{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10614"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10614","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Investigating the effectiveness of animations in exploring learning a case study in a Chemical Engineering course","abstract":"Using technology in the classroom environment has become increasingly popular among educators. One way of employing technology is using instructional animations to teach concepts, favoured owing to their ability to depict changes in object over time. Animations are commonly believed to increase motivation and foster learning, but there is little empirical evidence for this belief. Some researchers have found that animations can be effective; others, however, show that animations have the same effect as a combination of static pictures and text. Some have even showed that animations could actually have negative effects on student learning. A lecturer at the University of Cape Town had planned to use animations in his third year undergraduate Chemical Engineering Course in Reactor Design. This became the context for the present study which investigated the effectiveness of these animations for promoting conceptual understanding as well as exploring students' perspective on learning from animations as well as students' enjoyment level. A quasi-experimental case study was conducted over four topics in Reactor Design and one topic was repeated. Each investigation was on one topic, and in each investigation, the Reactor Design class was split so that the student either attended a traditional lecture or an animation lecture. The two groups of students were used to compare the impact of animations on student learning.","abstract_html":"Using technology in the classroom environment has become increasingly popular among educators. One way of employing technology is using instructional animations to teach concepts, favoured owing to their ability to depict changes in object over time. Animations are commonly believed to increase motivation and foster learning, but there is little empirical evidence for this belief. Some researchers have found that animations can be effective; others, however, show that animations have the same effect as a combination of static pictures and text. Some have even showed that animations could actually have negative effects on student learning. A lecturer at the University of Cape Town had planned to use animations in his third year undergraduate Chemical Engineering Course in Reactor Design. This became the context for the present study which investigated the effectiveness of these animations for promoting conceptual understanding as well as exploring students&#x27; perspective on learning from animations as well as students&#x27; enjoyment level. A quasi-experimental case study was conducted over four topics in Reactor Design and one topic was repeated. Each investigation was on one topic, and in each investigation, the Reactor Design class was split so that the student either attended a traditional lecture or an animation lecture. The two groups of students were used to compare the impact of animations on student learning.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ma, Karen"],"institution":"Department of Chemical Engineering","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Case, Jennifer","Smith, Leonard"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:29Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10614","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Case, Jennifer","Smith, Leonard"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ma, Karen"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-12-30T19:46:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-12-30T19:46:41Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Chemical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MSc"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10614"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Using technology in the classroom environment has become increasingly popular among educators. One way of employing technology is using instructional animations to teach concepts, favoured owing to their ability to depict changes in object over time. Animations are commonly believed to increase motivation and foster learning, but there is little empirical evidence for this belief. Some researchers have found that animations can be effective; others, however, show that animations have the same effect as a combination of static pictures and text. Some have even showed that animations could actually have negative effects on student learning. A lecturer at the University of Cape Town had planned to use animations in his third year undergraduate Chemical Engineering Course in Reactor Design. This became the context for the present study which investigated the effectiveness of these animations for promoting conceptual understanding as well as exploring students' perspective on learning from animations as well as students' enjoyment level. A quasi-experimental case study was conducted over four topics in Reactor Design and one topic was repeated. Each investigation was on one topic, and in each investigation, the Reactor Design class was split so that the student either attended a traditional lecture or an animation lecture. The two groups of students were used to compare the impact of animations on student learning."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Investigating the effectiveness of animations in exploring learning a case study in a Chemical Engineering course"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Case, Jennifer","Smith, Leonard"],"dc:creator":["Ma, Karen"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-12-30T19:46:41Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-12-30T19:46:41Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["Using technology in the classroom environment has become increasingly popular among educators. One way of employing technology is using instructional animations to teach concepts, favoured owing to their ability to depict changes in object over time. Animations are commonly believed to increase motivation and foster learning, but there is little empirical evidence for this belief. Some researchers have found that animations can be effective; others, however, show that animations have the same effect as a combination of static pictures and text. Some have even showed that animations could actually have negative effects on student learning. A lecturer at the University of Cape Town had planned to use animations in his third year undergraduate Chemical Engineering Course in Reactor Design. This became the context for the present study which investigated the effectiveness of these animations for promoting conceptual understanding as well as exploring students' perspective on learning from animations as well as students' enjoyment level. A quasi-experimental case study was conducted over four topics in Reactor Design and one topic was repeated. Each investigation was on one topic, and in each investigation, the Reactor Design class was split so that the student either attended a traditional lecture or an animation lecture. The two groups of students were used to compare the impact of animations on student learning."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10614"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Chemical Engineering"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["Investigating the effectiveness of animations in exploring learning a case study in a Chemical Engineering course"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MSc"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:29Z"}