images of those abstract ideas.

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1 TIPS, TRICKS & TECHNIQUES Creating & Teaching with Simple Animation: Making Biology Instruction Come Alive MARY K. B. ZANIN ABSTRACT Over the years, many of my students have reported that they enjoy lectures that include short, simple animations. To keep students engaged, I have developed a small set of teaching animations using PowerPoint and Camtasia Studio software packages. A survey of students who learned four difficult topics with traditional written lessons and with these animations revealed that 80% of the students say that they learn better when animations are included. With such a majority reporting that cartoons engage them in learning, I wanted to share my simple method of creating them with the teaching community. Key Words: How-to; animation; cartoon; learning; STEM Student Engagement. Introduction I enjoy the process of crafting dynamic illustrations of how complex molecular processes occur, with the intention of helping my students to form mental images of those abstract ideas. During my tenure as a college professor, I have created many animations for my students. I enjoy the process of crafting dynamic illustrations of how complex molecular processes occur, with the intention of helping my students to form mental images of those abstract ideas. Many of my students, particularly those who are not pursuing science majors, report that they are intimidated by topics in cell and molecular biology because they require them to conceptualize intangible processes, and many of those students have reported that they enjoy learning from my animations on the official evaluations of instruction that are administered at the end of each semester by The Citadel Military College. Although other authors have also reported that students enjoy learning from animations (Yeh et al., 2012), teaching with animations poses certain challenges. Finding publicly available animations that emphasize exactly what one hopes to teach, without extraneous information, can be difficult; and creating one s own personalized animations is time consuming and technically formidable (Rößling & Freisleben, 2000; McClean et al., 2005). Additionally, use of animations in the classroom requires teachers to reserve a portion of the valuable time in a lecture period to set up multimedia equipment and to present and explain the animations. Is it worth the effort? While many studies have been conducted on the learning-outcome effectiveness of using animations, researchers often report conflicting results (Rieber, 1996; Ruiz et al., 2009; O Day, 2010). Examples of previous studies are catalogued in Table 1; some report that animations improve learning outcomes compared with traditional lessons (Sanger et al., 2001; Mayer & Moreno, 2002; McClean et al., 2005; Özmen et al., 2009; Yeh et al., 2012), whereas others report that they do not (Mayer et al., 2005; Ausman et al., 2008; Remus et al., 2008; Miller & James, 2011; Urquiza-Fuentes & Ángel, 2013). Still others report that the quality of the animation is what determines its effectiveness (Wouters et al., 2008; Jenkinson & McGill, 2012). Although the data on the ability of animations to improve learning outcomes are inconsistent, my students consistently report that they enjoy learning from animations, and keeping science students engaged in learning science is more important now than ever in this country. Retention of students in science programs is an ongoing problem in the United States; according to the U.S. Department of Education s November 2013 report entitled STEM Attrition: College Students Paths into and out of STEM Fields : About 28 percent of bachelor s degree students and 20 percent of associate s degree students entered a STEM field (i.e., chose a STEM major) at some point... A total of 48 percent of bachelor s degree students The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 77, No 6, pages , ISSN , electronic ISSN by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press s Reprints and Permissions web page, DOI: /abt THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER CREATING AND TEACHING WITH ANIMATION 67

2 Table 1. Examples of studies that have shown that animations do or do not significantly improve learning outcomes. Do Improve Molecular and cellular biology animations: development and impact on student learning (McClean et al., 2005) Exploring the impact of prior knowledge and appropriate feedback on students perceived cognitive load and learning outcomes: animation-based earthquakes instruction (Yeh et al., 2012) The effects of conceptual change texts accompanied with animations on overcoming 11th grade students alternative conceptions of chemical bonding (Özmen et al., 2009) Animation as an aid to multimedia learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2002) Can computer animations affect college biology students conceptions about diffusion & osmosis? (Sanger et al., 2001) Do Not Improve Toward the effective use of educational program animations: the roles of student s engagement