Animations in primary education: how does it work
The term “blended learning” has gained much attention in recent years as particular forms of teaching with technology. As a result, teachers nowadays are increasingly using media and visual aids to integrate with traditional learning. Among various visual learning materials, animation is considered as the one which benefits primary education most in a magnetic way. Hence, this article is going to answer one of the most noteworthy questions about animation in the educational scenario: “How does animation work for primary education?”
Educational animation is as powerful as cartoons in engaging children
Animated characters are what children love
We all heard about the power of visuals in teaching and learning, especially in the case of primary education. However, do you know what thing is most effective in enhancing children’s learning through visuals? It is animated characters!
So how do kids connect with animated characters?
It’s pretty obvious here. Children love animated characters. And that’s why they spend lots of time sitting in front of the TV, laptop, tablet or smartphone to watch cartoons. They are in love with a cartoon. It’s because of their ability to relate to the characters in the show, even they are fictional.
More specially, animated characters are often more expressive in their feelings and actions. Thus, children usually find these characters to be easier to understand and relate to.
For example, you think what might be the one that children love most on Christmas Eve? Gathering, turkey, cookie, or… Santa Claus? We believe that it is Santa Claus. Every kid in the world wishes to meet Santa Claus on Christmas. And they always hope to receive his gift as kids on the cartoon they watched.
Therefore, when animated characters come to education, educational animation can disguise as fun cartoons. Educational animation has animated characters who will engage children in the lessons. As a result, children might not realize that they are learning. In contrary, they just think that they are watching and interacting with interesting characters. Meanwhile, they are gaining knowledge most naturally!
Attractive visuals to grab student’s attention
Besides characters, eye-catching visuals are also a vital factor to grab children’s attention. Especially, animation for primary education usually has bright, colorful graphics to attract children’s eyes.
If your learning video is tailor-made animation, illustrators will potentially design visuals with simplified cartoon-like style. Even in cases where you use animation creating tool like Animaker to do it yourself, you will see most of ready-made visual are in cartoon style. This style usually has a simple childish design with vibrant colors so that children can recognize and be attracted to what they’re looking at. Thus, it seems like cartoon style will have a more engaging effect on children learning.
To sum up, it’s certain that animation would benefit primary education as much as simple entertaining cartoons in engaging children in in-class lessons. Since it is visually quite similar to cartoons, primary students will easily get hooked on educational animation.
Animation is a supportive tool to deal with teaching problems
Not only for students, but animation can also help teachers in delivering an effective class. Here are some of the ways:
Deliver dry or complex information
Many subjects, such as mathematics or science, can post a challenge to the teacher because they have numerous theoretical concepts. Hence, it leads to a difficulty in explaining the information in an easy way for young students.
How can animation make complicated things easy to understand?
Animation is a fabulous explainer that can visualize and simplify any concept no matter how complicated. Moreover, the power of visualization can transform complex scientific processes into bite-sized pieces of cake. Or even some robust Math calculation could be also simplified and more interesting to learn.
This example shows how a complex question is simplified and made interesting by using bar chart and attractive Avengers characters. That’s to say, visuals and movement in the animation do a great job in delivering information with ease.
Teach social & communication skills without guilty
Teaching social and communication skills effectively in primary level can also be demanding task at times. Despite knowing the importance of these skills, most teachers confessed they find it difficult to teach social skills in class effectively. Particularly, they don’t know how to add a “behavior” or “social skill” to lesson in the way that students would enjoy.
How can animation integrate social skills into academics?
That is where animation can come to the rescue. No testing or academic-based evaluations can teach children about the vital soft skills they need in life. So, the trick here is that teachers can use animated characters. The result is, in this case, to best enhance the communication skills of children.
For example, after an animated lesson, teachers can ask the students how would they react if they were the characters. Or they can ask students to interact with the characters. In fact, there are numerous ways to do, such as writing a letter to the characters. Hence, it can be particularly useful to encourage kids to communicate in stories. In that way, children can develop their ideas and concepts in a creative and original way.
Stimulate the self-expression of children
For many students, self-expression is a considerable difficulty. While school sometimes just use traditional methods of art such as drawing and painting, some teachers worry about those who lack natural interest in these subjects.
How can animation encourage children to express themselves better?
Firstly, animated characters make students enjoy. So teachers can leverage these characters to help student forget the worry and difficult feeling. For example, they could print animated characters relating to learning video to stimulate children’s creativity. Thanks to that way, kids could find arts interesting to learn and express themselves more.
Besides, animation has animated characters that can be placed into pre-drawn environments. In this case, ready-made animated characters help to do it better than the traditional drawing and painting method. As a result, students can still retain the creative by choosing everything from plot to speech bubbles.
A 37-page eBook for primary teachers including: - How to better understand primary students' learning - Tips to choosing the right teaching aids - Ultimate guide to design effective visual aids for teaching
Visual aids in Primary Education:
from understanding to applying
A 37-page eBook for primary teachers including:
- How to better understand primary students' learning
- Tips to choosing the right teaching aids
- Ultimate guide to design effective visual aids for teaching
Animation motivates children with a positive learning environment
Learning is not about getting good scores, it is to build interest in gaining new knowledge. In the educational scenario, animation show this feature by bringing pleasure and enjoyment to learning in children.
In fact, watching an animated video can be more interesting than reading a book. This is particularly true when teaching primary students. With animation, students have a chance to learn in a way that is not merely facts and figures. Instead, learners can get the fun elements added in animation that keeps them interested and focused during the class.
Therefore, fun but informative animated video could result in a deeper understanding of knowledge that students learn without pressure.
Animation with storytelling method allows children to learn by not only passive watching, but also, feeling and thinking. In other words, animation turns learning into a fun experience for students.
Experience, it is much more than simply watching. If a video is just for watching, it could entertain but not educate. However, educational animated videos aim to deliver valuable knowledge to the viewers. It delivers valuable and stimulating thinking of the information thanks to storytelling.
Besides, storytelling transforms realistic content into relatable stories. So it would automatically engaged students in the learning process. Storytelling also sets the tone for the lesson, connects to the learners’ emotions. Hence, it could make learning more effective.
Animations, as short animated videos, don’t distract learners. You can trust me on this. Distraction, it is perhaps the most common concern when it comes to using visual aids in the classroom.
However, animated video usually lasts from 1- 3 minutes, and it is the perfect amount of time to best apply visual aids in teaching. And of course, if the animated video has great content, it would be a relevant and effective teaching aid for educators.
Furthermore, fun elements added to animation is to get students to involve in lessons, not away from it. Thus, be sure to have a clear aim for the visuals’ being created and you would always have your students’ attention and interest in the lesson.
*Concern more about animation’s role in creating a positive environment, check this article out!
By now, we hope that you have gained some fascinating insights into how animation can benefit primary education. For the next step, you might be wonder how animation can transform learning in the classroom. Or maybe you want to know how to create animations for primary educational purpose. Stay tuned for more of our articles on effective animation in teaching and learning. Or you can take an easy way, contact us and we will tell you every-best-thing we know about animation for primary students.
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