Background:

Animations of scientific concepts may improve comprehension by explaining and visualizing the steps of complex processes, but unless they engage student interest in meaningful ways, their effectiveness as teaching tools is limited. We achieve this through a novel approach to animation design that includes the target audience (undergraduates) so that the resultant animations align with their learner characteristics.

Objective:

This case study investigated whether undergraduate-generated animations were more effective educational tools than informationally equivalent text-and-illustration presentations and whether learners’ background influenced the relative benefits of animations.

Method:

Incorporating feedback from faculty and undergraduates, we created animations and text-plus-illustration content to explain how neural signals are generated and measured by scalp electrodes. Neuroscience majors and non-majors were presented with either animations or static presentations followed by comprehension and engagement assessments.

Results:

Both groups showed comprehension and engagement benefits for animations. Although majors showed better overall comprehension, animations improved comprehension for non-majors over static presentations.

Conclusion:

When educational content is directed for a target audience, animations can be more effective teaching tools for a broader student audience.

Teaching Implications:

The relevance of online tools for remote instruction makes animations, developed for and by undergraduates, important tools for effectively introducing difficult content.

中文翻译：

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本科生动画的有效性：提高神经科学专业和非专业学生的理解和参与度

背景：

科学概念的动画可以通过解释和可视化复杂过程的步骤来提高理解力，但除非它们以有意义的方式吸引学生的兴趣，否则它们作为教学工具的有效性是有限的。我们通过一种新颖的动画设计方法实现了这一目标，该方法包括目标受众（本科生），以便生成的动画符合他们的学习者特征。

客观的：

本案例研究调查了本科生动画是否比信息等效的文本和插图演示更有效的教育工具，以及学习者的背景是否影响动画的相对优势。

方法：

结合教师和本科生的反馈，我们创建了动画和文字加插图内容，以解释头皮电极如何生成和测量神经信号。向神经科学专业和非专业学生展示动画或静态演示，然后进行理解和参与评估。

结果：

两组都表现出对动画的理解和参与的好处。虽然专业学生表现出更好的整体理解能力，但动画比静态演示提高了非专业学生的理解能力。

结论：

当教育内容针对目标受众时，动画可以成为更广泛的学生受众的更有效的教学工具。

教学意义：

在线工具与远程教学的相关性使得为本科生开发的动画成为有效介绍困难内容的重要工具。