and topic complexity (Urquiza-Fuentes & Ángel, 2013) Effect of prerequisite knowledge on the effectiveness of animated instruction (Ausman et al., 2008) The effect of animations within PowerPoint presentations on learning introductory astronomy (Miller & James, 2011) The effect of presentation media and animation on learning a complex decision (Remus et al., 2008) When static media promote active learning: annotated illustrations versus narrated animations in multimedia instruction (Mayer et al., 2005) and 69 percent of associate s degree students who entered STEM fields between 2003 and 2009 had left these fields by spring Roughly one-half of these leavers switched their major to a non-stem field, and the rest of them left STEM fields by exiting college before earning a degree or certificate. If animations help students remain engaged in courses in STEM fields, they should increase the time students will spend with science lessons and help improve their long-term memory of science concepts, while also improving retention of students in STEM programs (Gasiewski et al., 2012). I would like to share my simple method of creating animations with other teachers who want to use cartoons in the classroom to engage students. METHODS Animation Topics Four complex cell biology topics that many of my students struggle with are translation, replication, electron transport of cellular respiration, and the light reactions of photosynthesis. A group of freshman and sophomore students from The Citadel Military College participated in a study to learn these four topics by studying both traditional written lessons (with still figures) and animation lessons that I created. After studying the topics, they answered the short anonymous survey, described below. The college s online Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard Learn, was used to administer the lessons and to collect anonymous survey data. I should note that The Citadel s student body is predominantly male, with only 7% of students being female. Students were awarded extra credit points as an incentive to participate. Development of Lessons Animations: I created all the animations/movie lessons first as narrated Microsoft PowerPoint Shows (Howell & Howell, 2002) and then produced them as MP4 files with Camtasia Studio 4.0 software. Files were stored on a media server hosted at The Citadel, and the links below were provided to students through the LMS. I first determined which aspects of each topic I wanted to illustrate with my animation, and then I created a simple hand-drawn storyboard to use as a template for my PowerPoint animation (Mou et al., 2013). Then, using PowerPoint, I created simple images to symbolize the various cellular components from the storyboard. PowerPoint drawing tools allow the user to create simple uniform images in various shapes, sizes, and colors that may be used to represent complex molecules for the animation. Simply select the shape you want from the Drawing palate on the Home tab of PowerPoint; then click and drag the mouse on the slide to create an image of that shape. You can then change the image in various ways: its color can be changed by first selecting the image and then using the Shape Fill color option on the Drawing palate; its size can be changed by selecting the image and then dragging the corner marker in or out to create the size you prefer; its position on the slide can be changed by clicking in the center of the image and dragging it to the desired location. More complex images can be created by arranging separate small shapes around one another and then grouping them into a single figure; the Group Objects option is available under the Arrange drop-down menu on the Drawing palate. Another Power- Point Drawing tool that I find useful is the Alignment tool found under the Arrange drop-down menu; simply select several images that you wish to align (selecting multiple images requires you to hold the Ctrl key while clicking on each one), then choose the type of alignment you need from the drop-down menu; PowerPoint can line up your images in various ways, making your figure look more professional. Once you have created the first slide with the basic images in place, creating animations in PowerPoint is easy. By copying and pasting the contents of one slide onto the next one, and then changing small details on each subsequent slide, you can create an illusion that the objects move and change. When you advance from one slide to the next in the Slide Show mode, your cartoon will operate much like the flip books used by Walt Disney and 68 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER VOLUME. 77, NO. 6, AUGUST 2015

