This week in Digital Technologies, we learned about animation by using the applications, Puppet Pals and iStop Motion. Firstly, we looked at Puppet Pals on the iPad. As a pair, we had to create a fairy tale story using the Puppet Pals application. Personally, it took a little while to familiarise myself with how to change the scene and move the characters in and out of a different scene. Although, once I was familiar with the concept of it, I thought it was a really useful tool, as children can talk and record the story whilst moving the characters. It was really effective. It would be something I would use in my classroom.
iStop motion was the other animated application we looked at today. I also found this slightly tricky to use at first but after playing around with it for five or ten minutes it became fairly straight forward to use. Jarvis (2005) suggests that “Animation involves the stringing together a sequence of static images, generally so that they appear to move.” We used lego to create a space story, using only music and pictures. By combining these together it created an animated video. The only drawback is that it is very time consuming.
However, animation has a “big visual impact” (Jarvis, 2005). Using cut out animation is the easiest technique to begin with. “Animation breathes life into something that would not normally move (Moving Image Education). There are five main types of animation according to Moving Image Education : Cut out which is the quickest and easiest; iStop motion for example using plasticine models; pixilation where humans become puppets; drawings for example the Disney animation; and computer such as games and movie. Animation can be used to enhance learning. Bertrancourt (2005) suggests that there are three easy that animation can do this. It can enhance the learners’ visual representation, it illustrates information processes and it can provide an interactive element. I think animation should be used in classrooms as it has many benefits to a child’s learning. Technology is changing at a rapid pace in today’s society, and Beauchamp (2012, p 66) feels that “ICT equipment is part of pupils’ everyday life, so should be part of their everyday play.” I think this is vital for children as technology will keep them interested in their task as it is something they use everyday. ICT allows children to create things that they would not be able to achieve in any other way. e-Inclusion also uses digital technologies to help children with learning difficulties and minimises the problems they face with this. In addition to this, teachers must be confident with using digital technologies. As technology grows teachers may be worried by new technologies so it is important that they do not pass this onto young children, as they should be exploring these new technologies (Beauchamp, 2012).
Experiences & outcomes for animation:
“I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.” TCH 1-01a (Education Scotland, 2016)
“I can use a range of graphic techniques, manually and digitally, to communicate ideas, concepts or products, experimenting with the use of shape, colour and texture to enhance my work.” TCH 2-11a (Education Scotland, 2016)
“I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.” LIT 0-01c (Education Scotland, 2004)
“I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience.” LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a (Education Scotland, 2004)
Overall, I enjoyed using Puppet Pals and iStop Motion on the iPads to create stories. I think it is a very beneficial tool for the classroom. However, iStop Motion is very time consuming so this is something that as a teacher I would have to be mindful of when creating a task. It is something I would use often in the classroom even though I think it is a fun and useful application.
References
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.
Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy and English. Experience and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-across-learning-eo.pdf [Accessed: 28th February 2018]
Education Scotland (2016) Curriculum for Excellence: Technologies Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf [Accessed: 28th February 2018]
Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers. Routledge.
Moving Image Education. [Online] Available: https://movingimageeducation.org/create-films/animation [Accessed: 28th February 2018]
