Movement Can Be Used For Different Purposes

Sounds Storyboard application

Activity:

1. Ask students to look through the applet called Using Movement. Explain that this is a way of defining the purpose for which movement can be used in a persuasive slide show.

2. Discuss with the class that there are two basic uses, to support facts and to express a feeling. To support a fact, a movement can either contain the information in what it shows, in which case it is being used as illustration, or it can provide a focus for the image or words to define what is most important on a slide. To show a feeling, the movement can either be used to state an opinion about something or to decorate a slide to make it more lively.

3. Ask the students to find movements (ideally representing different types) in the PowerPoint SLIDE SHOW menu under CUSTOM ANIMATIONS - or start with the pre-defined set of animations - and ask them to brainstorm ways in which each movement might be used as illustration, to focus or to express an opinion.

Example: Show a car driving in from the left and ask students what context would make it an illustration (possible answer: if it is part of an email telling a friend about how your family went on vacation).

Then ask them how the same movement might be used as a context (possible answer: in a description of verbal "I SPY" games for little kids.)

Then ask them how the same movement might be used as an opinion (possible answer: as part of a webpage or email about a car with the caption "My best friend") 

 

 

The Main Idea

There are at least four distinctly different purposes for using movement in a persuasive slide show. Students have to understand what distinguishes them so they can add appropriate movement to support their information.

The important point is that each of the different types of movement can be used for any of the purposes - so the purpose is determined by how the movement is used, not by its type. A moving object or a transition does not automatically provide a focus any more than a moving text is automatically an opinion. In other words, students cannot add movement for different purposes in the abstract - the context defines how movement is used, not the content of the movement.

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