26.1 Educational Benefits of Algorithm Animation

Algorithm animations support the student in various learning situations:

Motivation enhancement:

Through appealing presentation of the complex material, students are better motivated to study complicated subjects. In addition, the ease of access to cross-references by hypertext removes barriers to an in-depth understanding of the topic being studied.

Skill mastery through additional practice opportunities:

Students get a new way to experience algorithms. In addition to doing paper exercises and writing programs, they can perceive algorithms visually and study their features by watching and interacting with animations [Law94].

Development of analytic skills:

Algorithm animations assist in the development of analytic skills, as students are asked to collect their own data for algorithm analysis and subsequent design of improved algorithms.

Provision of additional context knowledge:

The hypertext reference provides easy access to the whole field of algorithms. By offering linking and path mechanisms, it encourages the student to browse in related topics, and to explore additional subjects.

Algorithm animations offers distinct advantages compared to traditional teaching aids, such as textbook and blackboard:

Presentation aid in the classroom :

Animations support the teacher in explaining the dynamic behavior of an algorithm during the lecture. If computer screen projection is available in the classroom, the teacher can run algorithm animations interactively to compare, for example, the relative search times of red-black trees and binary search trees using the same data sets.

Individual improvement of student's understanding:

Using the algorithm animations interactively, the student can playfully and without stress explore the peculiarities of an algorithm. By allowing students to manipulate the algorithm and its input, and then study the resulting actions of the algorithm, they are able to form a conceptual model of the algorithm in addition to learning the code. They also can modify parameters and analyze algorithms empirically. As has been verified by Lawrence, Badre and Stasko in an experiment [Law94], this interactivity adds a new level of effectiveness to a hypermedia learning environment, making it an even more effective tool in teaching concepts, as it forces learners to take part in the lesson, as opposed to simply watching a movie.

Reference library for the student:

Using the exhaustive search and navigation capabilities of an integrated hypermedia learning environment, a student can easily access the vast information contained in systems like "Animated Algorithms" or the web.

Animated Algorithms version 1.0 was finished in January 1993. It has been thoroughly tested in the development lab and has been used repeatedly in the MIT "Introduction to Algorithms" course on a voluntary basis, with students asked to voluntarily complete questionnaires concerning their reactions to the learning environment. The main benefit reported has been improved student motivation, as students used particular animations to get a better understanding of the algorithm.

The hypertext part has been tested by volunteers (students and computer science professors), which were particularly impressed with the "path" feature, and the capability to traverse the document on various levels of complexity. Also the reference capabilities of the hypertext, as, e.g., full-text search, were appreciated.