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SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN THE FORM OF ANIMATED SCIENCE CARTOONS USING MULTIMEDIA AUTHORING TOOLS
L.Jayanthi 1
1.Assistant Professor , Periyar Maniammai UniversityVallam , Thanjavur, 613 403
Email: ljk7@rediffmail.com
Abstract:
Science communication through
cartoons has been explained. Methodology of
Developing animated science cartoons in the
form of 2D and 3D animations has been
described. Definition and advantages of e-
book and including animated cartoons in e –
book and publishing e-book through internet
and its effects has been given. Methodology
of creating e-learning materials, Different
modes of science communication through e-
learning materials are specified. Various
advantages and benefits of e-learning
materials for learning science are mentioned.
Keywords : E- Learning , Science
communication ,Fun learning through
science cartoons and animated science
cartoons , including animation in e- book and
publishing e-book through internet
Introduction
In the face of rapid Technology
advancement, educators in this age of
digital Information and Technology
not only have to be proficiently
knowledgeable in the fields that they
are teaching, but also must be skilled
in the technologies that are being used
convey the educational content.
Educational world predominant today
is one in which both teachers &
learners continually employ various
modes of teaching for communication
& interactive environment. At the
same time technologically innovative
teaching & learning strategies are
being developed, it is imperative for
educators to preserve learning
outcomes.Not all students take in &
process information in the same
manner and the traditional lecture
format of delivering content may not
be best suited for this generation of
learners.
With technology , especially with
multimedia authoring technology, the
teaching and learning content can be
converted into the electronic form and
presented on the PC. Multimedia is
now penetrating the education field
and changing the way teachers teach
and students learn. With the advent of
Multimedia & Technology in the
classrooms, teachers can equip
themselves with these technological
skills & become better communicators
of their content materials and thus
enabling the students to learn in a
more productive way.
Humor in teaching is effective in both
the teachers and learners.E – Learning
can incorporate many elements that
make learning new material , a new
process more. Making learning more
fun – or interesting – is what makes it
more effective. Obviously , every type
of training can’t be turned into e-
learning, but many can with excellent
results.
Science Communication is the flow of
scientific Information and scientific
concepts from their source via a
medium. Science Communication is
needed to encourage natural curiosity,
creativity, scientific temper and
problem solving skills among young
citizens as well as Rural mass and
make science learning exciting.
Undoubted fully, all the modes of
communication has their own
significance. Each and every media is
suitable for specific group of people.
But now a day’s entertainment media
plays a vital role in day today life of
people.
Most of the people are not
interested in science but every one
wants entertainment because they feel
that they have no time to learn about
science. But they try to find some time
for entertainment even with their busy
schedule. At this juncture, science
related issues could be communicated
to the people in the form of cartoons.
Through entertainment, science can be
easily communicated to the people
without making them aware of the fact
that they are under the trail of science
communication.
Animated Science cartoon is a
wonderful tool for explaining and
highlighting various environmental
concepts and problems. This form of
science communication illustrates
complex science subjects in simple and
easily understandable and enjoyable to
common man. It is a thought
provoking capsule version of any event
involving the extreme economy of
language about the science related
issues. Visual images communicate
more readily to the people than other
media. Animations which not only
make you laugh but also carries
information, message or attracts your
attention towards a problem in a
thought provoking way. It is an
excellent mode of communicating
science, which is obtained with the
skills of animations which illustrates
science. This sharply interesting art
strike at our ears instantly.
Hence science communication
through entertainment (audio visual
media like TV, Cinema, and Internet
etc.) can rightly harvest people’s
attention. More recently, Information
technology has given birth to a
comparatively new form of interactive
science communication – Multimedia
that is proving effective way to
illustrate difficult scientific concepts. It
makes science communication more
accessible to less educated people,
youth and Children. Development of
Animated Science Cartoons will
definitely be one way of science
communication, which would be wide,
spread right down to the village level.
Science communication is sandwiched
between the slices of entertainment by
developing animations.
Use of animations in lectures
make the whole information interesting
and understandable even for the people
who did not have scientific
background. Really it is a unique
attempt to explain a highly technical
subject in a very simple manner
through animation . Animation in
schools is a great classroom activity,
allowing teachers and students to
explore many areas of science. A fun,
creative hands on experience,
animation motivates and engages both
teachers and students, using very
simple IT practice, suited to the
education environment.