3 other early animators. Alternatively, you can use a more advanced feature of PowerPoint to animate an object on a single slide by first selecting the object and then using the options under the Animation tab to program the object to move in various ways. When you play the Slide Show, the objects will move as you have designated. PowerPoint is a powerful program, and to learn more of its many capabilities, simply review Microsoft s free online PowerPoint help resources (available by selecting the question-mark icon in the upper right corner of any PowerPoint window). Once your slideshow runs properly, you can use a microphone to add narration, and you can set up the timing for each slide transition using the Record Slide Show option under the Slide Show tab. Another option is to simply narrate it yourself each time you show it in the classroom. You may prefer to keep your animation in the PowerPoint file format, but you can also take it a step further and produce it in various other formats using Camtasia Studio, which is more useful for online posting. Camtasia Studio Software, like PowerPoint, is user-friendly and can be used to record the PowerPoint presentation while you play it as a Slide Show. Camtasia can be used to narrate your animation, and some prefer this over PowerPoint s narration tool. Many universities provide access to Camtasia Studio software in multimedia labs, but if that option is not available, you can purchase your own license for under $200; be sure to request the price for educators. The software can operate as an add-in to PowerPoint, and its toolbar will appear under the Add-Ins tab of PowerPoint after you install it on your computer. Simply choose the recording options you want and then click the Record button to record your Power- Point animation with Camtasia Studio. The Camtasia toolbar is fairly self-explanatory, and online help is available by clicking the question-mark icon on the toolbar. The Camtasia-recorded show can then be edited and produced in various movie formats. I chose the format that is supported by my institution s media server, and then I requested assistance from the media manager, who helped me upload my animations to the server and provided me with the links for my students to use for access. Readers of this manuscript should be able to view and use the animations described in this study by selecting the links below: 1. Translation Animation: Mediasite/Play/36efc9107f5946b9bc905f997bd98ff61d?catalog=6c90a715-08a5-4e4c-846a-b6946b6361dd 2. Replication Animation: ea3b9ee85ae1bd33b8a1d?catalog=6c90a715-08a5-4e4c-846a-b6946b6361dd 3. Cellular Respiration/Electron Transport Animation: mediasite.nation.citadel.edu/mediasite/play/90e24a05277e4d 9fa f d?catalog=6c90a715-08a5-4e4c-846ab6946b6361dd 4. Light Reactions of Photosynthesis Animation: d7d4fa edb7f7f1d?catalog=6c90a715-08a5-4e4c-846a-b6946b6361dd Written Lessons: I developed written lessons to teach each of the same four topics above so that students could study them online before taking the anonymous survey. All written lessons were created using text that was comparable to the narration in the animations and using illustrations that were individual frames captured from the animations. The four written lessons are provided in the supplement: Anonymous Post-lesson Survey All subjects were asked to respond to the following three survey questions after they completed the study: 1. Did you prefer learning from written lessons or from movies [animations]? Explain. 2. Did you feel you learned faster from written lessons or from movies [animations]? Explain. 3. Do you have any other comments about this study? Table 2. Summary of post-lesson survey responses (from students who had studied both types of lessons). Did you prefer learning from written lessons or from movies? Explain. 36 students preferred movie lessons 24 students said that the animations seemed easier to understand. 7 students claimed to be visual and/or audio learners. 4 students said the animations kept their attention. 1 student offered no explanation, but preferred animated lessons. 11 students preferred written lessons 4 students said they preferred to go at their own pace and/or be free to reread sections in written lessons. 3 students said written lessons were easier to understand. 2 students said they found the written lessons easier to access. 1 student said written lessons maintained his focus. 1 student offered no explanation. 8 preferred using both types of lessons 8 students said they needed to use both types of lessons to completely understand the topic. THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER CREATING AND TEACHING WITH ANIMATION 69

4 Results & Discussion In the post-lesson survey, 36 students reported that they preferred learning from animations; 11 reported that they preferred learning from traditional written lessons; and 8 reported that they preferred having both types of lessons rather than having only one or the other (Table 2). Many education research studies have examined the effectiveness of using animation compared with using traditional teaching methods, with conflicting results; but my students consistently report that they enjoy learning science from animations. In the anonymous post-lesson survey, 80% of the students who were allowed to study with animations and with traditional lessons said that they preferred to have animations as a part of the lesson; however, 20% of students preferred traditional written lessons. If the