This is a brief animated project designed to teach young elementary school science students about the lifecycle of the swallowtail butterfly. Using Adobe Edge Animate, animation effects were applied to each element to create a simple-to-understand learning module that was complex enough to engage and maintain students' attention. Age-appropriate elements and colors, along with basic vocabulary words were used so that learning objectives can be effectively reached.
Here is a video of how students navigate through the short animation:
The colors of the stage background were kept simple and clean in order for the student to keep from being distracted from the subject at hand. A blurred graphic of a branch of leaves was added to the background to maintain theme consistency yet keep it from drawing attention. The large “NEXT” button is there to show the students that they can interact with the animation and advance to the next stage. A cursor change was also applied to show the students that the button is clickable.
For stage 2, the caterpillar shows up from the left of the stage into place. This was done to help students relate to how caterpillars crawl along whenever they travel.
The chrysalis in Stage 3 has a clipping mask animation that reveals the graphic from top to bottom. This represents how the chrysalis forms in nature, allowing students to subconsciously relate to the subject matter.
Lastly, the adult butterfly emerges into Stage 4 by flying in on a motion path that was drawn from outside the stage. This supports students' understanding and current knowledge of the flying characteristics of a butterfly. Should students wish to run through the learning module repeatedly, they can simply click on the repeat button in the bottom right corner of the screen in Stage 4.