Methodology
i)Identifying the science and
technological issues
ii)Understanding reasons for problems.
iii)Finding out the methodology to be
adopted.
iv)Transferring these thoughts into
simple drawings.
v)Making dialogues or slogans with
the simple drawings.
vi)Drawing the animation characters
using Photoshop or corel draw
software with the message
vii)Developing 2 D animation using
Flash or 3 D animation using 3Ds Max
or Maya software which would give
you real Effect.
viii)Adding Audio effect to the
Developed animated science cartoons
and editing using Sound forge software
or cool edit software.
ix) Adding video effect to the
animation and editing using Adobe
premiere software.
x)Special effects can be given using
After Effects software.
xi)Finally rendering the animation into
a movie
xii)Animated e- book can also be
prepared with text, audio, video and
animated movies using Desktop author
software.
xiii)Preparing the developed concept in
CD format, which can be played in
media player.
xiv)Consulting with the experts in
science communication and get
suggestions for improvement
xv) Correcting according to the
suggestions made.
xvi) Displaying it to the rural mass and
get feed back from them.
xvii)Finding out the issue to be
improved and making recorrection
If the dry text books are
converted into animated e- book , the
children would learn with more interest
and score highest marks.
Possible issues which can be
popularized through scientoons are
Deforestation, Air pollution, Global
warming, Hole in Ozone layer, AIDS
awareness, Malaria, Dengue fever
caused by Mosquitoes, Water scarcity,
Depletion of oxygen, Depletion of
fossil fuels and Rural hygienic.
These animations can be
included in e- book format . An e-
Book is a book published in electronic
form, which can be delivered to any
computer connected to the internet
from anywhere in the world. Hence,
the letter 'e' to the left indicates that
this is an electronic book. An e-Book
is simply a software that can be
downloaded on the net for reading
pleasure on your home computer. E-
Books are an interesting way to get the
information you need when you need
it. There are plenty of topics on which
you can write an e-Book. E-Book
Publishing can be defined as "any
combination of hardware, software,
and content that delivers the equivalent
of a traditional paper book." Since e-
Book technology is faster and far less
expensive, a growing number of e-
Book publishing services have
emerged. As with any newly available
technological product, the e-book is
causing waves of excitement around
the globe.
Advantages of including animations
in e- book format are
It is portable and take up less space.
It is in CD format and can be displayed
in a laptop, notebook or any e-book
reader without worrying about their
weight and you can see the project
anywhere, on the bus, train, airplane
This project is interactive and contain
text, pictures, audio, video and
animations which enhance the message
that the author is trying to convey.
As it can be delivered through internet,
there are no packing and shipping
expenses. It is very easy to sell and
distribute. It is very simple and easy to
purchase and down load it.The main
features of animated e-book are
Readability, Usability, Availability,
Portability, Changeability and
Multimedia capability. It can be easily
modified and updated. Science and
Technological developments are easily
communicated to the people from
children to older ones between the
slices of entertainment.It is a
wonderful tool for explaining and
highlighting the various concepts and
problems. This illustrates the complex
science concepts in simple and easily
understandable and enjoyable way to
common man. Visual images
communicate more readily to the
people than other media. It will surely
harvest people’s attention. It is thus an
excellent mode of communicating
science and technology through audio
visual media and Internet. This will
definitely generate mass interest in
Science and technology and inculcate
Scientific temper.We can print the
pages.We can send email to the
different persons in all over the world.
We can publish it in the web site which
can be seen by the people all over the
world.
Many parents feel that their
children spend most of their time in
watching cartoons. If the cartoons
shown in television carry science
message, children will learn more with
interest and know more about the latest
developments in science and
technology.
In the new millennium through
the digital and satellite revolution, it is
now possible to send both audio and
visuals through the transmitter. We can
publish animated cartoon movie on
websites .If you do not know the
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of
the particular website, try to make use
of the search engine facility which
opens up all vistas to assist you. Vast
resources are at your doorstep in this
globalize village in Information
Technology era. The computer
penetration in India is on the rise and
just as there are households especially
in the urban areas, big cities and small
towns. Cyber cafes are increasingly all
over, even in the rural areas of many
states.
ted cartoon shows the evil impact of
smoking. It create awareness among
the people that smoking is injurious to
health and create cancer problem.
Steps involved in creating e- learning
materials
Organising the content in step by step
procedure. Then Incorporate the text
and incorporate audio. Then
incorporate video. Use video stories to
put the subject into its context of use.
Use video clips followed by questions
to encourage active participation from
trainees and build on existing
knowledge. Video clips must have the
information required to answer the
questions.
