Arab Educational Information Network

The present research aimed at measuring the effectiveness of using an animation-based program in teaching history on developing visual thinking skills for preparatory pupils. One hundred and forty four pupils (74 girls and 70 boys) from Ismael El-Qapany Prep school for boys and Esmat Afifi Prep school for girls were selected randomly and divided into two groups: experimental (69) and control (75). A visual thinking test was applied to the two groups before and after exposing the experimental group to the proposed program. An animation-based program was used in teaching the selected unit for the experimental group whereas the pupils of the control group were instructed using the traditional methods of teaching. Subjects’ scores on the pre-post visual-thinking-skills test were calculated and analyzed statistically by using t-test and (η2). Highly significant differences on the post application of the test on the control and experimental groups were indicated in favor of the experimental one. This reflects the effectiveness of the research program. It is recommended that care should be given for social studies curriculum to include activities that develop visual thinking skills. It is also recommended that visual teaching aids should be included in the history curricula (such as: animation, multimedia and videos..) to make it more interesting. Animation is recommended to be used in teaching pupils with special needs. (Published abstract)