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A collaboration between

Centipede at Glebe Primary School

Compass Project (University of Sydney)

Glebe Community Development Project

Written by

Amy Sarandopoulos

BSW Student

2014

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Introduction

The Stop Motion Animation Project arose from collaboration between the Compass Program

(Social Inclusion, University of Sydney), Centipede (Out of school hours Program, Glebe

Primary School) and the Glebe Community Development Project. Each partner brought

specific expertise, relationships and expectations to the project. This Evaluation Report has

been written by Amy Sarandopoulos, a 4th

year social work student on placement at the Glebe

Community Development Project. The key staff involved in the Project were:

Jack McGrath – facilitator: Lecturer in Film and Digital Art, Sydney College of the Arts

Amy Sarandopoulos – co-facilitator: 4th

Year social work student, University of Sydney

Kim Payne – co-facilitator: Coordinator/Supervisor at Centipede, Glebe Primary School

Fannana Mazumder – co-facilitator: Certified Supervisor at Centipede, Glebe Primary

School

Miriam Pellicano – Compass manager: Schools and Communities, Social Inclusion

The Stop Motion Animation Project arose from shared interest in the educational

opportunities available to children living in public housing in Glebe. The educational

disadvantage experienced by children of low income families and Aboriginal families is well

documented. All three partners in this project share a commitment to redressing this

disadvantage.

Glebe Community Development Project (GCDP) has been working for the past five years

with local primary school aged students to increase the educational opportunities available to

children in Glebe, particularly in relation to raising awareness about what University has to

offer. In particular, priority has been given to increasing the educational opportunities and

outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by working with schools and the

Department of Education as well as with students. The Glebe CDP has deliberately adopted

an early intervention strategy, acknowledging that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

students are disengaged from education by Year 9. The Stop Motion Animation Project is the

third stage of the Glebe CDPs targeted strategy.

This Project also reflects informal community consultation with Glebe residents that revealed

concern about the lack of interesting and affordable after school activities for children in the

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8 -12 age group. There is ongoing concern within the community that children in this age

bracket are too young to attend the local youth service that works with 14-24 year olds but

too old and disinterested in the existing after school activities available in Glebe.

The Stop Motion Animation Project (SMA) project ran for 10 sessions from April 30th

to July

16th

2014 (excluding school holidays). Students were selected from Centipede, the after

school program at Glebe Public School (GPS). The sessions were held at Glebe Town Hall

and were facilitated by Jack McGrath a lecturer in Film and Digital Art at Sydney College of

the Arts, Kim Payne from Centipede and Amy Sarandopoulos a fourth year social work

student on placement at GCDP.

Aims and Objectives

The following aims and objectives for the project were established by Compass, in

consultation with GCDP and Centipede.

Student Aims

Students gain a familiarity with higher education options whilst gaining experience working

cooperatively in groups to develop, execute and communicate an idea through the production

of a short stop motion animation film.

Student Outcomes

Compass

Aims Objective

To increase student awareness of

higher education opportunities by

making meaningful links between

interests and future options for study

To increase student capacity in

literacy through creative imagining

of a narrative, adoption of story arc

conventions and associative

connections between visual and

written communication

methodologies.

To develop and extend critical

Students :

Participate in discussion regarding

why and how higher education can

help them achieve their goals

Recognise a link between interest,

studying at a higher education level

and career

Prepare a plan, treatment or

description of ideas based on their

initial brainstorming activities

Create a storyboard to visually map

action sequences and

Creatively imagine characters and

define their roles, motivations and

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digital literacies through the use of

video planning and production skills

to develop a short film representation

of their story.

To engage in an immersive

experiential collaborative experience

that promotes skills development for

effective teamwork, negotiation,

effective emotional self regulation

and resilience.

attributes

Apply the use of a variety of shot

types and camera angles in the

animation medium to add further

meaning and effect to the narrative

operate camera equipment and

practice the adoption of correct

animation production protocols

Apply editing software to gain an

awareness and understanding of how

editing, transitions and video effects

can help to communicate a narrative

with the audience

Analyse cinematic texts by reflecting

on their animated film and the work of

others to learn a critical approach to

viewing cinematic texts

Community

Aims Objectives

To raise aspirations for future life

choices by introducing students to

higher education opportunities and

benefits

To enable students to build

educational capacity in literacy,

research, planning and time

management

To apply communication and

problem solving skills as a means of

increasing resilience to reach an end

goal

Students

Discuss the options that are available

through higher education

Demonstrate time management skills

through the creation of a SMA end

product

Demonstrate planning skills through

troubleshooting and finalising the

weekly tasks

Formulate ideas and resolve any

differences to achieve to achieve their

end goal

Build capacity to create and tell stories

School

Aims Objectives

To increase school engagement Students

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through shifting motivation and

