments (control, simple and complex). After receiving their respective instructional presentation students took four tests drawing, identification, terminology and comprehension. The results of a preliminary study indicated that animation has significant impact on acquisition of factual and conceptual knowledge. On the other hand, visual scaffolding strategies, used as a complement to instruction that already involved animation did not have a significant impact on students? performance on measures of higher order learning.