Developing Animations for K-12 Education and Public Outreach

摘要

For the past 18 years, the Interactive Geology Project at the University of Colorado has been creating scientifically accurate animations to illustrate geologic processes for K-12 education and public outreach. The motivation for this project came from my challenges of teaching second semester introductory geology (Historical Geology). My basic observation was that about 98 percent of these students were simply not wired to think in 3-D or 4-D. As a result, they had great difficulties grasping spatial and temporal events in historical geology. In looking for ways to help students visualize these abstract concepts, I found that creating animations improved students' understanding considerably. This is especially true when presenting for K-12 students.