Should bullets appear before animations, or animations before bullets? I'm designing curriculum that involves many steps and a correlating animation to go with it. The end goal of this curriculum will be to turn into a video where it might end up on Youtube (or something similar) for self-study.

Each animation has text that goes with it that describes it. My question is, Between the Animation and the Text, what should appear first? Please also include why you think it should go first.

I am not concerned on whether I should or shouldn't have animation or text. For the sake of this answer, both must be there.

To help frame the question, I created two simple slides/videos:

A. Bullets before Animation


B. Animation before Bullets


Which of these two options leads to better learning/retention? If one is better suited for video and self study, and the other is better suited for in-class live-teacher presentation, please let me know and why you think so.
Here is what I would do:


I would move the ball first. Show them what is happening then use the text to support/explain it.
Only change one thing on the slide at a time. There should be a delay between the ball moving and the bullet being added. Too many things moving is confusing. But one thing moving is a great way to guide someone's eyes to the important information.
Possibly gray out the previous bullets. If you end up with a wall of text then it may be unnatural to dart your eyes from the very top (where the figure is) to the very bottom (where the new bullet is). Putting them side-by-side might help too.


Slide design is an art so don't feel compelled to follow any strict rules. Try it out and see how it works.