This session was dedicated to learning through animation, we looked at various ways of doing so.

As  a class we discussed animation which is a filmmaking technique where illusion of motion is created frame by frame.  Something I learned was that the word actually comes from the latin word ‘anima’ which means ‘life’ or ‘soul’.

I had never really considered animation until now, I have come to realise that animation is extremely important both within our everyday lives and to implement within education. Animation is found within tv, movies, computer games etc that everyone is familiar with. In regards to animation within education, there are endless benefits and opportunities. Some benefits include developing visual literacy skills, discriminating and interpreting actions and images, developing problem solving skills, encouraging critical thinking and the opportunity to work co-operatively. Animation can be used across the curriculum and gives children the opportunity to be creative and explore various ideas.

In this session we were shown examples of animation and given the opportunity to try this for ourselves using clay, paper and sand. We were also able to create flick books. As we were making animation ourselves we were given the chance to experience the benefits, it definitely develops thinking and problem solving skills as you are constantly having to consider how it is going to work, what you need to do next etc.  It also allowed us to work co-operatively, I worked with my friend using clay to create stop motion animation, this was a fun experience and I think that it is something that children would love as they are likely to be familiar with playing using plasticine, this would allow them to take this basic skill one step further and actually create their own animations through it.

It was also shown how easy it is to teach this when provided with the resources you can let your imagination wander and you are allowed to become extremely creative. It is very satisfying when the work all comes together and creates an animation.

An interesting website relating to this is – http://www.movingimageducation.org/

Reference:

Bates, L. (2016) 5 real benefits of using animation in the classroom. [Online] Available:https://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/12/06/animation-in-the-classroom/ [Accessed: 21 January 2017]