Pixar Animation Studios and Khan Academy have teamed up together for free online lessons for students. The project titled “Pixar in a Box,” will incorporate the use of animation with common classwork.
Through a series of video lessons, interactive exercises, and hands-on activities, students will discover how the academic concepts they learn in school enable Pixar filmmakers to create new worlds, animate unique characters and tell stories through animation. Although designed especially for students in middle and high school, these resources are available to learners of all ages, completely free of charge.
Sal Khan, Founder and CEO of the not-for-profit Khan Academy said in a statement, “sparking student interest in math and other academic fields is a key part of that, and we’re delighted to collaborate with Pixar to achieve this goal. Pixar in a Box gives students a new way to engage with key academic concepts and see how creative these concepts can be.”
News of the this project was announced on Wednesday at the Pixar campus in Emeryville, CA.
As for what types of concepts students can look forward to:
- How combinatorics are used to create crowds, like the swarm of robots in WALLE.
- How parabolas are used to model environments, like the forest in Brave.
- How weighted averages are used to create characters, like Buzz Lightyear and Woody.
- How linear and cubic interpolation are used to animate characters.
- How trigonometry is used to create the worlds in which Pixar stories take place.
- How simultaneous equations are used to paint all of Pixar’s images.
If you would like to check out “Pixar in a Box,” please click here.
What are your thoughts on this program?
