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