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Developing
Macromedia Flash Movies for Science Teachers |
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School: Bishop Stopford
School |
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Fellow: Arthur Harwood |
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Email: arthur_harwood@lineone.net |
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Why develop Flash Movies? |
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I first came across Macromedia Flash on
a training course for the use of interactive
whiteboards. It seemed like the answer to
some of the problems that I had as a science
teacher. Many of the concepts that I taught
to students were dynamic processes that were
difficult to explain using static images and
text. Using Macromedia Flash enables teachers
to animate both text and graphics and so offers
the opportunity for them to bring to life
their presentations. Better still, one of
the key elements of Flash is interactivity.
This allows students not only to view a flash
movie but also to interact with it, making
it possible for them to get fully involved
in a lesson since their actions can affect
what is happening on the whiteboard. |
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Getting Started |
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After obtaining Flash 5.0 I set about working
through the lessons in the “Help”
section as well as some exercises in a book
that I found to be a useful resource: ‘Flash
5 Visual Jump Start’ by Patricia Hartman.
Tutorials from the web also provided ample
material for me to sample many of the features
of Flash. I then decided to try to use some
of these features to create my own animation.
Here I had a lot of difficulty. The same set
of steps did not always produce the same results.
I began to doubt that I would be able to master
Flash in sufficient depth to produce any meaningful
movies. |
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The main problem I had was isolation from
any technical support. There was no one to
turn to when things were not going well. Then
I discovered that an ICT teacher and two sixth
form students at my school had an interest
in web design and were familiar with Flash.
We set up a “Flash Club” that
met every Wednesday lunchtime. Here we could
swap ideas and also talk through any problems
we were experiencing with a particular movie.
This really helped me to become more proficient
at using Flash; I could talk through problems
that I was experiencing with the program and
we could all learn different aspects of Flash
from each other. |
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The Project |
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I started by producing a few trial movies
where I experimented with layers, buttons
and animation (all key components of Flash).
My first proper movie that was intended for
students was “Enzyme Action”.
This featured a cartoon narrator who explained
various features of enzyme action. The person
using the movie could chose which aspect of
enzyme activity they wanted to learn about
by clicking on a series of buttons to one
side of the narrator. The movie was completed
by the end of January 2003. |
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I then set about evaluating this movie by
showing it to several science teachers from
my own school and other local schools. The
feedback was encouraging, but many commented
that it was more useful to individual students
as a revision tool rather than a teaching
aid that could be used as part of a normal
science lesson. I decided that my next movie
should be suitable for use by a teacher using
a digital projector to a whole class. As I
was teaching “the nervous system”
to my sixth form at the time, I decided to
use Flash to illustrate the sequence of events
at a synapse. |
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The synapse movie took quite a while to
complete as it was composed of over 30 layers
each containing animation. When it was complete
I showed it to my sixth form students during
a nervous system revision lesson. Again the
feedback from both students and teachers was
positive. The main component that was missing
was interactivity. I decided that my next
set of movies would be “drag and drop”
movies that would be suitable for teachers
to use as lesson starters or as revision exercises
on interactive whiteboards. |
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The project can be viewed online at http://www.bishopstopford.com/faculties/science/arthur/start.html |
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Taking it further |
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Learning how to make interactive movies
proved to be the hardest and most time consuming
part of the project as I needed to learn Action
Script. Action Script is the language that
Flash uses in order to make movies interactive.
Again, tutorials on the web were invaluable.
I even e-mailed an Action Script expert in
Australia to help me to produce my first drag
and drop movie, “The Eye”. This
is basically a labelling exercise, where students
can drag labels to the appropriate part of
a diagram of the eye. If the correct label
is chosen the program responds with a “
Tara ” sound and a tick appears next
to the word. I have since moved on to produce
similar drag and drop movies to aid the teaching
of the human digestive system and mitotic
division. |
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Conclusions |
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Flash is a very powerful program that has
massive potential for teachers. It really
can bring a lesson to life and is the best
way to explain dynamic concepts to students.
The main limitation is the time needed by
teachers to learn Flash and become a confident
user. However, this is a one-off time investment.
From my own experience I found that once I
was able to produce one simple animation I
wanted to spend more time learning the more
refined features of Flash. I also found myself
thinking about what other aspects of various
specifications I would be able to animate.
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For most teachers the time required to become
proficient at using Flash is simply not available.
A few, like me, will produce their own movies
in order to deliver the curriculum. If these
movies are published on the web, all teachers
can share in this wonderful resource. I am
grateful to the Gatsby Teacher Fellowship
for providing me with the opportunity to develop
Flash movies. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
my fellowship year and the opportunity to
discuss innovative teaching approaches with
colleagues. |
