Zu3D is software which helps you to create stop motion animations. It is easy to use if you have enough patience!
As we've seen, stop-motion is an animation technique to make an object look like its moving on its own. The object is moved slightly in each frame and should come together in one sequence in the end.
Animation: the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.
Illusion is the key word.
This week we explored the world of animation without using a camera. There are five different types of 'camera-less' animation that we explored.
The one which I decided to look at was the thaumatrope. A thaumatrope is a disc with strings attached either side and a picture on each face. The idea is when the strings are pulled the disc will move fast enough to blend the two pictures on either side.
It was made by John Ayrton Paris in 1825 and the name actually means 'turning marvel' or 'wonder turner'.
The thaumatrope was the first of many optical toys.
This is the one we decided to do.
If the disc is spun fast enough it should make the 'illusion' that jack is holding his pumpkin.
It was really quite simple to make.
Here is a short clip showing how easy it is to make:
Did it work? Not very well! Thicker card will be used next time and the slits cut were not long enough preventing the disc from spinning fast enough.
How can animation be used for learning? Here are a few ideas we thought of as a group:
Today
practitioners must find it hard to create a learning environment that
incorporates creativity and collaborative learning whilst using much of today's new technology.
Why is Animation being used as a learning tool?
It can help learners to understand more complex ideas more easily.
They can be used when wanting to show learners something that may not be seen as easily in the real world. For example, atoms and gas particles in science.
Some believe animation is a good learning tool because it is "motivating".
(Ainsworth, 2008)
Mayer, R (2002) explains in his article "Animation as a aid to Multimedia Learning", how animation can be used to promote the understanding of scientific and mathematical explanations. It concludes that animation does promote learning and understanding of a topic when it stimulates the mind and is consistent with "cognitive theory". Ainsworth, S (2008) also explains the importance of cognitive theory when introducing animation into learning. This article explains how there are another five levels of explanations to think of when understanding learning with animation as well as cognitive, they are:
expressive, motor and perceptual, affective and motivational, strategic, meta-cognitive and rhetorical.
What was interesting about the article by Ainsworth (2008) is that it explained how animation can be used to improve social situations. It gives different examples of using today's technology and software to improve a learners social development and interactions. The use of the 'Kidpad' is mentioned. Children use this to work together and create a animation story which they then share with the class. This is just one example of how collaborative work and creativity can work together.
I also looked at an article by Barak M (2011) who explored the idea of using animations to explain complicated ideas in science lessons in Primary Education. Findings proved that the use of animations in science lessons by teachers instead of textbook or still pictures promoted thinking skills in students. It also enhanced 'scientific curiosity'. This is probably because animation makes things that can be harder to understand more real and therefore makes concepts easier to accept.
