The Use of Animation
Why is animation a useful tool?
The appropriate use of animation is a powerful tool for the classroom teacher. Typically, classroom teachers don't have the time to create their own animations, due to inadequate professional development time or skill sets necessary to learn animation-authoring tools. There are several basic options for teachers to use, typically they are Web 2.0 applications that allow for quick and easy animations to be created within a matter of minutes (for example, Go!Animate or xtranormal). Animation can allow teachers to emphasize certain key points or understandings in the curriculum and illustrate them clearly for their students. Personally, I don't make my own animations, very few teachers do, due to lack of time. However, it's easy to find great examples on the Internet. For example, in my Social Studies 30-1 class I show students the following video on the American electoral college system for electing a president. I'll probably also show my Social 10-1 students videos from The Story of Stuff project, like the one below.
Depending on your subject area, there are usually lots of animated online movies that could be used to help students understand key concepts. A simple Google search for "chemistry animations" yielded over 800,000 results, with the following looking very promising: chemistry Flash animations.
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