The Circle Of Life

Using Zu3D, as a collaborative piece of work, our group constructed an animation called The Circle of Life,  that we showed to an audience for critical analysis.  Our story represents a baby growing into adulthood, meeting a girl, having a child then growing old and dying.  We imported music to represent the story and to add emotion to the viewing experience.  We incorporated humour, fun and sadness into our animation with specific movement, sound effects to create identification whilst using different backgrounds to set the scene.  The concept was to be kept simple yet effective as in Mayer's (2001) cognitive theory of multi-media learning so not to overload the working memory for a deeper understanding of our message; life goes on.

 

Me moving the characters frame by frame.



It took a whole day to create all of the characters, a day to film the animation and another day to create the sound.  In my opinion, the adding of the sound was the most difficult.  We used the song Take Me On My Way by Rusted Root, as a main sound as it tied in with the theme of our story.  We then incorporated sound effects over the music to represent movement and human sound for the characters. 

 

This was a fun but time consuming learning experience which required patience while using both fine motor skills and higher order thinking. It can be planned for in cross curricular lessons and is not only a hands on way of learning but is also stimulates cognitively. This video of Zu3D at BETT 2015 shows how children learn with animation in a deep and interesting way. 

 

 

Our stop-motion  creation came with some technical problems. We forgot to save our completed animation as a movie which resulted in the sound disappearing. We did however record the animation with a mobile phone so when we presented our stop-motion animation we ran the sound off the phone to the computer whist playing the animation.

 

I was very proud of what we achieved.  The story as a passage of time in a young boys life was felt, laughing at the humour and I was moved by the ending.  I believe as a group we worked very well together, and even in the face of disappointment on discovering the hard work we put into the sound exactly matching the movements was in vain, we found a way to solve our problem.  It was not perfect, however it worked and I was very happy with the result.

This is the video that we recorded using a mobile phone.



This made me reflect on how sound does in fact have an enormous impact on a visual experience.  Sound does offer the viewer an added dimension of drawing ones attention and empathising with characters and understanding the message.

This is the animation we achieved with just the music background but without sound effects, it does not have the same affect than with the audio affects attached.
 

Overall, this learning experience came with positives and negatives, however as a whole it did reap many rewards.  I have learnt patience, stamina, organisation skills, team work, communication skills and reflective practice, all of which will assist in my career journey both as a primary school teacher and for the learners that I will be learning with alongside.

What's the BETT?

The Bett summit opens today in the ExCel Arena in London offering an insight into the future of technology within education.  Its purpose is to inspire and open our minds to the possibility of innovative technological breakthroughs that could be seen in future learning environments.

 

 

This planned arena conference offers all persons working or interested in educational technology a plethora of innovative breakthrough products that are believed to enhance learning allowing the learner an infinite learning space.

But, is technology necessary in education, and does it benefit the learner in any way?

Teachers plan for every lesson and within that plan, the intended use of technology is incorporated.  However, Aubusson et al (2014) explain that this can be dependant on the teachers technological ability and efficiency, and the schools regulations and policy.  Aubusson, et al (2014) study on technology in education found that technology has a positive learning impact and an enjoyable rich task experience for the learner.

Atis (2013) disagrees, arguing that technology in school is rapidly growing to meet the learners needs, educationally and socially, however its over use in the classroom was noted as having a negative affect on the learner.  Atis (2013) further explains that computer use does not always meet the need of the learner's engagement especially when the technology is not used to its best advantage.

However, Yanez and Coyle (2010) explain how multi-modal technology; using audio, visual and tactile products cater to all learning styles and provide an interesting and enjoyable learning experience.  The learner is said to have the ability to visualise problems rather than misunderstand verbalised direction and have increase cognitive visual recall after learning with technology.  However, the authors go on to explain that technology in education can come with problems of their own.  There is the problem with internet access or a slow connection, or calibration difficulties on interactive whiteboards. Studies have revealed that new technology in schools are, in some cases, not used to  full advantage.  Teaching professionals could use the new equipment as a simple replacement to the old and some do not allow the learner to use the technology therefore the teacher remains to deliver learning, not allowing the learner to take learner ownership. 
The authors call for more research for a deepening of understanding of technology learning and state that teaching professionals should be instructed on soft wear and usage to implement the intended use successful learning in this manner.

