Tuesday 26th February

This week was a more hands on session where we were putting last weeks plans into place. Our task was to create our own animation and as previously mentioned in last weeks post, my group decided to base ours round a tsunami theme. We came prepared with our props and materials and got started but it definitely wasn’t as easy as we first thought! As much as the main focus was to create an animation using the iStop Motion app, we were also required to think about the skills we were using and how these could be developed further in the classroom.

First and foremost, I will say that animation is not an easy skill and my group and I learned this very quickly! It is something which takes lots and lots of patience and preparation. As a group, I think we would all admit that we did not expect it to be too challenging. However, after an hour or so of still sitting with cotton wool balls, paper waves, Lego figures and thinking about how we were going to start, we came to the early conclusion that this task was definitely not as easy as the professionals make it look. We spent a fair bit of time at the beginning of the class just designing some of the props, such as the beach house, the waves and making a ladder to dangle from our helicopter out of string. Our next challenge was to then try and find a way to keep our iPad in the one position for the duration of the animation. The main purpose of animation is that the camera stays in the same place, the scene is static and the paper/characters are photographed in quick succession to give the effect that they are moving. Therefore, having our iPad staying in the one place for the whole time was proving to be very difficult.

In my group there were 5 of us. Looking back now on this session I would say that this is too many people. I think 3 people would be the maximum number for a task like this. My reasons for this being that for an activity like this, when you are working in a small space, there is only so many people that can get involved with the scene, the camera and the props at once. For us at times, there was not always a job for everyone to do or there were too many people round the scene which caused us more problems and so some people would sit out and watch until there was something for them to do. In a classroom setting, an activity like this where there are too many in a group makes it very easy for children who are not interested in getting involved to sit back and let others do the work. As a teacher this is not something we would want to see happening. It is important for all children to be actively involved, especially with an activity as fun and interactive as animation.

On the other hand, the skills that can be gained and developed with an activity like this is never-ending. Some of these skills include:
• being able to work effectively in a group
• listening to others
• taking on board other people’s ideas
• being able to think outside of the box
• working with equipment effectively
• developing creative, technology and communication skills

When carrying out an activity like this in a university setting, it brings back all of the memories of being younger and doing this in school. People would always be arguing over ideas or not being able to decide who should do what. Looking back on this now, my group never had any issues like this. We worked with little bits of everyone’s ideas and that is how we managed to make something so great. For a task like this it is important to be able to accept that your ideas are not always the best ones, or that the task is not always going to go the way you personally had imagined it. More so, not taking a back seat as a result and leaving the work to others. It is about compromising some ideas, listening to others and altering some plans to please the majority. That is what team work is all about. As much as children might find activities like this annoying or something they do not enjoy because they cannot work with their friends, the teaching points are so important for their growth as an individual. It teaches them lessons which they have to discover for themselves.

If I was to use an activity like this in the classroom, there would definitely need to be lots of thought put into it. Firstly from myself, how I am going to lead the class, what I expect from them, what the learning is going to be and how it is all going to come together and be successful. Secondly from the children. It would be important for the children to decide on what materials they are going to need, what roles everyone will adopt and what they would actually be doing. Particularly having a written plan so they have some sort of structure to follow and finally trying it out. During this activity we discovered that having time to plan is essential. We did not put nearly enough time into planning as we could have and if we did, maybe we would have found the task slightly easier as we knew what direction we wanted to go in. If we had used the iStop Motion app before this class I think the whole process would have went smoother and we could have brought extra props, for example, bringing a stand to support the camera. Trial and error plays a big factor also in this, try it out and if it doesn’t work come back together to think how it could be improved.
Overall, I really enjoyed the session. In the end our animation actually turned out really well and we were all pleased with it. At the end we also got a chance to see other groups animations and this allowed us to have discussion as to how they managed to do some things we couldn’t or if they struggled with the same things as us. It is an amazing resource that if used correctly, could allow children to create something really brilliant. However before using this in the class, I think I might brush up on my own skills of the app and have a bit more practice!

Last week we picked one CfE Experience & Outcome to aim towards today which was:

“I can recognise basic properties and uses for a variety of materials and can discuss which ones are most suitable for a given task” – TCH 2-10a

However during the task we discovered some more which would also apply, these are:

• “I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts” –  TCH1-01a
• “I can extend and enhance my design skills to solve problems and construct models” – TCH2-09a