Happy Birds!

On using flipbooks in Physics

I love the idea of students making flipbooks to demonstrate physics concepts.  Last year, one end-of-the-year-project option was to make a flipbook that showed projectile motion.  Students were to incorporate 20 frames of hang-time in their books, and they worked out the position of the object in each frame (most all did this with a spreadsheet).  It was a useful exercise in scaling, as well.  For the animation itself, many used Flipbook! with a grid-printed transparency taped over the computer screen.  Some drew traditional analog books; a beautiful objects to hold in your hand and then keep in a shoebox under the bed.  Some cut out multiple pictures to glue on each frame.  


I still have some thinking to do about how best to have students demonstrate that they understand the underlying concepts.  Hmm...  Maybe next year, there will be a track with the director's commentary or an interview.  A good number of students drew a lot of satisfaction in the work, and yet a few never quite dug in.

Do you make flipbooks in your classroom?  What tools do you use?  What have your student made?


Resources:
Flipbook! online maker
FlipBook Lite app for iProducts
Graph paper
Google Images for clip art


Thus far, I've avoided commercial software, but I'm interested if others have used any.