Throughout my life, I’ve grown up watching animated films such as those created by Disney, so when Sharon told us that our first technologies input would be on animation, I was excited to see what we would be doing  throughout the workshop. Our first task was to make a small flipchart on the corner of our notebooks by drawing small pictures in the corner and flipping the paper in order for the images to move. I had done this before when I was at primary school, however this time mine didn’t work out so well. (Maybe my artistic days are behind me!!)

Then, Sharon let us have a go at using the program, Pivot, which I had also used before in first year Computing at secondary school. This was really fun and Sharon told us to recreate the “Let it Go!” scene from Frozen (one of my favourite Disney films!!)  by using different figures and colours to identify the characters. The song was played through the speakers to give us motivation and made for a really fun lesson, although Sharon advised not to play the song in the classroom as there would never be any lessons getting done! It was interesting to see the different things that you can do on Pivot, however Sharon told us to quickly search Pivot on Youtube and we shortly found that many people create and upload violent animations. This is something that, as a teacher I would need to address to my class and ensure that no themes of violence should be used in the classroom environment.

The next part was the most fun  as we got to use plasticine models to create a short animation. My group decided to create small fish and create an under the sea theme. It was interesting to use the programme Zu3D as I had never heard of it before. I think that this would be a fab project to do with a class, as it could be a short activity or it could be stretched out over a long period of time to create a longer motion picture. It’s also really easy to use once the program is set up and the webcam and microphone are installed into the computer.

I had a look at the Experiences and Outcomes of ICT and found that animation sits in a section called Computing Science contexts for developing technological skills and knowledge. I think that it is definitely a science but I would also say that animation is an art. Although our projects were very small; feature length animations can take years to produce because every detail has to be perfect in order for it to flow smoothly. In Dundee, graphics and animation are now a huge part of our culture as companies based in our city create games that are sold worldwide.

I feel that animation is an aspect of ICT that I definitely want to try out with a class in the future. I think it would be so rewarding for the children to work so hard and have fun on this project to see the end result after a period of time and it would be really enjoyable for me as the teacher to see what the children create.

I think the constructivist learning theory is associated with creating animation. The learning style is intrinsic as the children will set their own goals and then motivate themselves to learn new things to make it better, and in terms of animation, make their production the best they can possibly make it. Jean Piaget was a constructivist theorist and he believed that learning relates strongly to their stage of cognitive development. In relation to animation, I agree. A task such as using plasticine to create an animation would be too advanced for Early Years pupils as they may not have the fine motor skills needed in order to mould the plasticine into models and move the models in small movements to create the picture. Therefore, the task would have to be set for a child’s age and stage (maybe younger children could create a flipchart). The role of the teacher to encourage this learning style is to provide an environment that will promote “assimilation” and “accomodation” which means that the children can allow their brain to learn new things but also build upon information they have already learned, building up a vast amount of knowledge on the subject.