Made 4 Math: Stop Motion Animation

     We are two weeks into the new school year and our iOS projects are in full swing.  Students are utilizing cell phones and iPads daily to elaborate upon and reconstruct content covered in class.  They are in essence creating their own version of the Interactive Student Notebook (ISN or INB), except their's are Digital Student Notebooks (DSN) :D  Students have to truly synthesize the information in order to effectively "teach" it and I certainly believe "teaching" helps them remember.  In fact, the National Training Institute (1999) stated that learners retain 5% of what they hear in a lecture, 10% of what they read, 20% of material presented both audibly and visually, 30% of what is demonstrated, 50% of what is discussed in groups, 75% of what they practice, AND 90% of WHAT THEY TEACH.
     Last week, my friend, Kathleen, introduced me to the coolest app used in this week's #Made4Math project, iMotion HD.  (She had students use it to summarize human migration research conducted in World History; I had students use it to create a math tutorial. We loved it so much that we highlighted it at The Classroom Cafe too!)) Here's a quick overview...the Dual Enrollment students created stop motion tutorials to review concepts covered in class and to re-teach others who may not have had a clear understanding.  Each group of students (I would recommend no more than 3 in a group - 5 was too many!) chose from several problem types.  Then, they utilized iMotion HD  to make their animations.
The details of the project including the task, a sample student created video, and the rubric are included for you to take and make your own:
StopMotion Math Task

Stop Motion animation debuted long ago in films.  The first instance of a stop motion film was seen in The Humpty Dumpty Circus in 1897.  It is often used to show objects moving on their own.  In a stop motion film, the animator makes inanimate objects "come to life" by moving the objects through a scene.  The films are created when a series of interlocking pictures are played together through a scene.  When all of the pictures play it looks as though the objects are actuall moving (kind of like a flip book). Your task is to assume the role of a stop motion animator and create a math tutorial film for our online course resources using the iMotion HD app.
Sample Student Video


Rubric

Click to View

The projects turned out great!  The free app was so easy to use.  I observed the students talking more about the curriculum content than the mechanics of making the movie. Yay!