Hands-on Learning & Stop Motion -- A perfect match!

At the end of the last academic year, I had the opportunity to co-teach a lesson with my colleague Faith in her 6th grade math classroom. Faith and I were looking for hands-on strategies to help students simplify algebraic expressions, and algebra tiles felt like the right fit. However, we also wanted to create space for students to document their understanding in a way that showcased their creativity as well. Enter Stop Motion Studio on the iPad!

Students worked in groups to create animated GIFs of the process of using algebra tiles to simplify algebraic expressions. This two-day lesson was engaging for all students, and they were motivated to work together through the whole creation process.

You can read more about our collaboration and the lesson in this Edutopia article: https://www.edutopia.org/article/hands-on-multisensory-learning-middle-school-math

Here's an example of one of the student-created GIFs:  

GIF that shows colored algebra tiles being moved in an out of frame to illustrate a simplified algebraic expression
Student-created GIF

5 replies

July 15, 2023

Wonderful lesson and article Jessica! Such a creative learning approach using stop motion. Yes, I bet the kids were delighted with the process that certainly created some good math learning.

July 16, 2023

This was a really great utilization of stop-motion to visually represent algebraic equations—it looks like the students enjoyed the creative process as well.

July 16, 2023

Thanks!

July 16, 2023

Thanks, Cheryl!

December 11, 2023

Love this! We don’t see enough visualization of mathematical concepts in older grades and they need it so much! Would love to see them record their voices narrating the process to utilize academic vocabulary and deeper connection to the process they are demonstrating.

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