Coordination class theory is used to explain college students' judgments about animated depictions of moving objects. diSessa's coordination class theory models a "concept" as a complex knowledge system that can reliably determine a particular type of information in widely varying situations. In the experiment described here, fifty individually…

This new WebWare combines instructional text and Jmol interactive, animated illustrations that help students visualize the mechanism. It is concluded that by animating the fluxional behavior of a simple model for chiral metal catalyst Sn(amidinate)[subscript 2], in which axial/equatorial exchange within the amidinate rings occurs through a Berry…

E-learning materials often have a linear design where all learners are forced into a single-mode pedagogy, which is contrary to the interaction that occurs in face-to-face learning. Ideally, e-learning materials should be nonlinear, interactive, contain context-sensitive and active learning elements, and accommodate various learning levels and…

This special book and DVD set includes 13 of Aboriginal Nations' award-winning animated short films and a guide to using them in a diverse range of early childhood settings. Dreaming Stories are important parts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural heritage, and invaluable sources of knowledge and wisdom for everyone. In early…

The growing concern of teachers to improve their theoretical classes together with the revolution in content and methods brought about by the New Information Technologies combine to offer students a new more attractive, efficient and agreeable form of learning. The case of Descriptive Geometry (DG) is particularly special, since the main purpose…

Two experiments investigating the benefit of computer-based applications in geography education are presented. The computer-based methods employ concepts of visualization, including animation and interactivity, to facilitate active learning. These computer-based methods are compared with physical (i.e. tangible) models, which themselves can be…

The purpose of this experimental study was to compare the effects of different types of computer-generated visuals (static versus animated) and advance organizers (descriptive versus question) in enhancing comprehension and retention of a content-based lesson for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Additionally, the study investigated…

This study has been carried out in order to determine the effect of computer animations in teaching acid and base topics in science and technology courses on the academic success of the primary school students and the opinions of students related to teaching with the animations. This research was conducted by the participation of 55 students from…

Macromedia's FLASH development system can be a great tool for mathematics education. This article presents detailed Flash tutorials that were developed and taught by the author to a group of mathematics professors in a summer course in 2005. The objective was to educate the teachers in the techniques of animating equations and mathematical…

This article uses a comic program to graphically summarize a collaborative action research project that brings together York University researchers and elementary school teachers at Joyce Public School in northwest Toronto to experimentally develop multiliteracies pedagogies in a context of emergent literacy education. The project, which has been…

Cartoons are generally regarded as "kids' stuff," unworthy of scholarly study. As an aspect of popular culture, television cartoons do not attract scholars who are interested in being part of the "critical elite." Some scholars believe, however, that less time should be spent discussing how TV might be used to teach children…

The debate over teaching evolution has once again reached a fever pitch in the United States. Earnest nineteenth-century clashes between scientific and religious worldviews have given way to the politically charged arguments of creation science and now intelligent design. The Web site of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE;…

This study examined the effects of animated presentations on intentional and incidental learning and the degree to which computer practice activities contained intrinsically motivating characteristics as measured by continuing motivation. A total of 70 fourth graders participated in an introductory lesson on Newton's laws of motion. Two levels of…

Part of a larger project to design a production curriculum and measure the impact of this production activity on children's writing, visual thinking, and problem solving skills, a project developed an effective but inexpensive video for use in teaching animation processes to students at the elementary school level. The project used "cutout" or…

Although the use of animated visuals is both common and popular among computer based instruction (CBI) designers, the theoretical and empirical foundation for their use have not been firmly established. Animated visuals represent a subset of instructional visuals, not a distinctive set. For this reason, general conclusions from research on static…