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Combining High-Speed Cameras and Stop-Motion Animation Software to Support Students’ Modeling of Human Body Movement

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Abstract

Biomechanics, and specifically the biomechanics associated with human movement, is a potentially rich backdrop against which educators can design innovative science teaching and learning activities. Moreover, the use of technologies associated with biomechanics research, such as high-speed cameras that can produce high-quality slow-motion video, can be deployed in such a way to support students’ participation in practices of scientific modeling. As participants in classroom design experiment, fifteen fifth-grade students worked with high-speed cameras and stop-motion animation software (SAM Animation) over several days to produce dynamic models of motion and body movement. The designed series of learning activities involved iterative cycles of animation creation and critique and use of various depictive materials. Subsequent analysis of flipbooks of human jumping movements created by the students at the beginning and end of the unit revealed a significant improvement in both the epistemic fidelity of students’ representations. Excerpts from classroom observations highlight the role that the teacher plays in supporting students’ thoughtful reflection of and attention to slow-motion video. In total, this design and research intervention demonstrates that the combination of technologies, activities, and teacher support can lead to improvements in some of the foundations associated with students’ modeling.

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Notes

  1. Of the fifteen students, one had some special needs and was allowed to opt out of any assessment-related work for this unit. He is not represented in the assessment results described in the latter parts of this article. However, this student’s contributions to class activities were recorded and stored on research video with appropriate consent.

  2. The cafeteria had better lighting and more room for students to gather and observe what was being recorded.

  3. The artist’s mannequin was initially seen by students as an easy and desirable object to use because it had the shape of a person. However, the students soon discovered that it had some major movement and position limitations and was difficult to use for the kinds of two-dimensional animations they were creating.

  4. Initially, we had 17 components with one related to maintaining consistent proportions across the flipbook. The agreement on this component was low (33 % agreement), so this was eliminated.

  5. One student needed to leave class prior to completion of a second flipbook depicting the horizontal jump, and thus had unmatched data and was excluded from this analysis.

  6. All proper names are pseudonyms.

  7. Indeed, the velocity of the ball decreases over time as the ball eventually comes to a stop. However, as Parnafes (2007) has noted, students’ recognition of what is “fast” can involve attention to a number of visible aspects of an analyzed situation.

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Acknowledgments

Joel Drake, Min Yuan, Nam Ju Kim, and Scott Smith all assisted in the larger design project. Brian Gravel provided valuable assistance with respect to SAM Animation software. This work reported here was supported by funds from National Science Foundation Grant DRL-1054280 and a grant from the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation. The opinions in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily of any funding agency.

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  1. Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Victor R. Lee

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Lee, V.R. Combining High-Speed Cameras and Stop-Motion Animation Software to Support Students’ Modeling of Human Body Movement. J Sci Educ Technol 24, 178–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9521-9

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