The concept of animation lends itself to many topics in the study of Science. INFOhio's Core Collection of Electronic Resources have a variety of animations which can be used to enhance PowerPoint presentations. Links can also be added to Word documents in online assignments or even to EBSCO Page Composer pages, making it easy for students to access these resources directly.

Finding Animations

Britannica Online School Edition contains a wide range of animations. You can either SEARCH or BROWSE to locate them. All three Britannica encyclopedias display the same graphics and animations, regardless of which one you select. To SEARCH, choose one of the three, such as Compton's, and enter your search term. If animations are available for your topic, they will be displayed in the frame to the right labeled Learning Materials.

To BROWSE Britannica’s animations by subject area, select Compton's and under the top menu bar, select Learning Materials. All of the Britannica animations appear under the subject of Science and are called Interactive Lessons. In addition to the animation, these Learning Materials also contain the Introduction, Narration, Glossary, (Web) Links, Activity Sheets, Quizzes and Lesson Plans.

AccessScience contains a number of animations. While there is no way to browse for these items, you can locate them using the ADVANCED SEARCH feature. From the Advanced Search Screen, click on the button marked Animations and then enter your search term. There are animations for such things as Cloning, Tsunamis, Eye and Earth . After clicking on the article, the animation icon can be found above the upper left side of the article. Many of the animations will be full motion with sound, however some are a series of slides with text. Both are excellent tools for helping students understand difficult concepts.

Adding Video Clips to Documents or Presentations

Frequently, teachers and students have a difficult time adding animations to presentations so that they play directly without going through several steps within the database. A recent tip sheet, Linking Britannica Learning Materials (Animations) to PowerPoint Presentations will make this process easy. [MS Word OR PDF 1 pg] The directions apply to AccessScience, as well as to Britannica Online.

Sheila Benedum
Librarian, Bay High School
Electronic Resources Spotlight Coordinator

Suggestions
INFOhio participants and visitors to this site are encouraged to submit suggestions to INFOhio about our Electronic Resources and ER Spotlights.