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.ur...@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-l...@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.ur...@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 <funcalcu...@gmail.com> wrote: > Kirby, > > That's great info. I love VPython! Glad teachers will be learning how to > use it. > > Peter > >
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