This practitioner action research project involved eight students from an inner Melbourne Primary School who created explanatory animations in 2011. Third generation activity theory was used in this study as a methodological lens to examine the explanatory animation process at various stages as both a tool and an object. The explanatory animation creation task was initially the object of activity but as reflexive practice, the project itself became the unit of analysis. My claim here is that the children’s mental models, as depicted through the animation key frames, functioned as both flexible models and diagnostic tools.

Vygotsky and Sakharov's dual stimulation method was used as a theoretical framework to conduct the current study due to the close unity between conceptual tasks and their resolution. The dual stimulation method requires that “the subject must be faced with a task that can only be resolved through the formation of concepts” (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 124). Vygotsky explained the nature of this link by stating that “the path through which the task is resolved in the experiment corresponds with the actual process of concept formation” (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 128). This research provides a chronology of the children's conceptual consolidation by providing a tangible insight into the children's evolving mental models.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Setting the scene: 8 children, 1 multifaceted task
Statement of the research question
Thesis overview
Limitations of this study

Chapter 2. Literature review

Introduction to the literature review
Constructionism
Conceptual change and conceptual consolidation
Concepts as systems and variables
Visualisation and mental models
Multimodality and knowledge representation
The affordances of storyboards
Explanatory models
Metaphors and analogies as mediating devices
The abstract and the concrete
Learning from viewing explanatory animations
Design principles for teaching with animation
Concept formation and the dual stimulation method
Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT)
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
Schematic diagrams as conceptual metaphors
Summary

Chapter 3. Research methodology

Introduction
The 2010 Storyboard pilot study
Practitioner action research
Explanatory case study
Selecting the eight participants
Selecting the animation platform
The animation sessions
The twelve data sources
- Prior knowledge videos
- Imagery files
- Voice-over scripts
- Completed explanatory animations
- Directors’ commentaries
- Student weekly reflections
- Attendance roll
- Lesson plans
- Researcher reflections in weekly reviews
- Researcher’s reflexive journal
- Conceptual consolidation rubrics
- Debriefing sessions
Organisation of the twelve data sources
Integrity of the research methodology
- Issues concerning dependability
- Issues concerning confirmability
- Issues concerning transferability
- Issues concerning credibility
Summary

Chapter 4. Data analysis and results

Introduction to the data analysis and results
Creating zones of proximal development
Portraits of the children’s conceptual journeys
Montages from the eight portraits

Chapter 5. Discussion

Reflections on the CHAT triangle
Animation as variant graphics
- EAF as a mediating tool, co-constructed over time
- EAF - Duration
- EAF - Synchronicity
- EAF - Focus
EAF - Simplicity
Directors’ commentaries as a genre of research data
Summary

Chapter 6. Conclusion

Introductory remarks
Three complementary theories of conceptual consolidation
- 1. Concepts as systems and variables
- 2. Processes of conceptual consolidation
- 3. Paraphrase and vector-based learning
Transmediation as a catalyst for understanding
Explanatory animation creation as a learning tool
Digital storyboards as flexible models
Coda
- Application of CHAT as a synthesis model
- Implications for future research
- Affordances of digital artefacts

References

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