Animation nets award for Eisenhower pupils

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - Eisen-hower Middle School seventh-graders recently won a JP Morgan Chase Multi-media in the Classroom Award as part of the Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 Cele-bration of Teaching and Learning Conference.

According to a press release from the Freehold Township K-8 School District, students won the award for their clay animation project among nine other winners from K-12 schools throughout the tri-state area. Entries were received in video, web-based and multimedia categories to promote science and global awareness.

The project was a collaborative effort between Eisenhower's seventh grade science students and digital arts students. Science students in the district's shared time academic enrichment program chose topics on global awareness, conducted research and created story boards.

Digital arts students then used digital photography and computer animation to create videos which demonstrated the topic. The students created clay figures, props and settings, took digital still photos and used computer software to blend them together. The final projects became clay animation videos on safety, the prevention of pollution and viruses/sickness, and photosynthesis/the circle of life, according to the press release.

"This crosscurricular project worked well to bring the students' science and art backgrounds together," said Julia Bulkley, digital arts teacher.

Stephanie Caruso, a digital arts student, said the process was interesting from start to finish.

"Being able to be creative with science was great," she said.

Jason Parmar, an academic enrichment student, agreed.

"We took our topic on safety and made it simple and fun to watch," he said.

Pat Eisemann, a science teacher for the academic enrichment program, also found the process of clay animation very interesting.

"The students and I enjoyed the process and winning the competition was just icing on the cake," she said.

On March 23, Bulkley and Eisemann attended the conference and award ceremony in Manhattan to be presented with a $1,000 check from JP Morgan Chase for the school and a trophy on behalf of their students.

According to organizers, the award recognizes innovative and effective practices and celebrates the achievements of teachers and students who are transforming learning environments through technology. In addition to the award, winning projects are on display during the Celebration of Teaching and Learn-ing Conference and may also be shown on television and/or the Internet. Freehold Township's winning animations can be found on the district's Web site at www.freeholdtwp.k12.nj.us.

More than 7,000 educators and administrators from all over the United States attended last year's conference. The conference aims to celebrate the nature of learning and the integration of technology into the classroom. Work-shops were offered on the use of new technologies including SMART boards, Google maps, Adobe products, and EdVideo Online.