Incorporating animation-Animations
are fun to watch and can get a message
across that words or audio cannot.
Incorporating quizzes and tests
Interspersing the science course with
quizzes that pop up after material has
been presented offers good feedback
and reinforcement for learning. In most
learning situations, the more
immediate the feedback, the better- it’s
the building effect of learning.
Asynchronous Instruction
Instructors and students interact
intermittently over time with students
usually working at their own speed to
meet deadlines set by the instructor.
Self paced courses
Via the internet or CD –ROM , Q and
A monitoring , online discussion
groups and e- mail.
Distance Education – Courses
delivered to off campus locations via
audio, video or the internet . It can be
synchronous or asynchronous.
E-learning (electronic learning) -- Course
content delivered via Internet,
intranet/extranet, audio- and videotape,
satellite broadcast, interactive TV, CD-
ROM and more.
M-learning (mobile learning) -- Course
content or other educational information
delivered to or usable as audio or video on
mobile devices such as MP3 players,
smartphones and personal digital assistants
(PDAs).
Online Education -- Credit-granting
courses delivered primarily via the Internet
to students at remote locations. May be
synchronous or asynchronous, and may
include students and teachers meeting less
than 25 percent of the course time for
lectures, labs or exams.
Synchronous Instruction -- Real-time,
instructor-led online learning event in
which all participants are logged on at the
same time and communicate directly with
each other. This could be through a chat
room, teleconferencing or
videoconferencing. Students and teachers
may share a whiteboard, applications or
desktops.
E – learning tools
Computers or lap top with MP3
players, podcasts, blogs and more
Download podcasts of course lectures
and professors audio study notes to
their PDA’s, smartphones or MP3
players
Advantages of fun E – learning
Varying the types of content such as
images, sounds and text work together
to build memory in the brain and result
in better retention of the material.
Games, quizzes and even manipulation
of something on the screen creates
more interest which in turn builds
better retention. Since it creates
interaction , it brings more attention of
the students.Providing immediate
feedback -- E-learning courses can
build in immediate feedback to correct
misunderstood material. The more
immediate the feedback the better,
because each step of learning builds
upon the previous step. If no feedback
is given, then the next step may be
building upon an incorrect
interpretation. Encouraging interaction
with other e-learners and an e-
instructor -- Chat rooms, discussion
boards, instant messaging and e-mail
all offer effective interaction for e-
learners and do a good job of replacing
classroom discussions. Building an
online community significantly
influences the success of online
programs.
E- learning also offers interactivity.
This type of interactivity can be in the
form of simply clicking on appropriate
responses to questions, clicking to
animate an object or start a process or
dragging and dropping items to
practice a skill. Interactive games
based training are also very effective at
improving learning. Highly motivating
Being motivated to learn is half the
battle. The course with “fun” elements
like video, audio, animation and the
gaming scenarios will definitely create
more interest and curiosity in learning.
This leads to better retention and faster
learning. The science communication
with motivating factors of e- learning
can be communicated to the students
any time and any where. It is much
easier to work training into a busy
schedule when you don’t have to take
two days off to travel and then sit in a
class room. Other e- learning elements
that beat out the classroom scene are
using colors and specific color
combinations, Combining images with
words, Combining sounds or voice or
music with images, Using multiple
types of media, Using layouts that flow
with the natural movement of the eye.
Benefits of E-Learning
It is less expensive to produce. E –
training is virtually free.It is self paced.
Most E- learning programs can be
taken when needed.It moves faster.
Science learning in the form of E-
learning course progress up to 50
percent faster than traditional courses.
The learners can skip material they
already know and move on to the
issues they training on.It provides
consistent message. E- learning
eliminates the problems associated
with different material on the same
subject. E- learners can learn from any
location and any time.It can be updated
easily and quickly. On line e- learning
sessions are easy to keep up – to – date
because the uploaded materials are
simply uploaded to a server.Many
elements such as video, audio,
quizzes ,interaction are combined in e-
learning. The students can revisit and
replay the sessions. This leads to
increased retention and a stronger
grasp on the subject.E-learning science
courses can be managed for large
groups of students.
Conclusion
Common man in rural India
need scientific temper more than the
man in urban areas. So more number
of science popularizing techniques
should be adopted in rural areas. Many
public problems can be eradicated by
giving them awareness about the
scientific facts and phenomena.
Animated science cartoons will
definitely generate mass interest in
science and inculcate scientific temper.
Scientoon and scientoon movies are
thus an extremely popular visual
medium
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