The e-learning techniques used in this unit require an intermediate knowledge of ICT and e-learning. If you are new to e-learning, we suggest that you work though some of the other e-learning units before you use this activity.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Triple Science Support Programme, one of the main concerns in schools planning to introduce Triple Science GCSEs is the problem of curriculum time. How can a science department fit Triple Science GCSEs into the existing time allocated for Core and Additional Science?
One way of extending the school day is to use computer software and set students meaningful tasks for homework in order to cover syllabus topics that can be done at home by students. See the LSN document Teaching Triple Science GCSEs: curriculum planning and design and (Model 4: Lessons or experiences outside the normal school day to supplement learning).
The reasoning behind this unit is to provide teachers with an understanding of animation software so that students will develop a computer skill that will motivate them to apply it to the topic of medical physics.
In addition this skill will have cross-curricular implications for schools as it can be used in other subject disciplines, e.g. for project work. Students will also see the social benefit as they will then have another skill to use in their online communications with other students.
The results of the students' work can also be linked to another topic in the TSSP e-learning project – learning communities – as the animations can be shared with other schools/colleges and students in the communities will be able to swap ideas online. This will encourage self-help as students will learn from each other (and across age groups.)
Using Macromedia Flash: an introduction to macromedia flash
Flash is not a beginner-friendly programme. It takes hours of using and experimenting with the programme to learn the ins and outs of creating decent animations in the shortest possible time. In addition to the already steep learning curve, throughout your animating career you will spend a large portion of your time correcting mistakes. The author of the sample animation included in this unit has around 2 years of Flash experience, and spent roughly 20% of the time correcting mistakes, e.g. in the animations, the drawings, keeping the layers syncopated, and correcting errors in the code. This time all adds up, and should not be disregarded, as it is inevitable that in creating animations you will make errors, especially if you are new to Flash.
Another important element of Flash, which is often forgotten, is that any animation will be a time-consuming endeavour. This can be the result of a number of things, including elements of the animation that must be worked on manually frame by frame, the drawing itself and, in some cases, the actual conception of how you are going to animate something. What may appear to be a simple operation at first glance can turn out to be an immensely time-consuming piece of animation. Unfortunately this can be especially true when dealing with animations such as science diagrams.
The wave animation is a perfect example of something that seems simple but in reality is a comparatively complicated piece of work. The light bulb emitting light waves, randomly and of different frequencies, involved drawing the basic wave, which meant using the circle tool and combining two different wave drawings. Then it was necessary to create the four different frequencies, which involved adapting the length and colour of each wave. In the cases of red and green this meant that two waves had to be created and lined up perfectly to make a long and short frequency wave.
The largest section of this animation was making the waves emit from the light bulb. It took roughly 20 minutes to devise how to make the wave emit from the bulb, without just having a stationary wave moving unconvincingly across the frame. In the end the author had to create two invisible blockers, arrange for them to move across the wave while not interfering with the rest of the animation, and above all to have it do the same thing with multiple waves simultaneously. Not even mentioning making the animation appear both smooth and convincingly random, and fixing small mistakes made in the process, this small piece of animation took roughly 2 hours. Someone who was starting out with the programme could probably take more than twice the time to make an animation.
The fact that this project took 11 hours after 2 years of experience is testament to the time-consuming element of creating any animation: this must not be underestimated. However, if you have the will, working with Macromedia Flash can be an immensely rewarding experience, and if used correctly by the school it has the potential to be very effective in really hammering home elements of an educational course.
There are several websites where you can download free tutorials on using animation software, eg www.trainingtools.com
Another very good website to get you started on animations is Creating Flash animations for the science classroom by James J. Jaurez.
Alternatively you can download all 36 Creating Flash animations for the science classroom tutorials as a pdf and save it for later use.
There is a guide to using scratch wiki