An animated experience for gifted school students

November 26, 2007

Sixty Gifted and Talented school students from around New England and north-west NSW travelled to the University of New England earlier this month to become film-makers for a day.

The students, in Years 5 to 8, were nominated by their schools to take part in a talent enrichment program hosted by UNE's School of Education. They came from as far afield as Walgett.

After learning about different styles of animation, they worked in groups to create short animated films using computer software, digital cameras, and their own props – with some outstanding results.

The UNE Creative Animations Student Enrichment Day for Middle School Students on Saturday 3 November was UNE's fourth major event for Gifted and Talented students this year. All of the events have focused on developing skills that can be taken back to the schools and used in the classroom, and have given the students the rare opportunity of working with a group of peers with similar interests.

Teachers and parents were also involved in the enrichment program. During a Teacher Professional Learning Day on the previous day (Friday 2 November) teachers were trained in the use of the animation techniques and created their own animations. On the Enrichment Day itself, parents were given demonstrations and information, held a forum to discuss provision for gifted students, and signed up for a parent networking group. In the afternoon they attended the screening of the students' animated films and the award ceremony.

The coordinator of the event, Dr Susen Smith from UNE's School of Education, said that the program had been very successful and enjoyed by all the participants, with the UNE community throwing its support behind the project. She said lecturers from the School of Education's ICT and Learning and Teaching teams, together with UNE students, had supported the school students and teachers over the two days.

"The program allowed the students and teachers to be creative problem solvers in a collaborative context and to use a variety of computer software and other materials to support their creations in an enjoyable learning environment," Dr Smith said.

"The National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR), which is based here at UNE, provided some funding," she added, "enabling the most creative groups to be commended for their imaginative storylines and their productive use of the technology."

Dr Smith thanked MAC1 for sponsoring the event by providing 50 laptop computers, an education facilitator (Liz Perry), and some additional staff support.

Students and teachers were given copies of their finished animations, which are in the process of being placed on UNE's TalentEd Web site (http://scs.une.edu.au/TalentEd). Photographs taken during the two-day enrichment program are displayed on the Web site.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at November 26, 2007 04:35 PM