We've just finished a Christmas project (see 1. below ) with schools across the UK and some from Thailand- the teachers and their kids just loved it!
Here are Tutorials which show how the templates are used. They have been tried and tested with students in many schools around the world. The students love them! And one of their big advantages is that all the work can easily be put on the Internet - Flash after all is designed to put "life into the Web" - they certainly do that.
Hopefully you will find everything you need - the software, the template, detail explanation of how to use it and a real person to actually talk to for further help
1. A Celebration with Fireworks and Dancing Patterns
which has been used in different ways . Designed to be a special introduction to computers for pupils in Year 2 or 3 (five and six year olds) who have never used a computer before: but at the same time has been very successful with students in Year 9 ( thirteen) !
The template Christmas plain or zipped provides a place for a message and picture to be added at the end . Discussed and illustrated here and supported by tutorials:-
First Partdeals with the circle,
Second Part deals with thesquare, the message and publishing thethe 'movie' for the internet
Third Part covers an extension to the project for those who cover the ground quickly
The template Square_circle plain or zippedwhich is very similar project but has more general application .
First 'Show How' whichcovers the first part of a lesson - the Circle with smooth curves
Second 'Show How' which covers the Square with spikes and use of text for 'your names'
Third 'Show How' which explains how the template works
2. Talking Heads
This template can be used where information is being sought. Healthy Eating, Religions, Skateboarding, World War Two and The Solar System are a few examples. Here two pupils design a head each and the dialogue between the two characters . Writing a good dialogue , acting skills, creating a good visual presentation and good organization are important in a project that lends itself to Creative Flair. Used with older pupils in years 5 up to 10 this idea even appeals to professional website designers who see it as powerful way of adding humour to dialogues !
The template Talking Heads plain or zipped involves imaginative art work, Creative Writing ( including use of colours and fonts), planning, collection of data and pictures (from the internet and by taking photos), and recording the pupils voices speaking with drama uppermost are all important. The tutorial uses the these files to illustrate its use.
3. Walking Figure
Great fun is had with the walking figure. It can be used as a great opportunity for serious problem solving which is illustrated in the second tutorial here. The walking figure is used in many projects and the students love manipulating a human figure the can move in many different ways. It is used in the telling of a story with year 4 when two figures are designed, one by each of a pair of pupils working together, in Fiona's branching story and in the Three Witches loosely based on Macbeth and greatly enjoyed by an OFSTED Inspector of Year 7 at Oaks Park Secondary School Redbridge see below!
The template Figure plain or zipped also involves imaginative art work with a lot of scope for problem solving . This template can be the start for highly individual and imaginative exploration of creative ideas, Flashes potential for providing solutions to creative concepts is illustrated in the second tutorial. This template has been used as the starting point for several other templates as described above.
First tutorial covers the basics
Second tutorial which explores more sophisticated opportunities for self expression which is where Flash is so rewarding.!
4. Basic Animation with Flash 4
This tutorial tries to cover the basics of the Flash 4 software so that no template is needed. Both animation of a pre- designed object and the ability to animate changing shapes and colours is illustrated.
5. An Art Project is illustrated in this brief example.
Here I find that it is very enjoyable creating transparent smooth shapes that are produced with this vector based software. I find the individual shapes and the overlapping of multiple shapes very attractive with the new dimension of animation making the project very satisfying. All that is needed is the addition of music that can easily be added by importing wav (PC) or aif (Mac) files.
Flash template for this project, or zipped file can be downloaded and the following tutorial will show you exactly how to do it using the Camtasia screen capture software.
This tutorial quickly shows you how to use Flash 4 and files. Should you be adventurous enough to try it, I would have thought that you would have a few questions after watching it so do contact me by email (see bottom of page) when we can arrange a brief chat if you wish.
All these tutorials use the Flash 4 software which can be obtained from me in hours by email
This version is preferred by teachers working with students aged 5 to 16 because it has most of the power of later versions yet without the sophistication of numerous palettes required by the Website Designer. It provides endless opportunities for the creation of templates which perform the same function to other software and can be used to create more dramatic solutions to presentations than Powerpoint which robs the creator of the ability to control and introduce creative ideas. Here are some templates and here are some more!
From an education point of view Flash is superior to Microsoft products like Word, Powerpoint and many others because it does not 'take over' and provide ready made solutions that cannot be changed. The student is always able to take charge of a template that is used. He/she can modify and change any aspect of what is done which gives great satisfaction and self esteem to the student that is missed where solutions are provided to readily.
Young people who use Flash become more self-assured, proactive and confident in their own abilities to be creative. They have less need to be disruptive and aggressive through frustration.
OFSTED Report - "Several examples of the students reaching high standards and working to their capacity were seen during the inspection. For examples, students in year 7 were creating interesting, well planned presentations for a specific audience using animation software. Interesting and appropriately demanding activities provide suitable challenges for the whole ability range. Students are encouraged to work in groups and the sending of e-mails between members is used very successfully to assemble group presentations." All referring to the Three Witches project (where each student designs their own witch using the figure template) done over six weeks using Flash 4 !
Geoff Dellow can be reached at gd at tygh.co.uk (you should get a quick reply). We also have a blog where teachers share their experiences and projects . New projects are often created by collaboration between teachers who spark ideas off each other even when they may be many miles from each other . Come and join in !