Motivating Future Adventures in Computing by Unmasking Math Behind Movie Special Effects

Children and adolescents consume increasing hours of screen time, the largest share of which goes to viewing movies according to Common Sense Research. Recently, movies with the highest box office revenues typically feature computer-generated imagery (CGI). Despite this substantial consumption of computer-generated imagery, the typical young viewer is unaware of how large a role mathematics plays in creating these movies. Studies have shown that there is a link between proficiency in math and predicted success in computing. In this paper, we describe our efforts to develop and evaluate CS Unplugged and code-based activities that attempt to explicitly connect math concepts with the creation of movie special effects magic. The learning activities have been designed and evaluated with middle school and first-year college students to demonstrate their potential to increase awareness and knowledge of how math is used in movie effects and to increase desire for future study of math. The paper describes the motivating context, pedagogical strategies, math learning outcomes, and CS Unplugged and code-based activities so that others may apply the methods. The paper concludes with a presentation and analysis of results from a five-day STEM summer camp for middle-school children and activities presented in first-year college classrooms and discussion of limitations and directions for future work.