Using animations

Animations are a great way of demonstrating how something works or the process undertaken. In my last post, the PowerPoint about succession has two animations embedded into the presentation, I find it often helps the students to conceptualise the theory or process being taught, making it easier to commit the knowledge to memory and increase understanding. They are also great for student attention and engagement in a lesson.

Something that after undertaking the learning experience I would say is that while animations are very useful they can also be distracting, I had to flick the screen off the animation to get the students attention focused on the questions and discussion I wanted to hold regarding the process of succession.

There are some great sites which have a variety of different animations but having a science back ground I found the science ones most useful.

Here is an example of one of the animations I think would be useful for students to understand the nitrogen cycle.