Using Animations to Teach Biology: Past & Future Research on the Attributes That Underlie Pedagogically Sound Animations (Report‪)‬

The most effective teachers use a diversity of methods and approaches to assist their students in the learning process. Multiple technical resources (commonly referred to as multimedia) are currently used by many instructors to communicate difficult topics and concepts to their students in meaningful ways. The issue that arises is not only how to use the various multimedia but how to use them effectively. One area of rapid development is in the area of short instructional animations that can be used in class or made available online. An extensive literature exists on the value of animations in teaching in many different disciplines, but studies in biology are few. Various sources have shown that animations are more effective than static sequential images (Pollock et al., 2002; Nicholls & Merkel, 1996). Clearly, things that are by nature dynamic should benefit by being represented in a dynamic way (Tversky & Morrison, 2002). Here we will evaluate how animations can be and have been used as effective teaching and learning tools in biology and what more needs to be done to understand their true value. Animated Biology