This week we were given the task to begin prepping and preparing for creating an animation. We made a clear, detailed plan which will help us next week when creating our animation. Having this week will be useful to us as a group and allow us to collect objects that we will need and make any changes to our initial plan that we feel might be necessary.

Initially, we were given some tasks to help us get used to animation. We practiced using the applications ‘Puppet pals’ and ‘iStopmotion’ which helped us understand how to use movement, audio, adjust the characters whilst inserting it into a story with a beginning, middle and an ending which can be easily understood. Practicing these applications this week will allow us to be more time efficient next week when it comes to creating our end product. We also explored the website ‘Moving Image Education’ which had examples of the different types of animation: cutout, stop-motion model, pixilation, drawn and computer. We decided, as a group, that we were going to use stop-motion model. Additionally, we practice using different objects in our animations such as bendy figures, clay and Lego figures. However the bendy figures were rather hard to use and manipulate as their heads were too heavy for them to be able stand alone, therefore, we were not able to create our practice movie effectively as we were having to hold the characters which meant our fingers were in the shots or our bendy figures were leaning against other objects. My group decided that we are going to use Lego next week as we found it the easiest and most effective to use. We then researched how to make the Lego characters look like they are moving, walking and running. In groups, we had to create an animation which either recreates a historical event, represents a geographical process (e.g. glaciation, volcanic eruption), recreates a real-life scenario (e.g. going to the dentist, shopping)or explains a mathematical principle.

We decided that the most effective topic in our animation would be to explain a mathematical principle. Therefore, we decided that our animation was going to be all about fractions which will be represented by Lego bricks. We believe that this will be an effective way for fractions to be taught in the classroom as it is incorporating ICT as well as toys that are likely used by the children. We then researched which experiences and outcomes would be useful for our animations’ aim.

ICT is a useful tool in the classroom. As explained by Beauchamp (2012, p.54) ICT allows pupils to ”achieve something that would be very difficult or even impossible to achieve in any other way.” With ICT being an important tool, which is incorporated into all curricular areas not just being a stand-alone subject. As further explained by Beauchamp (2012, p. 66) “ICT equipment is part of pupils’ everyday life, so should be part of their everyday play.” Overall, with the aim that ICT will help enhance a child’s learning and understanding of different curricular areas.

Animation is described as “Animation involves the stringing together a sequence of static images, generally so that they appear to move.”(Jarvis, 2015, p. 89). Animation is sub-section of ICT but still holds significant importance, as explained by Jarvis (2015, p. 92), Bertrancourt (2005) suggests three ways in which animation can be used to enhance learning:

“To enhance learners’ visual representations.
To illustrate processes.
To provide an interactive element.”

However, animation is well-known to be a rather time-consuming and lengthy process. The outcome could be effective just not be of great length. Nevertheless, it can help children develop skills of perseverance when they are creating an animation of their own, which is a useful skill to have for the future.

Once we had finalised our plan, we made a basic storyboard with a general outline of how our animation was going to be broken down and had to ensure we had everything we needed to include in it, in it. This again, will help us be more time efficient next week when creating our animation.

I am looking forward to creating our animation next week and assessing if it will be a useful process which I can use in the future in the classroom.

Whilst planning this week, we have been asking questions such as;

What skills will our animation help the children develop?
Will our end product be effective?
Does our animation enhance the learning in the class?
Is animation worth it even though it is time consuming?
Will animation be useful and lead to an effective lesson that will help the children learn?
Will it make the lesson more enjoyable?