attitudes toward school

To build resilience in the classroom

setting by encouraging participation

and perseverance skills

Create an opportunity to showcase

student effort and publicly

commend commitment to learning

shown by participating students

Demonstrate the ability to finish set

tasks

Demonstrate informal learning skills

such as collaboration and team work

Apply positive communication skills to

negotiate and create collaborative

treatment and narrative arc

Apply both pre and post production

technical skills to create a final product

Experience powerful sense of

achievement and success as a result of

purposeful effort

Articulate increased belief in their own

capacity to succeed as a result of

program participation

Project Summary

Prior to the project, the facilitators received training from Jack at a pre-program professional

development session. The day long training session at the University of Sydney enabled the

facilitators to preview and practice some of the technical skills the program requires, as well

as finding out more about sequence, equipment, materials, and timetabling of SMA projects.

Following this, the 10 sessions were held weekly on Wednesdays at Glebe Town Hall. Setup

and pack up were completed by Jack and Amy. Centipede staff walked students up from

Glebe Primary School with session generally starting at 3:45pm and finishing at 5pm.

Resources for the project were stored at the Town Hall and provided by GCDP, Compass and

the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Students had the opportunity to work through and learn skills associated with pre-production

and planning, production skills and post-production and editing. Techniques covered during

the program included storyboarding, creating characters and building a narrative arc,

conception and construction of sets, digital storytelling and familiarization with animation

and editing software. The use of project based learning was applied to facilitate and reinforce

skills and key competencies related to communication, team work, problem solving and

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creativity with a view to enabling students to adapt these skills to effectively increase

resilience in their day to day life.

The four films that were created by GPS students will be screened at a school assembly at

Glebe Primary School in late August 2014. The films will also be part of the December

Compass Showcase held at the University of Sydney, alongside films by students from

schools across Sydney.

Evaluation

1. Students

Surveys

Students completed a pre and post project survey that targeted key strategies to enhance

student motivation and engagement. These strategies are self-belief, learning focus,

uncertainty control, disengagement, planning, task management, anxiety, persistence, failure

avoidance, self-sabotage and valuing. The survey was adapted from Martin (2014).

The results can be separated into six elements:

Self belief:

Students were asked three questions in regards to self belief:

A. I believe I can do a good job in my school work.

B. In my school work I am focused on learning and improving more than competing and

being the best.

C. I feel confident using digital technology and equipment.

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The results in Graph 1 indicate strong scores in self belief in both pre and post surveys. The

post survey scores show a 10 per cent increase in students responding ‘Agree’ and no

students responding ‘Strongly Disagree’ which is a 10 per cent reduction.

Planning and persistence:

The four questions regarding planning and persistence were:

D. I plan out how I will do my schoolwork and homework.

E. I use my homework time well and try to do it under conditions that bring out my best.

F. I persist at schoolwork even when it is challenging and difficult.

From Graph 2 it is evident that there was a 30 per cent increase in student responses in the

‘Strongly Agree’ category after the project. However there was also an 18 per cent rise in

those students responding ‘Strongly Disagree’.

Valuing

Students were asked to rate their answer to the following question to measure valuing:

G. What I learn in my schoolwork is important and useful.

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Graph 3

reveals

that while

there was

a 34 per

cent increase in students agreeing to the valuing question in the post survey compared to the

pre survey.

University awareness:

Students were asked two questions to rate their awareness of university:

H. I know what University is.

I. I understand why people go to University.

The results in Graph 4 indicate that student’s awareness of university remained relatively

consistent before and after the program with over 70 per cent responding affirmatively.

University aspirations:

Students were asked to respond to the following question to gauge their aspirations to attend

university:

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J. When I leave school I want to go to University.

It is evident

from Graph 5

that almost

70 per cent

of students have aspirations to attend university and this stayed consistent across the pre and

post survey results. However, almost 30 per cent of students in the post survey indicated that

that they did not want to go to university when they finished school. It is important to note

that the small sample size (7) in the post surveys resulted in 3 ‘Strongly Disagree’ responses

having a stronger weight then might have occurred with a larger sample size. Still, it is a

topic that requires further attention.

Uncertainty control, test anxiety and failure avoidance

Students were asked the following questions in relation to uncertainty control, text anxiety

and failure avoidance:

K. I don’t think I have much control over how well I do in my school work.

L. In my schoolwork I sometimes don’t try very hard so I have a reason if I don’t do

well.

M. I mainly do my schoolwork to avoid failing or disapproval from parents or teachers.

N. I get quite anxious about schoolwork and tests.

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The results in Graph 5 indicate high levels of text anxiety, avoidance failure and uncertainty

control within the cohort in both the pre and post surveys.

