TechQuest Project
I teach art to seventh and eighth grade students. Many times I give an assignment that requires students to come up with a solution on their own. A solution that is unique and creative. The project has a rubric they must follow, but the solutions that will fit the rubric are limitless. This is when a majority of my students start to become concerned. Many questions are raised. “If I do this will it be wrong?” “I don’t know what to do, can you help me?” “Will you just tell me what to do?” The process of coming up with the solution becomes something that my students fear. They want to have concrete answers. I always respond by telling them, “Art class is a place to exercise your mind in new ways. There is no wrong answer as long as you include the requirements on the rubric.” I believe that doing more lateral thinking exercises will teach my students to explore several solutions with ease to find the one they think will work best. I do not want my students to be constrained to believing only one idea exists.
According to Wikipedia, Lateral thinking, “refers to solving problems through an indirect and creative approach. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Edward de Bono started writing about the importance of lateral thinking in 1967. He stated that, “Creativity is a skill that everyone can learn--It is what we call lateral thinking.” Like all skills it must be practiced to improve at it. Once it is practiced enough it will be cognitively implemented and students will start to use it independently in the future. Lateral thinking also teaches students to use critical thinking skills, allowing them to go from a familiar idea to creating a unique idea on their own. Lateral thinking is a skill that will not only enhance a student’s success in the art room, but in all contexts of life when there is not a fixed answer. It will serve as a great problem solving tool for students throughout their education and will follow them into the work force. It will provide students with the mindset to keep working through problems. Students will learn to keep working even if they make mistakes until a solution is found that works. I believe that teaching students lateral thinking skills will enhance their educational experience and their ability to work through problems independently.
I would like to teach lateral thinking skills in my classroom by using stop motion video. Students would be creating their own storyboards, backgrounds, and characters. During the process of making a movie students will have to use their lateral thinking skills. Students will have to start by coming up with a storyline that has a purpose and meaning. They will have to work through all of the different scenarios that can happen. Then decide on which scenarios will best express their ideas and receive the desired effect they want to have on their audience in the end. Creativity also plays a huge role in the process of making a movie. Students will have to find creative ways to make their movie interesting and captivating to the viewers. Students will have to solve problems they encounter along the way by thinking of other solutions that would work. It is a process that students would have to work through and learn by experience. The movie making process would incorporate lateral thinking skills along with touching on subject across the curriculum.
Students would be utilizing Art, English and Technology skills in this project. They would be using art skills by focusing on form and movement, along with utilizing their creativity. Students will have to construct a storyline using creative writing skills. Technology will be using a camera and computer developing audio documentary, video, and soundtracks. Students will have to bring all of these aspects together to create a cohesive final project.
The technology I would need would be a classroom package of Movie Maker Pro, eight microphones, eight webcams, eight tripods and eight digital cameras. The total cost of that package would be around two thousand dollars. Movie Maker Pro gives a 60% discount to educators and other websites sell the rest of the equipment at a discounted price to the teachers. The other avenue I could take to make stop motion videos would be using and Elmo teacher tool. This piece of equipment takes and SD card and can record pictures. Each of these products costs around 600 dollars. A set of eight would cost around 4800 dollars. It would be more cost effective to go with the first choice.
The movie would be created in a 8th grade Graphic Design class. It is in a computer lab with 24 computers. Using stop motion video would enhance student knowledge and achievement in the graphic design field. Stop Motion pro is a standard tool used in the animation industry. This program would give the students a real experience of how professional animators make these videos. Even more importantly, it would give them a deeper understanding of the curriculum being taught by being an active part of the learning process. The students will see the computers as not just tools, but an avenue of creativity, critical thinking, collaborating, and expanding their thinking skills.
In order to be the most proficient teacher possible I am participating in professional development to enhance my stop motion video knowledge. I believe that a majority of my professional development would be free. There are many how to websites available to read and watch demonstration videos. One of the websites I found an abundance of information on ishttp://www.stopmotionworks.com/index.html. It has hundreds of different tutorials.
To prepare for this project I would put students in groups of three. I would put small pods of three computers and one empty table together for the students to work in groups. The extra table would be a place for the students to manipulate their characters, create their backgrounds, and take their pictures.
