Pixar in a Box

Are you a Pixar fan? Looking for enrichment ideas for your Math+ classes, or some awesome math connections to integrate into your workshop classes? Look no further! Khan Academy recently released a series of lessons they developed in conjunction with Pixar called "Pixar in a Box". Click here to visit the lessons.

Most lessons build from a 6th grade level, and then cover 7th and 8th grade standards and beyond. I tested out the Environmental Modeling lesson, where you learn how a designer would model grass with parabolas. I thought this lesson would be perfect for 6th and 7th grade enrichment. The lesson dives deep into math when you start looking at parabolic arcs and using the midpoint formula to solve for the midpoints of line segments using averages of negative and positive integers. I found that this lesson really required conceptual knowledge of integers, and distance between integers, which I know many of our 6th & 7th grade classes are focusing on in their current lessons. The lesson concludes with application of animation skills and an art activity sewing parabolic curves on paper that would be awesome for STEAM workshops!

The units really emphasize the relevance of math in computer programming fields, and provide fun and engaging content as well as practice and application of skills. Let me know if you decide to try this out with your STEAM workshop or Math+ class and I would love to come support and see it in action with students!