The extent to which all of the above outcomes can be attributed to the SMA program is

limited due to the short nature of the program and the lack of continuity in student

attendance. While the average attendance was 16 and there was a core group of

approximately 10 students who attended almost every session, another 4 or 5 were different

students each week. This was an anticipated outcome of the program due to the fact that the

students were selected from an after school program where attendance is voluntary.

While there are some unsatisfactory outcomes in the areas of test anxiety, failure avoidance

and uncertainty control, it is unreasonable to expect that a ten week project would be able to

make significant improvements in these areas. Despite this, there were improvements in the

areas of planning and persistence, as well as consistently high scores in self belief, learning

focus and university awareness and aspirations. These areas relate to two key project

objectives:

Academic Preparedness - proportion of students reporting increased task management

skills and proportion of students self reporting increased subject knowledge.

Building interest in higher education – proportion of students who report greater

awareness of what University offers.

Further, the fact that attendance was consistently high (average 16) over the 10 weeks of the

program is also a strong indicator of the success of the program. Previous programs by GCDP

targeting this age group have achieved significantly lower attendance rates and have

struggled to sustain ongoing participation from the target group. Over 40 per cent of the

group was also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, which addresses another key

project objective:

Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

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Focus Group

In the final session an informal focus group was held with the students and the findings can

be summarized as follows:

The activities that students normally undertake at afterschool care include sports and

other playground games, talking to friends, visits to Glebe Youth Service and art.

Challenges of the project were coming up with an idea, making the characters,

building the sets and moving the characters to animate

In order to overcome these challenges students tried harder, concentrated and did not

give up.

The things that students liked most about the project were using the iPads, making the

sets, animating and making characters.

Students learnt new skills in animation and editing software, creating clay characters

and teamwork.

Other projects that students would like to do afterschool are another film project,

music (playing piano and guitar), sports (basketball, soccer and skating) and art.

Students were also asked to rate their response to four key questions:

I enjoyed working on this project: 100% strongly agreed

I am proud of what I achieved on this project: 100% strongly agreed

I learnt new skills on this project: 100% strongly agreed

I would like to do this project again: 85% strongly agreed, 15% agreed

2. Staff

Three staff members from Centipede who were involved in the sessions completed evaluation

surveys. The main findings from these surveys were:

All staff could observe improvement in students’:

o Attendance in after school activities

o Teamwork in after school activities

o Participation in after school activities

o Confidence in completing tasks

No staff could not observe improvements in students’

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o Understanding of what university offers: Comments from staff indicated that,

apart from the first session, there was not enough of a link between the project

and university study.

Staff observations of students while they were participating in the project included

good attention levels during tasks and getting tasks done in timeframe given.

All staff saw the following activities as valuable for students:

o Developing and creating storyboards

o Working in groups to create a story

o Developing and making characters

o Learning the skills and techniques to make a SMA film

o Using digital platforms to engage students

Expectations for the project included:

o Completing films – achieved

o For students to create an idea of their own and see the project through –

achieved

o One staff member noted that while the films were completed, some students

were frustrated by the experience

The only challenge nominated by staff was sustaining the attendance of students:

o Overcome by Centipede staff encouraging students to continue attendance.

Occurred on days outside of the project.

o Note: This is a challenge of every after school activity and as mentioned

previously the project had consistently high attendance rates.

All staff were ‘somewhat confident’ in running their own SMA project with students.

o Time and resources were the challenges staff identified to running the project

on their own.

3. Qualitative:

The following are quotes were collected from focus group interviews conducted in the final

session of the project. (Names of the students have been changed).

I think it’s awesome! I really enjoy doing this kinda stuff. This is the coolest thing

ever. We can talk like friends, have fun and make stuff – David

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It’s really fun. I get to work with my friends and we laugh and joke with each other. I

think it’s really helping me with my skills of art and it’s really fun and creative.

That’s what I like. Having fun and creating things – Sally

It’s fun because we get to make our own characters and I really like that – Nick

It’s fun because you get to explore things like wire and plasticine. –Alicia

I think it is awesome because we are the only centre doing this. It’s just awesome! –

Mary

It’s really fun ‘cause we get to make our own characters and movies and stuff. – Alex

Quotes were also collected from interviews with staff that co-facilitated the project:

Stop motion animation is a really cool project that the kids are getting stuck into.

They can see what they are working towards week by week that meaning they’re

pretty excited and keen on making the finished movie – Fannana (Centipede)

Been such a hands-on project, the children get really engaged in what they are doing.