When the students begin the project they will be given a rubric stating the guidelines to their storyboard, characters, background and the overall end goal of the project. The rubric also tells the students what is expected of them in order to achieve certain grades. They will also be introduced to the software, the process, storyboarding, character profiles and view numerous stop motion videos to get a better understanding of what they are trying to achieve. After the introduction, my role as the teacher will change from sage on the stage to guide on the side. Students will be able to refer back to all of this information when needed on my stop motion website. There will also be resources on my website that students can refer to when they reach an obstacle or they want to learn more about a certain aspect of the project. I want them to practice their lateral thinking skills by facing obstacles, failures, and realizing they can work through this and still come out with a wonderful product in the end.
Many of my students have posted videos on You Tube or created a Power Points presentation and put it kiosk mode. A majority of the students are all very interested in technology. Most of them think that they are experts themselves. While they might have a great understanding of how a program works, they are not taught how to use it in a more complex fashion or to achieve a complex end project with deep meaning and cohesiveness.
I have a wide range of learning styles in my room. This project touches on a variety of different learning styles. I think each student will be able to be successful. I will also form my groups with a mixture of different learning styles. The students will be given around three weeks of 50 minute class periods to complete the entire project. Each part of the project will be broken down smaller with due dates throughout the three weeks. I think this makes large projects less overwhelming for students.
I plan to start implementing this project in the fall. I want to have my website done before the beginning of the school year. After I have had my students for a couple of weeks and have become familiar with their personalities, learning styles and skill levels I will put them in groups. I will introduce the software and the skills to the students. Then, I will do a short ten second video project with the groups. This project will take two class periods. The students will come up with a character and an emotion they are going to express in its movements. Then, they will do a bunch of shots experimenting with movement and also insert ten seconds of sound. This will give them the confidence to take on their large movie production.
Many of my students have a very high comfort level with technology. Therefore, I think that stop motion will be a familiar avenue for students to practice their lateral thinking skills in, along with enhancing their artistic, creative writing and technology skills. As the educator, I would be pushing students to address issues of morals, ethics, good judgment and exploring new ideas. I believe using stop motion video in education will be a great way to enhance students lateral thinking skills. As a result, it would enhance their educational experience as a whole.
For this project I am using stop motion video to help instill lateral thinking in students. In this podcast I am going to share surprises, delights, and unexpected bumps in the road that I think may occur during the stop motion video process.First, I am going to share with you some surprises and delights I foresee happening during this project.
As my students start exploring the movie making process, I believe that they will find out tips, tricks, and alternative ways to do things. In essence, I will also be a student during this project. This excites me because I am constantly blown away with the new things I learn from my students.
I think that students will astound me with their unique storylines and original characters. I hope to be amazed with artistic backgrounds that tell a story by expressing emotion, movement, and location.
I hope to see students working well in groups and each student finding an area to show their talents and skills. I believe that the groups I will put together will be able to enhance each other’s knowledge by collaborative thinking. I expect to observe students bouncing ideas off of one another and pushing each other to try more complicated tasks. I would be delighted to see students independently searching for information and alternative ways to express the idea they are trying to achieve.
Now, I am going to share with you some unexpected bumps that might occur. I hope that I will be able to effectively teach storyboarding. I have done ample amounts of research, but have never taught this topic to students. I have a method for teaching the students put in place, but because of my lack of experience, I may have to alter my teachings if they are not working well. I often alter my teaching methods when teaching a new topic or subject. I have many “ah ha” moments where I think I need to make sure to tell them that, or if I said it that way it would make more sense. The only downfall is that by reteaching an area it takes more class time. I believe it is worth it to take that time to make sure students know the subject matter well.
I also know we will run in to technical problems with computers or software malfunctioning. Since Movie Maker Pro is a new program to me I will have to learn with the students how to correct things and move around certain obstacles I had not previously thought of to find answers to. I look forward to implementing this project to see the other delights and obstacles I may come across.
In order to measure the impact that this technology has had on my students I will conduct classroom observations, and examine students’ use of lateral thinking skills on future projects.
I will watch students as they move through the process of creating a movie. I believe that this project is a success if students are collaboratively thinking through different situations to come up with a well thought out solution. Another great piece of evidence that this project had an impact on students will be seeing students self-exploring. An additional way, is observing students looking back on my website to find resources to expand their knowledge or find ways to overcome a problem. This will show that they are learning to use their lateral thinking skills to work through obstacles, failures and still come out with a wonderful project in the end.
