It happens often, that a teacher is trying to figure out how to present a certain topic to students with this or that program, so that they will remember the most. But less teachers ask themselves, what is actually happening in the student's mind and how are students processing all of given information. Diploma thesis describes how psychologists thought about mental processes throughout history, what approaches are most important in designing multimedia material, learning theories, learning methods and forms of teaching, specifically for teaching programming. Programming presents a big challenge for students and teachers, who try to explain programming concepts. Learning material with words or pictures alone, isnt enough to help students learn. This is described in Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning, which assumes that humans have two seperate information processing channels, that working memory is limited and that meaningful learning happens, when students are cognitively active. Mayer's principles and suggestions for their use in teaching programming are there to help teachers of programming design multimedia material. In the last, research part, some of the Mayer's principles were tested on university students and their effects analyzed.
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