Enlivening Curriculum: Animation in the Classroom

What child does not enjoy an animated feature film? With the technological advancement of computer animation, quick production of these family films has never been easier. When I was a child, I anxiously anticipated each year's animated Disney release, but because of the tedious time it took to produce a hand-drawn picture, the company could only release few at a time. Fortunately for kids today, many more production companies release several of these pictures a month. Even luckier is that now educators are beginning to incorporate animation in curriculum in schools all around the nation.

This past weekend, over four hundred international teachers met in Shanghai, China for the Learning 2.0 conference, a two-day event focusing on the incorporation of technology in education. In addition to the event, the minds behind it have appropriately set up an online forum for participating educators to discuss topics about the conference, as well as access material from each educational session. Issues explored at the conference varied from Internet blogging to digital storytelling; but the session that excited me, as well as the other participants and online users, was the integration of animation into lesson plans. Understandably, the task may seem daunting to students who are less artistic; however, while this activity may seem limiting to those who are apt to use their creative right brains, there are several different forms of animation that are more encouraging to the average student. By including animation in coursework, students are able to apply their knowledge visually and manually - which ultimately engages them with the subject matter and makes it even more comprehensible.

Whether it is for social studies or science class, teachers can utilize animation with any content he or she feels it can be successfully executed. Take for example; if a science class is learning about protein synthesis, they can animate the cell receiving the message, the DNA molecule unwinding, Nucleotides moving along the exposed strand, and so on. However, teachers usually only have a small block of time for each designated subject. So, for a concept like protein synthesis, which would require a lot of tedious sketching of RNA and ribosomes and such, it would be most time efficient to do stop-motion animation. This is when you film or photograph an object moving in small amounts frame by frame, which gives the illusion that the object is moving. Projects such as Gumby or the 1930's version of King Kong are examples of stop-motion with claymation - it is the same technique.

For a class like social studies, students can form groups to sketch a historical scene. If the scene is the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the project would require them to storyboard, write a script, record voice overs, etc., all the while locking into their brains key information and figures involved in the event. And to top it all off, they are having fun and learning to work together as a team to produce a cohesive project. The story could be told

through a simple flip book, or there are programs available such as FrameThief - an application available for download online that automatically captures each frame

rather than having to capture each single frame.

While animation may not be the most time-friendly classroom project, it is undoubtedly rewarding to both student and teacher. Through the process, students have learned about subject material hands-on, and are challenged to take each other's contrasting ideas and make it into one united concept. The teachers are able to work side-by-side with the students, and most likely will take great pleasure and pride in the product. Additionally, the inclusion of storyboarding, writing and directing improves the students' writing as well as listening skills. For those students who are geared more towards artistic expression, it is a creative outlet that is lacking in a lot of curriculum in today's school system. On the other hand, for students who are not as artistic, the planning and execution of the project enables them to get involved as a leader even if they do not have the artistic capability to make the actual animation. The overall experience of animation in the classroom energizes the students and the teacher, and instigates teamwork, creativity and understanding.