Using Animations to Apply Knowledge

Creating animations is a great way for students to apply their knowledge and demonstrate understanding. It also allows students to develop problem solving and decision making skills while being creative and having fun.  I have included a few links to sites to give ideas and a table to show how animations can be used across subject areas.


I Create to Educate

Great student sample I particularly like to animated diagram of the heart.


Sam Animation


Klutz: great ideas for stop motion animation


Animate Clay


RollerMache


Animation for education

Using Animations Across Subject Areas

English

• Demonstrate knowledge of the genre and audience

• Create a Book trailer as an alternative to a book report

• Interpret myths and legends

• Interpret a poem or nursery rhyme through animation

• Create a persuasive animation by focusing on environmental issues

• Bring characters from a novel or play to life by adding them to an animation

• Write a story and adapt to an animation

• Using foam letters to spell words

• Using magnetic words to create sentences

• Use new vocabulary words in context

• Create an advertisement

Maths

• Demonstrate understanding of fractions and percentages

• Display number equations

• Create shapes

• Demonstrate understanding of percentages

• Demonstrate understanding of time

• Create animated graphs

• Use lego blocks for counting

Science

• Demonstrate phases of the moon

• Life Cycles

• Solids, liquids and gases

• Forms of energy

• create a sun safe animation

• Growth of a plant

• Circulatory system

• Digestive system

• Demonstrate a volcanic eruption or earthquake

• Time-lapse video of plant growing, weather changing and melting

• Show understanding of laws of physics

• Show the position and movement of planets in our solar system

• Demonstrate understanding of magnets

SOSE

• Indigenous dreamtime stories

• Re-enact events in history

• Environmental sustainability

• Travel around a map

• Natural Disasters

• Languages Stroke order of script writing

• Characters speaking in the target language

• Create an animation depicting a culture

Art

• Demonstrate colour theory

• Bring an art work to life

• Demonstrate understanding of the elements and principle of design

• Document the creation of an artwork from beginning to end

• Create animation exploring art movements e.g. Surrealism

Music

• Create music tracks for animations

• Demonstrate how to write music

• Demonstrate music theory

Home Economics

• Demonstrate procedures and safety

• Create the illusion that a meal made itself by taking images during the preparing and cooking process.

• Nutrition

Furbles

This is a great site I heard about at the Blast Conference I recently presented at. It is called Furbles, the site offers demo versions to work with. It is a great way to engage young students in maths activities by looking at shapes, numbers and colours. Students can also see the relationship between data and visual interpretations such as bar graphs, tables and pie charts. These would be great activities to use on an Interactive Whiteboard.

You select the number of furbles you want, the colours, shapes and number of eyes.

The eyes move as you move your mouse around, students love this!

If you select the bar graph option along the bottom bar, you can select the category you wish to look at in bar graph form. Here is an example of one using colour. The furbles move themselves into place to create a bar graph.

The same happens when you select the table format or the pie chart.

If you select the shoe icon, students can move the furbles themselves to form different groups according to the colour, shape or eyes. This would be a great interactive whiteboard activity.

Carrot Sticks

http://www.carrotsticks.com/

This is a site designed for students from grades 1 - 5 to learn and develop math skills. Students have the option of answering sums by themselves or competing against an opponent.

You do not have to register to play.

The free option only offers addition sums, the paid options also offers subtraction, multiplication and division.

First, students can create their own character by clicking on the item they want to change and then clicking on the arrows which appear. This activity could extend into a writing activity or group discussion where students can explain why their character looks the way they do. Students can change skin colour, hair style, eyes, mouth, shirt, pants, shoes and the item in the hand.

The character appears at the bottom of the screen.

The sum appears and students simply type in the answer.

There is a panel on the left hand side where you can choose the type of sum (if in paid version) and choose the level of difficulty.

Carrot Sticks is a fun and easy to use site making it perfect for younger students.

Manga High

Manga High

Manga High is a site which offers fun and interative Maths games.  The games are great for upper primary and secondary students and they offer several difficulty levels.  The games are free and teachers can register their school and create student accounts.  Here are the games which are available:

Develop skills in Number, Algebra, Shape, Data

Develop skills in Linear equations, Using number machines, One/multi-stage equations

Develop skills in BIDMAS, Powers, Roots, Times tables

Develop skills in Percentages, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division

Develop skills in Trigonometry, Pythagoras, Areas, Perimeters, Circumference

Develop skills in Ordering, Decimals, Fractions, Percentages

Develop skills in Reflections, Rotations, Enlargements, Translations

Develop skills in Linear equations, Quadratic equations, Cubic equations, Coordinates, BIDMAS

A Collection Of Fun Maths Site