Educational theorists have long recognized that background knowledge—the information students bring to new learning situations—significantly influences comprehension. Animation excels at building this foundational knowledge through vicarious experience, allowing children to “visit” historical periods, distant countries, microscopic environments, and even abstract conceptual spaces that would otherwise remain inaccessible.
Consider how an animated journey through the human digestive system provides students with a mental model that makes subsequent textbook explanations more comprehensible. Similarly, animated depictions of historical events create visual reference points that help students contextualize dates and developments when they encounter them in written texts. This background-building function proves particularly valuable for students with limited real-world experiences or restricted access to cultural institutions like museums and theaters.