incorporation of animations improves students engagement, and greater engagement encourages students to spend more of their time learning science, then using animations is worthwhile. Having reviewed the literature on STEM engagement in introductory courses, Gasiewski et al. (2012) stated that being more academically engaged improves students motivation, critical thinking, skills, personal character, and academic abilities. Ultimately, students who engage in science courses are more likely to pursue additional science training, and that could improve overall STEM performance and retention in the student body. Many animations are available for free online, but they often include confusing extraneous details and display an overwhelming amount of activity that may actually hinder learning (Wouters et al., 2008). For a teacher who wants to convey a few key points, and help students understand them well, self-made animations may be a good solution to help students engage in learning complex topics in science. Acknowledgement Many thanks go to Dr. Danny Gustafson for his assistance with the statistical analyses. My sincere appreciation also goes to the students who participated in this study. References Ausman, B., Kidwai, K., Munyofu, M., Swain, W., Dwyer, F. & Lin, H. (2008). Effect of prerequisite knowledge on the effectiveness of animated instruction. International Journal of Instructional Media, 35, Gasiewski, J.A., Eagan, M.K., Garcia, G.A., Hurtado, S. & Chang, M.J. (2012). From gatekeeping to engagement: a multicontextual, mixed method study of student academic engagement in introductory STEM courses. Research in Higher Education, 53, Howell, D. & Howell, D. (2002). Using PowerPoint in the Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Jenkinson, J. & McGill, G. (2012). Visualizing protein interactions and dynamics: evolving a visual language for molecular animation. CBE Life Sciences Education, 11, Mayer, R.E., Hegarty, M., Mayer, S. & Campbell, J. (2005). When static media promote active learning: annotated illustrations versus narrated animations in multimedia instruction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 11, Mayer, R.E. & Moreno, R. (2002). Animation as an aid to multimedia learning. Educational Psychology Review, 14, McClean, P., Johnson, C., Rogers, R., Daniels, L., Reber, J., Slator, B.M. et al. (2005). Molecular and cellular biology animations: development and impact on student learning. Cell Biology Education, 4, Miller, S.T. & James, C.R. (2011). The effect of animations within PowerPoint presentations on learning introductory astronomy. Astronomy Education Review, 10(1). Mou, T.-Y., Jeng, T.-S. & Chen, C.H. (2013). From storyboard to story: animation content development. Educational Research and Reviews, 53, O Day, D.H. (2010). Animations are dynamic, effective tools for science teaching: if you just follow the rules! Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 7(12), Özmen, H., Demircioğlu, H. & Demircioğlu, G. (2009). The effects of conceptual change texts accompanied with animations on overcoming 11th grade students alternative conceptions of chemical bonding. Computers & Education, 52, Remus, W.E., Lim, K.H. & O Connor, M.J. (2008). The effect of presentation media and animation on learning a complex decision. International Journal of Instructional Media, 35, Rieber, L.P. (1996). Animation as a distractor to learning. International Journal of Instructional Media, 23, Rößling, G. & Freisleben, B. (2000). Approaches for generating animations for lectures. Available online at de/publications/2000/site2000.pdf. Ruiz, J.G., Cook, D.A. & Levinson, A.J. (2009). Computer animations in medical education: a critical literature review. Medical Education, 43, Sanger, M.J., Brecheisen, D.M. & Hynek, B.M. (2001). Can computer animations affect college biology students conceptions about diffusion & osmosis? American Biology Teacher, 63, Urquiza-Fuentes, J. & Ángel, J.V.-I. (2013). Toward the effective use of educational program animations: the roles of student s engagement and topic complexity. Computers & Education, 67, Wouters, P., Paas, F. & van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2008). How to optimize learning from animated models: a review of guidelines based on cognitive load. Review of Educational Research, 78, Yeh, T.-K., Tseng, K.-Y., Cho, C.-W., Barufaldi, J.P., Lin, M.-S. & Chang, C.-Y. (2012). Exploring the impact of prior knowledge and appropriate feedback on students perceived cognitive load and learning outcomes: animation-based earthquakes instruction. International Journal of Science Education, 34, MARY KATHERINE ZANIN is an Associate Professor of Biology at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, 171 Moultrie St., Charleston, SC 29409, where she teaches cell biology, immunology, and developmental biology to graduate and undergraduate students. She also serves as the Pre-Health Advisor. kathy.zanin@citadel.edu. 70 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER VOLUME. 77, NO. 6, AUGUST 2015

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