Incorporating Animation Concepts and Principles in STEM Education Article Review
By: Kari Busard Western Illinois University Instructional Design and Education Group 1: Static Image and Animation in Education February, 2013
Kari Busard IDT 560
Article Review February, 2013 Introduction The article, Incorporating Animation Concepts and Principles in STEM Education by Harrison & Hummell (2010), is an introductory and informational article on the history of animation and how it fits in to today’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educational system. It takes you through the evolution of various types of animation, explains example lessons for students using various types of animation, and gives a working model of how to choose the proper animation style. History The roots of animation can be found in cave art during the Paleolithic era. Drawings were done a progression that conveyed movement of people and animals. These changing dynamic positions were the world’s first known animation. The first animation tool that resembles animation creation in this century was developed in 1834 by William George Horner. His invention was the Zoetrope (Image 1). The zoetrope uses still images placed in a cylinder and spun clock wise while viewing the images
Image 1
through slits in the cylinder. (Harrison & Hummell, 2010) Fifty years later, John Barns Linnet created an American past time, the flip book. (Image 2) A flip book uses many pages that contain an image in a progressive and sequential form – such as, throwing a ball, or a smiling face. When the pages of the small book are flipped quickly, you view each sequential image rapidly, giving the illusion of motion. (Image 2)
Image 2
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Kari Busard IDT 560
Article Review February, 2013 The table below shows various types of animation that we see in our everyday life – commercials, movies, and advertisements. When Early 1900’s
Type Stop Animation Claymation
About Uses still images in a progression or clay figures in a progression. An image is take at each progression and the images are strung together and viewed quickly to create an animation.
Example Wallace and Gromit
Image Source
Mid 1900’s
Cel Animation
Characters are hand drawn and copied in plastic sheets that are then painted and photographed onto film paper.
Mickey Mouse
Image Source
1990Early 2000’s
Computer Graphic imagery (CGI)
Uses complex 2D and 3D computer software to create images and movement. Toy Story (1995) was the first completely computer generated movie.
Toy Story
Image Source
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Kari Busard IDT 560
Article Review February, 2013 In Education With the rapid evolution of animation and its integration into our everyday lives, we can see how learners today can and do connect with animation use in education materials. Animation use is becoming more prevalent due to access to current software and familiarity with its uses. The article states that “because of the complexity and realism, animation is not necessarily superior to static images when trying to convey concepts through the use of visuals.” However, it goes on to say that the difficulty understanding animations when related to teaching concepts could “be alleviated if the animations included some type of user control. User-controllable animations include functions such as: presentation rate control, directional control, and scene continuity control. … research has shown that animations convey concepts/principles better than their static counterparts, although the extent is currently unknown.” (Harrison & Hummell, 2010) The article gives examples of lessons for students using three types of animation – hand drawn, Model animation (puppets and Claymation), and computer generated animation. In addition to various lessons, the article gives a scientific model and informative list of how to choose your type of animation – 2D static, 2D dynamic, 3D static, or 3D dynamic. Figure 3 shows a diagram of the scientific model and Figure 4 shows examples of the types of animation.
2d Static
3d Static
2d Dynamic
3D Dynamic
Figure 4 Figure 3 3
Kari Busard IDT 560
Article Review February, 2013 Conclusion With animation and graphic images being such a large part of our culture an entertainment industry, it is only fitting that this spill over in helping educators reach tier audience and connect material. Animation had been around for centuries, and most recently been available to the masses. This article explains the various types of animation and how to us them in education materials. In addition, the article also provides great detail and resources for available software to use for computer generated animation.
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Kari Busard IDT 560
Article Review February, 2013 References Harrison III, H., & Hummell, L. J. (2010). Incorporating Animation Concepts and Principles in STEM Education. Technology Teacher, 69(8), 20-25.
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