1. - Latvijas Universitāte

148 Pe d a g o ģ i j a un s k o l o t ā j u i z g l ī t ī b a
to connect words, pictures, and music. The interdisciplinary nature of animation allows
using it in an educational context. Animation offers an example of how to integrate
media pedagogy in the learning environment. Meaningful watching of animation can
be used as a tool for a variety of learning through words, images, motion, and sounds.
As the mass media have an enormous impact on people today, critical thinking skills
are important to process the information all around us. Critical viewing practice of
popular and visual culture is significant in this respect; children should learn how
to deconstruct cultural identity representations in the digital media so that they can
become informed citizens. When children are given the opportunity to create their own
animation movies, they learn to use visual metaphors and symbols to communicate
with the audience, develop media literacy. Moreover, animation provides multi-modal
learning, a good example of the use of information and communication technologies
in school. Work with animation encourages creativity, fantasy, and imagination in
children. The practice shows that animation is a productive and prospective learning
tool; however, there is little in the terms of research on it. Thus, the aim of this article
is to explore the opportunities of using animation in education.
Keywords: animation, animation in education, use of animation, prospects of
animation, media pedagogy.