An animation can be a kind of pictorial representation (picture), can depict apparent movement (motion) and can consist of objects that are artificially created through drawing or some other simulation method (simulated) (Mayer & Moreno, 2002).
Animations are used as educational tools to
- visualise difficult and abstract scientific concepts;
- visualise an internal part of a phenomenon;
- display internally an instrument’s structure; and/or
- permit knowledge understanding of theoretical concepts to the real world.
In any animation various types of changes can be included such as alterations in graphics entities (transformation), movements of whole entities from one location to another (translation) and fully/partially appearance/disappearance of entities (transition) (Lowe, 2004). According to Schnotz & Rasch (2005) advocated that animations allow learners better process and absorb information in comparison to static pictures, where they can study different states under different perspectives.
Animations may include verbal and visual information and learners’ attention may be split between two or more sources of information that need to be processed simultaneously. In order to overcome the split effect the verbal information may be provided as explanations rather than verbal information (Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007). For example, written explanations are more effective than spoken explanations, when learners have the control of the applications and/or for hearing-impaired learners who have issues to follow the verbal information. However, replacing visual explanations with auditory explanation, the split effect can be overcome and the working memory system is not overloaded (modality effect) (Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007).
Example: a user-controlled animation
Overall, when designing a multimedia learning environment multiple factors including the learners’ characteristics, their background knowledge and social and emotional factors should be taken under consideration (Limniou et al., 2010).
References
Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2002). Animation as an Aid to Multimedia Learning. Educational psychology review, 14(1), 87–99.
Limniou, M., Burton, N. A. & Whitehead, J. C. (2010). Computer-assisted teaching on science education: A student and teacher perspective. In B. A. Morris & G. M. Ferguson (Eds.), Computer-Assisted Teaching: New Development, New York: NOVA Science Publishers, ISBN: 978-1-60876-855-4, pp. 1-36.
Lowe, R. (2004). Interrogation of a dynamic visualization during learning. Learning and instruction, 14(3), 257–274.
Schnotz, W., & Rasch, T. (2005). Enabling, Facilitating, and Inhibiting Effects of Animations in Multimedia Learning: Why Reduction of Cognitive Load Can Have Negative Effects on Learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(3), 47–58.
Schnotz, W. & Kürschner, C. (2007). A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load Theory. Educational psychology review, 19(4), 469–508.
Animation by Maria Limniou is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Computers in Education and not only 