We live in a technological age where even the youngest children can use I Pads, mobile telephones and use a mouse on a lap top.  The internet holds an infinite amount of knowledge to learn from and allows communication from contacting friends, following iconic people or to people in other counties around the world.  Educational software and applications can engage the learner, making the learning experience fun and hands on, more than a book or having a lesson delivered.  There is, nonetheless. a call for a balanced learning environment, one rich with many different learning resources, however, technology as a cognitive and tactile learning tool that offers a rich and meaningful learning experience can not be ignored in todays technological age.

Animation for Learning

There is no denying that visual technology can engross a person so much so that person were asked to repeat what they have watched a detailed description is often verbalised back.  Nonetheless, when it comes to learning, do visual spaces really help a learner and develop their thinking skills and deepen their knowledge?

Animation in learning could be regarded a dyadic genre of learning. Firstly, the making of an animation through either manipulation or computer programmes such as Zu3D can develop a multitude of essential skills.  Secondly, viewing animation as a learning tool to explain domain specific information can enhance the learners ability to understand more deeply than when explained verbally.

Learning through Making.

In this fast moving, technological world, children remain to develop the same basic skills but in a more current and up to date way. Making stop-motion animation draws and develops many skills in the learner.  To begin with an idea has to be thought, then discussed with a learning group, developing communication skills and tolerance, or thought through by the individual.  As animation is regarded a mechanism to tell a story, a story board must be developed to organise these thoughts and ideas using organisation and literacy skills using higher order thinking. Then with the manipulation of material that is used for the animation fine motor skills are developed. Finally photographing each frame and developing sound encourages tolerance and patience along with motor skills.

 

Lowe (2003) argues that manipulation of materials to form stop-motion animation fosters a deeper learning experience than computer animation.  However computer animation through Go!Animate and Scratch as a growing teaching resource are said to provide rich learning experiences for children in topics ranging from language through to history and mathematics.  So the 21st Century educator cannot ignore growing technological educational tool to stimulate the modern learner.

To allow me to experience of model making for animation we were given the opportunity to produce a clay model from scratch.  With modelling clay I made a man.

During this process we were advised to model our characters from one ball of modelling clay as to prevent limbs from detaching when moving them.  I began with the head and moved onto the body.  The thought process was stimulating my own higher order thinking skills as I thought deeply to analyse and evaluate my actions.  I had to think about body shape, proportion, weight distribution for balance and strength for the durability of my model.  Then the smaller details had to be moulded, the nose, mouth and eyes for example took patience and fine motor skills. The whole process was deeply thoughtful as well as a creative learning experience which is transferable to any learning environment with any age group.

However, it is not only modelling that can be used in animation for learning.  Any materials can be used such as paper, cloth or even the learners themselves as seen in this Children's FLY! workshop production.



An example of children working together to create stop-motion animation

Learning through Watching.

It is argued that watching animation as a tool for learning can be complex and it is important that certain criteria are met so that it benefits the learning process. Lowe (2003) explains that for a learner to benefit from watching animation it must be designed specifically to meet the domains learning criteria. Then the animation itself must not have too much going on as it is possible the learner will focus their attentions on an area which is not relevant. It is also important that the learner can extract the information and organise this information cognitively within areas of already conceptualised knowledge.  For this to work, the learner must have some knowledge of the subject before they view any form of visual learning tool. If the learner, for example has no knowledge that a ball bounces up and down and they view a visual learning tool that explains to them a ball bounces from side to side, the learner will internalise this misconception. It is also explained that any intrinsic, form, or extrinsic positional transformations must be relevant to the subject domain or those changes could cause misconceptions.  However, these forms of change within an animation can enhance the learning if contrasted to the background giving the learners eye direction.  Ainsworth (2008) adds to this by explaining the importance of segmenting animation; the learner has control over the viewing experience.

It also important to recognise, as Ploetzner and Schlag (2013) explain, cognitive theory of multimedia learning developed by Richard Mayer in 2001.  Mayer theorises that the working brain can become overloaded with information so it is important for teaching professionals to organise their animation for learning in a way that can optimise the students learning experience and internalisation of maximum knowledge.

 

Nonetheless, if these criteria are successfully met Lowe (2003) argues that using animations to explain subject matter does in fact aid learning allowing a fruitful and enjoyable learning experience for the student.