Marine Ecosystem – Science Learning Hub
What is the interactive about?
The interactive that we have chosen is taken from Science Learning Hub which is a New Zealand educational resource to connect school students, teachers and community audiences by making science engaging and meaningful. This example is an interactive diagram of the marine ecosystem which educates users about life under water as you click and explore the different labels to view short video clips, images and a description of the ecosystem.
Who is it designed for? (Target audience)
The interactive is able to educate different learners regardless of their reading abilities. The resource is targeted towards school aged students and allows teachers to showcase a fun way of learning about our marine ecosystem.
What knowledge does it assume of the target audience I.e. digital literacy?
Since the Science Learning Hub’s target Audience are school aged students, they have made the interactive diagram specifically made for children by designing the interactive in childish manner therefore making the interactive easy to understand for the school kids and very suitable for their digital literacy skills.
Describe the type of user interactions, and the user interface.
The site uses an interactive diagram to educate students about life in the sea. Users only have to click on the titles to view short informative video clips and pictures about the marine ecosystem. This allows an interactive platform that’s engaging and educating for students.
What can you say about the visual design- layout, colour, and typography? How would you describe the style?
As the target audience for this interactive is heavily focused on school-aged children, the visual design aspects are kept simple and direct to make it easy for the user to navigate in.
Layout
Personally, the layout of this interactive is quite unappealing particularly when you click on the label to reveal the pop up as the screen becomes really cluttered which can be very distracting for kids and harder to engage with.
Colour
In this interactive diagram, colour is utilised to make it easier for children to identify objects such as the light blue to indicate the surface of the ocean while the dark blue represents underwater. However, the overall colour palette is quite dull which could be improved by implementing a slightly brighter tones as it appeals better to kids and promotes educational stimulation.
What improvements would you suggest?
The current interactive has only a video or an image per animal, but by adding cartoon illustration with extra facts next to it and making a cartoon animation that teaches kids about the marine ecosystem would be a lot more entertaining for their age.
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APA:
Marine ecosystem. (2019). Science Learning Hub. Retrieved from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/image_maps/32-marine-ecosystem?fbclid=IwAR1AHsTORuK0PpFwWWlKQq17W8eix83fubDZnF9_nnX84orsSZRzhQpW7Vc
Science Learning Hub. (2019). Science Learning Hub. Retrieved From https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/
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