Animation

I was actually not able to attend this workshop; however I was present for the lecture, so this week’s blog will be about the Lecture rather than the workshop. I really enjoyed this week’s lecture on using Animation in the classroom, as it encourages the student’s creativity whilst using programs that are attractive and fun to use for children. Many of the animation clips shown in this lecture were very clever, using logo, plasticine and many other mediums.

I believe that the point of this lecture is to once again show us that there are many different ways to teach a subject and that sometimes it is worthwhile to think outside the box! Not only will the teacher be able to assess what the children have learnt, but the students themselves feel great accomplishment after producing an animation using their own creativity. Animation will always be appealing to children, so their engagement level will be high for this type of activity.

Gaming & Frog Material Technology Activity

Today we had to design a frog that jumped! We were given a list of materials that we could use and had to use critical thinking (and engineering skills… or lack thereof in my case!) in pairs to try and make a paper frog jump. This was a very fun activity, and also had many benefits for developing children’s problem solving and critical thinking skills, which Greg outlined before we attempted the task. My partner, Abby and I may need to work on these skills a little more as our concept was not as inventive as some of the other groups. However the task was still lots of fun, and everyone in the class seemed to really enjoy it.

The last part of this week’s workshop was devoted to using the online program Quia to develop our own personal quizzes. This could be an extremely valuable tool in the classroom, as you could not only develop your own quizzes as the teacher for the students to complete, but also allow the students to create their own quizzes relating to the classroom topic. This tests their knowledge on the subject in a fun and inventive way that also focuses on a ‘gaming’ aspect to technology which is a large part of the modern day learner’s association with technology.

On a more personal note, I loved going around the room to my classmates’ computers and completing their quizzes. It was a great way to find out what is important in their lives, and promoted a greater sense of community, as everyone was very positive. This made for a fun learning environment. Although technology is not a strength of mine, I am really enjoying learning how to use these different programs, and can see how all of them could be used in the classroom.