They see the efforts of their work in a short time so it keeps their interest. The process

is just as rewarding as what the final product will be! – Kim (Centipede)

The pre project training was essential to the smooth running of the project as the

facilitators were able to become familiar with all the tasks that students would be

expected to learn. So we all had adequate skills to assist the students throughout each

stage, lessening the demands from the students on Jack. – Amy (GCDP)

4. Project Facilitator

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Jack McGrath, the project facilitator, has run SMA projects in schools across Sydney for

a number of years. However, this was the first time he has run this type of project outside

of a classroom. He has provided the following summary of his experience:

This project has been a unique opportunity for a creative collaboration between

different students and organisations in the local community.

We have engaged the students in a professional animation production workflow. The

students are created real short films that they will present to friends, family and staff.

The students found value in this process as they understood the outcome and knew

they were working towards a finished product that an audience will see.

Amazingly, the students jumped right into the character fabrication and set

construction and have shown ownership over the project. This project is a chance for

students to build their creative capacity as they find themselves having to improvise,

experiment and collaborate in order to problem solve their way through the

production.

The project places responsibility on the students to cooperate during a creative

exercise with the guidance of staff and facilitators, we have noticed a real

commitment and investment from the students to create a film. The students have a

clear vision in the stories they want to tell and the characters they want to bring to life.

One challenge with this particular project was the lack of a permanent setup which

required the facilitators to setup and pack down after each session. This meant that the

students could not work on their projects in-between the scheduled sessions as we had

originally planned. The group did need a high level opt supervision from the staff as

there were a few students who were disruptive and required constant attention and

guidance. Other students worked well with little attention and had no problem 'getting

on with it' – Jack (Compass)

Recommendations

The following are recommendations for future SMA projects run with GCDP. While it is

recognised that it is possible to run future projects without implementing these

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recommendations, they are provided as a reference point to improve the overall success of

any such project:

1) Permanent room:

The lack of a permanent room setup meant that considerable time (up to an hour) each

week had to be spent setting up and packing away the equipment used for each

session. This time could be better spent preparing content for the session if a room is

available for the entire 10 weeks of the project. Further, if the materials were able to

be stored in the same room for the entire project students would be able to work on

their films in sessions outside those scheduled with Jack, as was planned originally.

2) Indigenous students as facilitators:

As an objective of this project was to target Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

students it would be ideal to have at least one Indigenous facilitator. An emerging

partnership between GCDP and Tranby College may provide a platform for local

Indigenous students to become involved in co-facilitating the project. Involving local

students may also be a way of ensuring the project is sustainable.

3) Student’s arrival time:

In the original briefing document, it was planned that students from Centipede would

arrive at the Town Hall to begin each session by 3:15pm. However, in practice

students arrived at 3:45pm each week. This was due to students arriving late to

Centipede and the time spent walking the students to the Town Hall.

This effectively reduced the total time spent on the project by approximately 5 hours

(30 minutes over the course of 10 weeks). This is significant when each session was

often just over an hour and the first 10 or 15 minutes was spent on introducing the

session to the students and focusing them on the task for the day. It would be ideal if

students could arrive by 3:15pm or even 3:30pm more consistently.

4) Reinforcing connections to University:

While conducting the focus group with the students in the final session, informal

conversations revealed that not all students were clear of the connection between

filmmaking or digital art and university study. The first session of the project involved

Jack discussing his work the University of Sydney and as well as showing the work of

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university students. However, subsequent sessions did not involve any direct

conversations about further study or career options. It would be ideal to have a

discussion or activity aimed at reinforcing the connections to tertiary study halfway

through the program as well as in the final session.

5) Collaboration between partners:

That the partners discuss future collaborative projects that build on the good working

relationship established through the Stop Motion Animation Project.

References:

Martin, A.J. (2014). The Motivation and Engagement Scale (14th

Edition). Sydney, Australia:

Lifelong Achievement Group (www.lifelongachievement.com).

Appendix

Student Survey Questions

Self Belief

A. I believe I can do a good job in my school work

B. In my school work I am focused on learning and improving more than competing

and being the best

C. I feel confident using digital technology and equipment

Planning and Persistence

D. I plan out how I will do my schoolwork and homework

E. I use my homework time well and try to do it under conditions that bring out my

best

F. I persist at schoolwork even when it is challenging and difficult

Valuing

G. What I learn in my schoolwork is important and useful

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University awareness and engagement

H. I know what University is

I. I understand why people go to University

J. When I leave school I want to go to University

Uncertainty control, test anxiety and avoidance failure:

K. I don’t think I have much control over how well I do in my school work

L. In my schoolwork I sometimes don’t try very hard so I have a reason if I don’t do

well

M. I mainly do my schoolwork to avoid failing or disapproval from parents or

teachers

N. I get quite anxious about schoolwork and tests