Amanda O'Brien

Thesis - Abstract

Traditionally, courses are taught in “blocks” such as: Art, English, History, Math, Music, Science, etc. There is a dividing line between subjects, and there is an even further separation between academic and fine arts areas of study. Although a clear-cut division can be useful in regard to focusing students and having a concise teaching strategy for teachers, it can also lead to boredom and the inability for students to see how all areas of study are applicable to the learning and creating process.

I would like to propose a collective form of teaching that touches all areas of study (both academic and fine arts based) into one, cohesive, class assignment. By incorporating fine arts and multi-media into academic curriculum, children can explore their creativity and while also strengthening the core areas of early learning studies.

My proposed project will explore creating a stop motion, claymation film, that is complemented with research, script writing, set building, armature making, audio recording, costume/fashion designing and music. The teacher will select an area of focus; it could be a country, time period, figurehead, etc. The children will perform research, and then create the set, figures, clothing, etc. based on the research they have done. These creations will be used in a stop motion film.

The following parallels can be made while doing this assignment:

Fine Arts - Multi Media	Academic
Online Research	History, English
Script Writing	English (and any other language used in the script)
Set Building	Fine Arts, Math (proportions)
Armature Making	Science (anatomy)
Audio Recording	English (and any other language used in the script)
Costume Design	Fashion Design, History, Science (anatomy)
Music	Music appreciation and/or recorded music from the students

My approach will include using an online, community based, lesson plan forum. By providing a step-by-step outlines (on how to setup the camera, software to use, etc.) and examples of the work of other schools, teachers can either download parts of the project or download the entire project and/or upload creations of their own to share.

I hope to inspire teachers a students alike, to create innovative, learning strategies and help to mitigate the separation of academic courses and fine arts studies.