Abstract:

Cartoons constitute a form of amplification through simplification that can be used in many ways to heighten the message the educators want to pass in-class or core concept use. The effectiveness of cartoons usage enhances students’ concentration on a science topic which is being discussed in class, and overall is a basic element of the learning process and in creating an active learning environment. Cartoons can even be preferred for conceptualizing and making sense of concepts accepted as tricky and abstract. This is evident in chemistry that has been deemed to be a challenging subject by many chemistry learners primarily due to the complexity of there being three ‘levels’ at which the learning of chemistry operates, the microscopic level of atomic and molecular species and their interactions, the macroscopic level, and the representational level of symbols and equations.

On the other hand animations allow students to engage in three learning styles simultaneously – visual, auditory and kinesthetic – which increases their knowledge comprehension. However, the use of animation, such as in 3D dimension or in simle simulation, it has provided visual cues for students to enhance their cognitive processing. So, animation can reinforce the process of visualization as an effective cognitive strategy to enhance conceptual understanding. In parallel 3D visualizations that runs in all browsers, without the adequate plug ins or programs by giving the students the freedom to rotate them or change their sizes, observe the kind of information that they want and have difficulty to optimize or understand it, could provide a smart didactic tool in the academic unity.

To this end “new” multidimensional teaching techniques must be adapted to attract undergraduate students interest to study basic concepts of Chemistry, which in turn reconstruct their scientific knowledge and overcome the difficulties they face in that demanding learning process. Concepts such as atomic - molecular orbitals, hybridization, chemical bonds, state of matter, intermolecular forces, some of them that they have being taught in secondary education, create them misconceptions.

For this purpose, digital material enriched with cartoons, animation, 3D and 2D graphics, digital educational games, quizzes, was created focusing on students’ visual attention and avoiding the split attention effect too. Combinations with 3D visualizations (in the case of atomic orbitals s, px, py, pz, dxy, dxz, dzy, dx2-y2, dz2 of hybrid orbitals sp, sp2, sp3) assisted with cartoons (in a form of avatar Curie - Darwin or as supplementary tool), educational games i.e. with flipping cards that demand the cross-matching of the right concept with the adequate graphic, animations with cartoons aided to explain the connection of atomic / molecular structure with macroscopic behavior of materials etc., where constructed from scratch. In this digital material we focused on the main presumption that the undergraduate students must have the ability to intervene through the controlled movement and also choose windows - android, computer or tablet with the one that are familiar too. With the proper use of educational strategies and techniques of this specifically designed education material in Chemistry, we aiming to increase the active participation of students in the learning process, enabling them to control the pace and the way of learning.

Keywords:

Cartoons, animations, 3D, chemistry, higher education.