After last weeks planning stage for animation I was extremely keen to jump right in and start to create our animation. With a firm plan in mind our group put together the scene for our animation.

We chose to put black and white paper around the construction background as we found that when recording there was a glint from the brightness in the background which made the animation flow less naturally. As previously mentioned in the first half of my animation blog my group and I had decided to use Lego as opposed to the bendy men, I feel like this was a wise decision as the construction of the pieces and the movements of the characters was much easier and looked much more natural.

We then went on to set out the pieces for our Lego city fraction wall. It was here that I realised just how much work and effort was going to be going into this short animation and that some aspects of the animation plan were a little out of reach in terms of both the time limit and my level of expertise. Originally, we had planned to make the Lego character bring in each Lego brick and place it on the wall, however we quickly realised that this would take far more time than we had and also that it was extremely hard to get the brick to stay in the Lego mans truck. When I first realised things weren’t going to be able to go exactly to plan I felt a little disheartened, it is in times like these when I often check out of activities because I like things to be perfect and exact, however this activity showed me that when things do not go to plan it can often lead to them being better than the original idea so it is important to keep going with the process and I feel this would be a great lesson for the children in primary school to learn.

This is our completed animation :

After completing our animation and watching it back, I felt a great sense of pride in our work. Although it was a time consuming process, it felt great to be able to see how well it had worked out. I feel the children would gain a great deal from completing an animation and watching it back as it is a product which they have both planned, created and completed and it is something I feel they would take great pride in sharing with others. Therefore, I feel it is crucial to give the children the chance to share their creations with others, whether it be giving them the choice of presenting or  sharing in groups or pairs and of course it is important to give the child the choice of not sharing at all.

I feel our activity would be an excellent lesson for the classroom  and we found a variety of experiences and outcomes it would cover within the first level :

• Through taking part in practical activities including use of pictorial representations, I can demonstrate my understanding of simple fractions which are equivalent. – MTH 1-07

• Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts. – TCH 1-02a
• I can use exploration and imagination to solve design problems related to real-life situations. –EXA 1-06a

(Scottish Government, 2008)

Bertrancourt (2005) suggests three ways in which animation can be used to enhance learning:

1. To enhance learners’ visual representations.
2. To illustrate processes.
3. To provide an interactive element.”

I feel our activity did all three of these aspects and arguably more as throughout our activity we were able to identify a number of skills we were developing :

• Patience – This process took us 3 hours.
• Negotiation – Our team did not always agree on the best way to proceed however we spoke about each idea and decided which was best.
• Teamwork – We all had our own part to play in this animiation and there is no way you could complete one without your group all helping.
• ICT ability – This activity developed our knowledge of the iStop motion app.
• Communication – Our group had to communicate throughout the process, to help each of us be sure of our roles and to help each other.
• Time management – This animation could have grown arms and legs and gone on arguably for hours upon hours, however, we knew we had only 3 hours to do this and had to work to meet the deadline.
• Problem solving – When things did not go to plan we had to think : why is this not working and how can I fix it.

Each of these are invaluable skills for young minds to develop, both to develop the 4 capacities and to ensure they are well rounded individuals with an extensive set of skills.

Alongside these skills, animation and digital technologies  allow for pupils with additional support needs to participate fully within the activities and express themselves. Beauchamp, G (2012, p.55) states that ” e-Inclusion aims to use digital technologies to minimise the problems that pupils with learning difficulties experience”. I feel this is a massive benefit of digital technologies as promoting diversity and inclusion within a classroom is vital and is something I will ensure to do every single day.

Overall, all of my questions from last week have been answered and although time consuming I feel animation is an extremely worth while activity. It develops numerous skills, promotes inclusion, provides a stimulating alternative to writing and leaves children with a sense of pride in their finished products which they can then show off to others. I will make sure to use this in my classroom.

References

• Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy top Practice. Pearson.
• Scottish Government (2008) The Curriculum for Excellence [Online] http://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf
• Bertrancourt (2005), Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers.  Pg  92