At iCreate to Educate, we always like seeing evidence of SAM Animations’ efficacy in the classroom. SAM animation was recently highlighted in the January/February issue of National Association of Elementary School Principals magazine. Here’s a brief summary, to read the full article, visit here.

SAM increases students’ ability to link observation with scientific ideas

Karin Johnson leads Polaris at Ebert Elementary School, an arts-science school, in Denver, Colorado. Principal Johnson writes about the success of their program along with using SAM Animation. Polaris at Ebert Elementary promotes an arts-science integration approach to learning and is the first independent site in their district dedicated to highly gifted and high-achieving learners.

Principal Johnson points out the value of students creating their own learning experience. “When students plan, explain and create videos, they become authors and producers of their own knowledge, rather than passive recipients of classroom lessons.” SAM Animation helps teachers give students a memorable and hands-on learning experience.

SAM Animation helped increase interest in science and STEM as noticed in pre- and post-assessments.
“In pre- and post-assessments of students using SAM Animation, we’ve noticed the following results:
– A 15 percent increase in students who “like science and investigations;”
– A 34 percent increase in fourth and fifth-grade students who want more science in school; and
– A 40 percent increase in children’s ability to link observation with the creation of scientific ideas.”

This article is a fantastic example of the benefits of using SAM Animation in the classroom. Students are able to plan and create their own learning experience. While Polaris at Ebert Elementary School is dedicated to highly gifted and high-achieving learners, one of the beauties of SAM Animation is that there’s a low entry, high ceiling, so we see a range of student ability levels finding equal award from creating stop motion animations.