Footnote [20]:
CATARINA is a powerful and innovative educational resource which couples
scientific rigor with the attractiveness of video games by permitting students
to navigate easily through course lessons by means of videos, texts, graphics,
audio and animation. Three dimensional display of electron spinning of
molecules association/dissociation was shown with ShareVision via an analog
INMARSAT-A, in two-way, interactive mode between SENAI in Florianopolis,
Brazil and UNESCO in Paris, France. The software also allows students to
interact with the experience or demonstration being presented -- an "experiential
learning" in a virtual laboratory where students can observe changes
frame-by-frame at a specified rate or velocity and even "rewind"
the animated sequences and repeat them. Projected mainly for the teaching
of the natural sciences such as Chemistry, Physics and Biology, CATARINA's
main advantage is to replace traditional segmented static images and graphics
with animated sequences, demonstrating processes as they occur in nature.
CATARINA not only personalizes learning process, but also enriches the
fundamental topics of each unit of the school programs with text, sound
and dynamic animated sequences. It is geared to the satisfaction and participation
of the student thus serving as a positive reinforcement and promoting the
continuation of studies.