VIDEO COLLECTION: Pixar In A Box Teaches Math Through Real Animation Challenges

[Ryan Goble]

While I have some of the same beef Christopher Danielson and MC POPPER Michael Paul Goldenberg express about Kahn Academy (see Does the Khan Academy know how to teach? in the WaPo) I'm dig Pixar and am interested to spend some time with this video collection. If anyone has already played with it please let us know what you think below. Here's a sample video...

Read the story @ MindShift and check out the Pixar / Khan site HERE and the related lesson plan collection.

[Michael Paul Goldenberg]

My and Chris' criticism from several years back targeted Sal Khan's obvious lack of pedagogical content knowledge. If he has real pro jocks putting stuff together for him, I assume they'll perform up to the level of their expertise. The question that remains (well, one question of many) is: what is that expertise? I have zero doubt that Pixar can animate up a storm (perhaps literally). Can they teach math? I doubt it. Can the create tools that competent math teachers might make good use of? Probably. But if they're depending on Sal Khan's teaching knowledge for much, then I would expect a lot of flash that tastes great but may be a lot less filling than needed. No knock against Pixar. But let's not forget just how much goes into crafting really effective lessons that leave behind meaningful mathematical residue for diverse learners.