[Edu-sig] teaching on a 3D canvas

[kirby urner]

FYI, here's a posting to a closed archive physics list about using 3D vista
generators in general.

To teach physics or whatever.

The Khan Academy genre is mostly flat chalkboard like surface for all
teaching + voice.

However as Youtube well demonstrates, there's a trend in the direction of
using 3D animations in addition.

====

From: kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 2:14 PM
Subject: beyond the chalkboard: 3D game engines as a platform for physics
teaching animations
To: The Physics Learning Research List <PHYSLRNR-LIST at listserv.buffalo.edu>


A segue off the Vpython thread...

Studies in Human Motion included as a CDROM in the AAPT
conferee packet one year a few back, had raw data for such
Youtubes as these, developed using Python + POV-ray
(not VPython):

https://youtu.be/-j4ZealS1zI
https://youtu.be/A0l3Q4Fu20E

Body sensors knowing their own position in XYZ space fed
time sliced data to spreadsheets, for conversion to still frames
then animations.  Lots of Youtubes summarize this process
of motion capture.

I like to think the "contrail" feature, added to Vpython, might
have been somewhat inspired by such studies, though I have
no evidence that that's true.

However, regardless of tool chest, I see a cutting edge in Physics
pedagogy is harnessing "game engines" or "virtual worlds" for
didactic purposes.

Here's a stash of such physics cartoons I stumbled across just
this morning, perhaps old news to many subscribers here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tm2c6NJH4Y
(Physics videos by Eugene Khutoryansky)

I don't actually know what this guy's workflow is, the details of
his tool chest.  I've been poking around on the web looking for
more information and may contact him directly.  He has
collaborators, we know that much.

We need to tease apart the adequacy of the physics and/or
mathematical content, from the modality and/or aesthetic
dimension in which Eugene operates.  The output looks kind
of computer game like, suggesting an engine (which one?),
with a lot of attention to texturing and background.

Compare Eugene's style with this other one:
https://youtu.be/7u_UQG1La1o

Is the surreality of Eugene's world extraneous?  A cat
watches the action in the Quantum Mechanics video, while
the Maxwell's Equations one is inhabited by two angels in
a somewhat Gothic setting.

Given "Maxwell's Demon" is already in the literature, and that
we've all heard of Schrodinger's Cat, I didn't see the imagery as
entirely extraneous.  He's alluding to known memes.

In the mnemonic arts since Cicero and earlier, the idea of
using exaggerated-because-more-memorable imagery has been
encouraged.

I wonder what research and academic papers have been
published to draw attention to this emerging genre and to
tackle such questions as

(A) the efficacy of such animations and

(B) given their potential efficacy for some learning styles
(witness all the appreciative comments) how to best integrate
them into existing curricula e.g.

(i) should students just watch them or
(ii) also make them?

I'm seeing what we might call "Kahn Academy to the next level"
i.e. we're moving to a more explicitly spatial / volumetric teaching
environment whereas Khan's presentations specializes in 2D
planar sketches, are much closer to a chalk board in that sense.

I'm sure there's already considerable research on these
topics, but as the technology is somewhat new, there's no
doubt plenty of room for more.

Kirby


On Fri, Oct 28, 2016 at 7:11 PM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Probably old news to many here, but I'm just discovering
> I'm able to use Vpython aka "visual Python" inside
> Jupyter Notebooks with not too much fuss.
>




On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 7:33 AM, Peter Farrell <funcalculus at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Kirby,
>
> That's great info. I love VPython! Glad teachers will be learning how to
> use it.
>
> Peter
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20161031/bb91d7fa/attachment.html>