I will continue to gauge the impact of this project throughout the remainder of the year. The proof that this project had a lasting effect on students will be seeing them continually seek knowledge independently and put together meaningful well thought out projects. If students continue to problem solve by using researching and trial and error methods I will know that they are cognitively using their lateral thinking skills. If projects are given to students and they pay just as much attention to the process, content, and visual aesthetics as they do the tools the stop motion video project has positively changed their learning process. Another skill I hope to see throughout the year is students purposely finding and putting meaning in their work. Instead of students just choosing an easy topic or meaning I hope to view students looking deeper and challenging themselves to think of unique and creative ideas of their own.
I will be able to see the impact this project has had on my students by using the students from previous years as a control group. I can compare the work made after the students created the video with the same work created by students in previous years who did not get the opportunity to create a stop motion video. I will be able to visually see if there is improvement in their creativity, meaning and thought process. The project's effect can also be viewed by observing the students in their work environment. These are questions I would ask myself while watching students work:
Are the students less apprehensive to start new projects?
Are students still afraid to explore independently?
Do students still need constant assistance and reassurance?
Do students know ways to find information independently?
I can compare the answers to these questions to how I would have answered them about the class I had the previous year. By doing this it will be easy to see if the project made a difference on student learning.
Looking at my project right now I would not make any altercations. I know that when I start my project there are going to be several things I change during the process and things I will change before I do the project again with another class. I find that I modify projects each time I do them because I learn something new that I can add or a new and improved way to teach a certain skill. I believe this project will be the same.
Lessons that I learned:
1. Use technology to enhance teaching students to understand, not to just know. It will decrease the amount of reteaching time and increase the student’s ability to build upon that knowledge.
2. Repurpose technology to use as an effective educational tool.
3. Teach students how technology tools they can continue to use to enhance their educational careers.
4. Always adapt!
5. Technology is a huge and ever growing part of society and our student’s need to learn how to use it!
References
Stop Motion Animation Claymation in Education - an Exciting Learning Tool for All Ages! November 3, 2008, ArticlesBasehttp://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/stop-motion-animation-claymation-in-education-an-exciting-learning-tool-for-all-ages-640801.html
Torreno, Frank: ClayMation: Making Mitosis Work. 2002-2003http://uw.kqed.org/edresources/plans/mitosis.pdf
Walker, Wendie: Multimedia-Claymation,http://www.fosterps.vic.edu.au/claymation.htm
Hill, Lisa: ClayMation Videos Teach STEM. 2010.http://www.schooltech.ancientfuturemedia.com/2010/05/claymation-videos-teaching-science/
Peterson, Mark. Stop Motion Animation in Education – An exciting learning tool for all ages! April 14th,2010.http://b4tea.com/education/stop-motion-animation-in-education
Stop Motion Tutorial-You Tubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0KMSfiizdY
De Bono E. (1969). The mechanism of mind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
De Bono E. (1970). Lateral thinking: creativity step by step. New York: Harper and Row.
De Bono E. (1976). Teaching thinking. London: Temple Smith.
De Bono E. (1995) Serious Creativity. Journal for Quality and Participation.
Torreno, Frank: ClayMation: Making Mitosis Work. 2002-2003http://uw.kqed.org/edresources/plans/mitosis.pdf
Walker, Wendie: Multimedia-Claymation,http://www.fosterps.vic.edu.au/claymation.htm
Hill, Lisa: ClayMation Videos Teach STEM. 2010.http://www.schooltech.ancientfuturemedia.com/2010/05/claymation-videos-teaching-science/
Peterson, Mark. Stop Motion Animation in Education – An exciting learning tool for all ages! April 14th,2010.http://b4tea.com/education/stop-motion-animation-in-education
Stop Motion Tutorial-You Tubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0KMSfiizdY
De Bono E. (1969). The mechanism of mind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
De Bono E. (1970). Lateral thinking: creativity step by step. New York: Harper and Row.
De Bono E. (1976). Teaching thinking. London: Temple Smith.
De Bono E. (1995) Serious Creativity. Journal for Quality and Participation.
