What is a Learning Environment

Learning is perhaps one of the most important processes in existence, if we can not learn we can not survive. Think of a new born, they are constantly learning and developing, and it is vital for them to survive and flourish in life; from crying (to alert their caregiver), to crawling and walking. 

Through school, learning does not just happen in the classroom. It has the potential to happen anywhere and anytime. We learn new things everyday, sometimes without even realising we have, so it is so important that we provide an environment that enables us to learn in the very best and easiest way we can. However finding and creating the right environment can be a hard task as everybody learns in their own unique way. We all have differing learning styles; ways in which we learn best and increase the ability to take in and register information. This is something that one needs to understand and consider when trying to create an effective learning environment.

To form a good enabling learning environment in a school, one needs to appeal to the senses as this will encourage interaction and learning. A good way of doing this would be to fill it with hands-on activities that encourages one to be creative, make sure the air in the room is fresh and not stuffy, and use different sounds, colours or textures. It also needs to be a safe place where one feels secure, free to express oneself and to explore.

"The environment we are in affects our moods, ability to form relationships, effectiveness in work or play - even our health."  Bullard, J (2010).

The environment we spend time in during any given day is a learning environment. Whether it is a good one all depends on how much it enables us to learn, and whether the things we are learning are positive things for us. As Bullard states above, it can even have impacts on our health. We need to make sure we spend our time in an environment that will be good for us and will encourage us to develop ourselves and become a better version of who we are... not a worse one.

 
Reference List:

Bullard, J. (2010). Why is the environment important for childrens learning?. Available: http://www.education.com/reference/article/environment-important-children-learning/. Last accessed 22/10/2014.

Stop-Motion Animation

Stop-motion animation is simply the act of creating a scene or character and taking lots of different photos of this scene or actor. However, in each different photo there should be a slight movement. For example, to move a character's hand you would take pictures of each different stage of the hand moving as opposed to just the start and finish result. Once you have taken all your pictures and created your story or scene, you then have to play all the different photos in quick succession of eachother or in a continuous flow (depending on whether you want a continuous animation or just a short scene). This then stimulates the brain and causes you to remember the last image and track the movement from that last image. Which in turn tricks you to believe that the image is actually moving. The more images you use the greater the animation should be, as there will be less gaps between each sequence and the movement should be smoother.

There are different methods or (in other words) different materials that one can use to create a stop-motion animation. Some examples of how one could create one is by using the method of:

 

Clay animation (or Claymation) - This (as you can probably work out) is using clay to create figurines or background sets to create an animation in the ways described above. 'Wallace and Gromit' is a prime example of how effective Claymation stop-motion can be.

Silhouette Animation - This is the use of character's or background's Silhouettes or shadows. One way you could do this is to use: a light, opaque card cut-outs and transparent paper and create an animation using the techniques described in the first paragraph of this post. 'The Magic Horse' is a prime example of how effective Silhouette stop-motion animation can be.

     

Puppet animation - This again is just a variation of materials used. This is the use of puppets to create a scene/story. The 'Fantastic Mr Fox' is a prime example of how effective Puppet made stop-motion animation can be.

 





These methods listed above are but a few of the many examples of creating a stop-motion animation. Effectively these are just the gateway in which one can step into and create an animation. MAAC (2013) states: "The limitless possibilities of using models and settings are dependent on the animator’s imagination. If your idea is good, then the medium is just a platform to give it a visual presentation." What the organisation MAAC is effectively stating here is: The creator has the control. There are countless ways or methods/mediums to use to create a successful and working animation, but how you do it, is completely down to your vision, inventive mind and imagination.

Some Advantages of Stop-Motion Animation: 

• Encourages Creativity.
• Encourages one to use their imagination.
• (In a simplified way), It could be implemented within learning inside schools as an activity. 
• Reasonably easy thing to do; although at the same time, can be extremely difficult to do well!! 
• Can be fun to create or watch.
• Creates Life.
• Attracts attention.

Some Disadvantages of Stop-Motion Animation

• Can take a long time to create, depending on the methods you use.
• Need the right equipment.
• It can distract from the main point of the activity or presentation etc.
• Can be hard to do well
• Can be costly if you want to do it well.

References:

Maya Acadamy of Advanced cinematics. (2013). Stop Motion Animation: Another Approach to Animation. Available: http://www.maacindia.com/blog/index.php/stop-motion-animation-another-approach-to-animation/. Last accessed 16/10/2014. 

Coraline

This would probably have to be the most recent Stop-Motion Animation I watched. However I turned over after about 20 minutes as the film was so dark and bizzare; but also, simply because I fancied watching something different. This film came out in 2009 so is quite a recent Stop-motion animation. It was created in America by the same people that created 'The Nightmare before Christmas' and is on many 'top 10 best stop-motion film ever' lists. The method of Stop-motion animation they used was puppets.

 This is a short video of the director Henry Selick

explaining the different methods they used to create

their characters and the movement within the film.

It's interesting the different methods they use to create their characters movement. It also amazes me how they can make a puppet look so alive and real. If you watch the video you can see its no easy task. There were 28 identical puppets of the main character Coraline created (which took 10 people four months to build) with over 6,300 different replacement face pieces enabling them to use 207,000 different face combinations. Lets not forget this is just one of over 12 different other characters and the whole set and backgrounds that would also have to be created and moved along with the characters. However, this is just one example of stop-motion and a very complex and developed one.

References:

Youtube. (2014). Coraline (2009) Bringing the characters to life. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlMmBCei6h0. Last accessed 15/10/2014.