Our good friends over at Next Vista for Learning have been holding an awesome contest entitled the Cool Designs Video Contest. The contest was an opportunity for students to create short videos (90 seconds or less), to demonstrate any concept or skill they may encounter in school. Once students creatively demonstrated their concept, they submitted the videos for review, and potential prizes.

iCreate partners with Next Vista to Inspire Creation!

At iCreate to Educate we loved this concept and decided to take it one step further. We encouraged students to not only create a video; we encouraged them to create a short stop motion animation using myCreate or SAM animation. Through this simple act we are happy to report that we had the privilege of watching some top-notch creation, concepts, and animation. We saw everything from the grammar police, to animations on science and breathing. One thing that rang true through all the videos we watched was the concept of breaking down a topic into small, digestable bits of information and making it for anybody to follow along and learn. We also witnessed students learning and going into detail due to the need to breakdown the concept even smaller to make it work with the medium of animation.

Sometimes the simple encouragement of a prize, exposure, and the concept of being part of something bigger is all it takes to become excited to create and participate. Through simple competition we often encourage our students and even ourselves to push the limits, test our thoughts and skills, and create to the best of our abilities.

What are your feelings on contests and competition when it comes to learning and creating? Do you view it as encouragement or unneeded? What tactics do you use to motivate your students and/or children to participate, get excited, and create?

Share your thoughts by adding a comment, be part of the conversation, and continue the creation with us!