To achieve this, our team consists of remote sensing experts, educational experts, and interactive multimedia experts. To address the attention span issue, the package must go beyond the electronic multiple choice tests and slide show formats typical of many educational programs. The primary challenge in developing the package is recasting the scientific information provided by remote sensing experts to an elementary school level which can be incorporated in the classroom. Teaching using multimedia has few resemblances to traditional teaching methods. Most curricula are structured in a linear fashion each lesson building upon the previous.
Multimedia is by nature non-linear.
Non-linear methods can create an interactive environment appealing to the different modals of learning. This non-linear, interactive approach must be structured carefully because while grasping their attention, it can also divert the student from the desired task. Our package will provide short linear lessons via video and animation incorporated within a broad interconnected pattern of information. The interactivity and the ability to add alternate explanations or stimuli, without cluttering the content, is one major advantage multimedia has over traditional textbooks or videos. The multimedia program is being developed primarily using Macromedia Director.