This week we had a look at some of the uses of animation in the classroom. I did a Bachelor of Media Studies (focusing on television) prior to my Grad DipEd so was particularly interested in this week's topic.
I was particularly inspired by the student- made claymations we watched in this week's lecture. They were so cute, it was great to see the students' imaginations at work. Animation is a great way for kids to express themselves, and to learn some of the conventions of film and television (camera angles and shot types for example). Additionally, it can give them practice at narrative storytelling. Animation is also a creative way for students to present information rather than just writing paragraphs on a topic.
One of the downsides to claymation is that it is a very lengthy process. A faster alternative is to use a website that has pre-made animation clips that can be put together in lots of different orders. An example of such a site is the Zimmertwins website: http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create.
We had a go a making our own narrative animation at the Zimmertwins website. This is a great site that is designed for children. Students can pick from three different characters to 'star' in their animation- a boy, a girl, and a cat. They can also set the scene for their film, and a prop, from a diverse list. The website then has heaps of pre-made clips for students to play with, with many different character actions and emotions. There would be many, many different stories that could be produced with the material supplied on this site.
Something I really liked about this site was that as the students build their film, they simultaneously build a translated text version of their story. The text is only simple paragraphs, but it could help children with semiotics as words are put into context. Whilst this website had lots of options for students to get creative with, it was well organized so that it wasn't complicated. The setup of this website is like a very basic version of Premiere/Final Cut in that students order their animation clips on a 'timeline'. Students can review their film as they go, and then make any changes they see fit. Therefore in using the Zimmertwins website students are getting used to the conventions of video editing software.
Here are some screenshots from my animation, about a superstar cat:
This week we also created avatars of ourselves on various websites. Building avatars could be used as a Design exercise, for example I designed a 'Super Student' complete with scroll, textbook and cape at the Lego website.
Below is my avatar from http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
Also in this lesson we had a look at some educational online games: http://www.sumdog.com/ had a fun racing car math game, whose difficulty could be changed to suit different ages/abilities. This game was quite short but engaging as students had to try to beat other online competitors.
A longer game could be found at http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html. This site is educational and fun, it gets students to think about how to plan a town so that the effects of natural disasters such as flooding and wildfire are reduced. This would be highly relevant when studying natural disasters as part of humanities. I think this is the key to incorporating games into lessons, making sure they are relevant and educational. They should still serve a learning purpose.
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