When researchers, students and pupils communicate science with stop-motion animation movies
Author: Frederique Carcaillet – University of Montpellier, France
Stop-motion animation (also called stop-frame animation) is animation that is captured one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames. When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement. This technique is particularly appropriate for learning how to communicate science to a large public: this requires to synthesize, to search for metaphors, to image sometimes complex concepts and to write short narratives that can be understood by a wide audience, without biasing the scientific discourse.
Since four years, I organize workshops of creation of stop-motion animation movies at Montpellier University, in France, for researchers and students who wish to disseminate to a large audience the results of their scientific research in biology or ecology, or who want take part to environmental education in their present or future careers.
These creative workshops have a threefold pedagogical purpose:
- to teach the participants the rules of scientific mediation and the handling of new materials and software in a context of group learning, non-formal, creative and pleasant which nourishes the intrinsic motivation of participants and make them want to reuse this medium
- create attractive tools for environment education, on short time (2 to 5 minutes), viewable on the internet and broadcastable in classrooms, associations or nature interpretation centers.
- create student-ambassadors capable of conducting workshops to create stop motion animations in schools, particularly in priority education areas, so that children can take a playful interest in science and more generally in their environment.
Watch movies: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdMXIvXqFZxiSFtsnFUQiZg
The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.
Presentation type: Show, tell and talk
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Teaching science communication