Facilitating learner-generated animations with slowmation

Digital animations are complex to create and are usually made by experts for novices to download from Web sites or copy from DVDs and CDs to use as learning objects. A new teaching approach, “Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Motion Animation”), simplifies the complex process of making animations so that learners can create their own comprehensive animations of science concepts. This chapter presents the learning design that underpins this new teaching approach to facilitate the responsibility for creating animations to be shifted from experts to learners. The learning design has four phases which guides instructors and learners in creating animations of science concepts: (i) planning; (ii) storyboarding; (iii) construction; and (iv) reconstruction. This learning design will be illustrated with two examples created by preservice primary teachers in science education as well as providing a discussion about possible future directions for further research.