Simple Animation Tool

December 11, 2013 by petriniskanen 1 Comment

An overview of features

The basic idea

Draw figures by hand. Figures can be static or they can move. Animate hand-drawn figures by moving a figure by hand in a screen while application records the move. Application is able to play the move (animation) in a loop. Several animations can be combined by recording a new move on top of existing animation as in the flow chart below:

Demo

Result

The tool might be able to produce something like this, except in reality the animation would run SMOOTHLY 🙂 The context of the animation usage could be that the student is explaining to other student his understanding about electric charge in electric circuit.

Animation Tool, Why?

I have been wondering could simple animations be used to concrete something essential in abstract things like phenomena of physics. Could animation enhance learning? Maybe. According to research animation can support learning for example when it’s used as a basis of discussion between student and teacher. (Tversky, Morrison & Betrancourt,  2002). In one meta-analysis where learning effect of static pictures where compared to animations the result revealed a medium sized overall advantage of instructional animations over static pictures. Factors like purpose of the animation, type of animation (computer-based, video-based) and level of realism of animation seem to correlate with the learning effect of animations (Höfler & Leutner, 2007).

Sources

Höfler, T. & Leutner, D. (2007). Instructional animation versus static pictures: A meta-analysis. Learning and Instruction Volume 17, Issue 6, pages 722-738. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.09.013

Tversky, B. Morrison, J & Betrancourt, M. (2002). Animation: Can it facilitate learning?  International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 57(4), 247–262. doi:10.1006/ijhc.1017