RIS ID
29414
Abstract
Preservice elementary teachers often lack science content knowledge which reduces their confidence to implement the subject in school classrooms. “Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Animation”) is a new yet simplified form of stop-motion animation that encourages preservice teachers to engage with science content because they create their own animations to represent key concepts. This paper presents a study of 29 preservice elementary teachers in a science method class to ascertain if they improved their science knowledge when they created their own animations and whether they used the approach to teach science in classrooms on practicum. Qualitative data (three interviews, two concept maps and the animations as knowledge artifacts) collected from each preservice teacher showed that 28/29 increased their science content knowledge as a result of creating their own animations and four of the preservice teachers used the approach for teaching science on practicum. Slowmations is a new way for preservice teachers to learn science knowledge at university and is an emerging pedagogy for teaching science in schools.
Grant Number
ARC/DP0879119
Publication Details
Hoban, G. F., Macdonald, D. C., Ferry, B. & Hoban, S. (2009). Simplifying Animation with "Slowmation" to Encourage Preservice Teachers' Science Learning and Teaching. EDMEDIA2009 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (pp. 2838-2847). Cheapasake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.