Yesterday I took a trip to Emeryville with my daughter Hailey to attend the Pixar In A Box event at Pixar Animation Studios. I have been here before, but it was the first time ever being able one of my children. My daughter was so excited to be able to visit Pixar with me so I thought a selfie was in order in front of the Steve Jobs Building.
Yesterday Pixar released Pixar In A Box that is a FREE online curriculum with the Khan Academy that shows how Pixar’s filmmakers use math, science and other subjects that middle school and high school kids are learning in the films that are made today. Although this program is designed especially for students in middle and high school, these resources are available to learners of all ages and completely free of charge.
Khan and Catmull officially unveiled Pixar in a Box at a special event yesterday evening on the Pixar campus in Emeryville, CA. After an introduction from Klaidman, local educators learned the story behind the project and then received a live demonstration of Pixar in a Box from two of its creators – Brit Cruise, Content Producer at Khan Academy, and Tony DeRose, Senior Scientist and Research Group Lead at Pixar. The evening concluded with a question-and-answer session moderated by Klaidman.
It was exciting being part of the unveil last night and I took some video footage to share for those of you that want to find out more about what Pixar In A Box is all about:
With the Pixar In A Box students can access Pixar the free online curriculum and learn:
- How combinatorics are used to create crowds, like the swarm of robots in WALL?E.
- 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.
What makes me really excited about this whole event is that my daughter Hailey found the information we heard yesterday at the unveil at Pixar interesting and wants to take part in Pixar In A Box to see what it is all about. Right now she is a junior in high school, a 4.0 student with plans to go off to college. She is really good at math, about to take trigonometry and wants to find a career where she can make good money using her math skills! You never know, she just might be working at Pixar one day.
For more information and to start learning about the Pixar filmmaking process visit: https://pixarinabox.org/
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