Sara E. Thomas
Once students have a grasp of facial anatomy we will turn to understanding the armature underneath the entire body, the skeletal system. Just as with the face of their character, students will start by drawing their character before sculpting him or her. To start off students will explore body proportions. Each student will be given a piece of string. They will cut the piece of string to be even with the length of their face. Each student will then take three measurements (this may be easier with partners to help measure). First students will see how many "heads" (pieces of string) they are from head to toe, then from fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, then from hip to toe. We will record the class results and find the average. The average human is six to eight heads tall, and your arm span from fingertip to fingertip should be equal to your height. From hip to toe the average is three to five heads, depending on how long your legs are. These are general proportions to help students gain an understanding of what the average body looks like. Students will do a quick sketch of a person using correct proportions.
Next, students will begin exploring capturing motion through gesture drawing. This is a style of drawing done to capture motion, where squiggly, quickly drawn lines are used simply to represent mass. For instance, an arm might look like a mass of squiggles, but through the mass the viewer can tell the position and motion of the arm. Once students understand and can complete gesture drawings we will begin talking about range of motion and types of joints. This exercise is done to loosen students up and to get them thinking about range of motion. The model (usually a volunteer student) is asked to pose for ten seconds to one minute, depending on the difficulty of the pose. The other students are then to complete the gesture drawing starting with the head, marking in the feet and hands, and then filling in the masses.
A joint is a place where two bones meet. There are fibrous joints that are relatively immobile, for example the joints between the skull bones. Then there are joints, called cartilage joints, with limited movement like those between your vertebrae. The end of each vertebra is lined with hyaline cartilage. In between each vertebra is a disc of fibrocartilage, a connective tissue. This disc acts as a shock absorber for your spine. Though the movement between each joint is small, when added together, all joints allow for considerable movement. Most common are synovial joints that are highly mobile such as knees and shoulders. These joints include at least two bones lined with a synovial membrane. The end of each bone and its synovial membrane are in a capsule which forms a sleeve around the joint. The synovial membrane secretes synovial fluid, lubricating the movement of the two bones. Synovial fluid also acts as a shock absorber between the two bones. Depending on how large and loose the capsule is determines the amount of mobility of the joint. Most of the joints I will be focusing on are synovial joints. (Gosling)
Synovial joints are classified in a variety of different ways. I would like my students to be able to classify joints by two categories, shape and type of movement. The two main shapes of joints we will be focusing on are ball and socket joints and hinge joints. There are a variety of ways of classifying movement. The first is by creating angles with the body or another bone. If the angle is made smaller the motion is called flexion. If the angle is made larger the motion is called extension. For instance, the bicep pulls the forearm towards the arm, decreasing the angle between these two bones. This is called flexion. The triceps pulling the forearm away from the arm is called extension. Another way of classifying motion is how the limb moves in relation to the center of the body. If a limb is moved away from the middle axis of the body it is called abduction. If a limb is moved toward the middle axis of the body it is called adduction. The last motion I would like my students to be able to identify is rotation. Medial rotation is when a limb rotates toward the center of the body, while lateral rotation is when a limb rotates away from the center of the body. I would like students to be able to recognize which joints are responsible for the motion of their bodies, and especially the limitations of movement.
A ball and socket joint is a joint where the head of one bone has a ball shaped bulb (or just one side of the head of the bone may be rounded). This "ball" then fits into a round cup shaped pocket in the other bone, the "socket". Some examples of ball and socket joints are the hip (femur and hip bone), shoulder (humerus and scapula), and part of your elbow is a limited ball and socket joint (radius and humerus). A ball and socket joint generally has the largest range of motion. For instance your hip is known as a multi-axial joint. You can move your leg on multiple axes because of the hip. You can move it forward (flexion) and backward (extension), side to side (abduction or adduction), and twist it (rotation). Your shoulder is also a multi-axial joint. Your elbow has a ball and socket joint where the end of the radius meets the humerus. This is what allows you to rotate your forearm. The wrist has an elliptical ball and socket joint which allows it to be moved up and down, and from side to side, but it cannot be rotated.
A hinge joint is one where only uniaxial movement is allowed, because of the shape of the joint. For instance your elbow, the joint between the ulna and the humerus there is a notch in the ulna that slides in a very distinct groove on the humerus. That joint in your elbow only allows you to move your forearm forward and backward (flexion and extension), making it a hinge joint. Your knee is also a hinge joint – it only allows you to move your lower leg forward and backward (flexion and extension) with a very small amount of rotation as in "locking the knee". The ankle is also a hinge joint, it only allows you to flex or extend your foot.
I will have students learn the names of major bones in the skeletal system, and then talk about their range of motion for each. I would like students to compare their joints and see if they can deduce which ones are similar types of joints, and back up their reasons why. We will then talk about range of motion, and types of joints. I will do this by giving students a list of different joints, which they will the compare the similarities and differences of each joint to see if they can determine the structure of each.
Students will have a strong grasp of how each of these joints works, and will also understand the limitation of each joint by personally exploring the range of motion of each. By doing this they will have a much better understanding of what motions their character might realistically be able to complete. We will again review different stop animation shorts to analyze character development. Since students understand correct proportions they will be given the opportunity to defy these proportions in order to convey certain character traits about the individual characters that they have created. They will complete character sketches from a variety of views of their character.
After these views are complete each students will begin to create an armature for the skeleton of their character. The armature will be constructed using all of the information they have gained about the skeletal system and joint mobility. The skeleton will be created using straws as bones, and polymer clay for the body. Students will need to keep in mind how straws should be attached at certain joints to allow for the correct range of motion.
Lesson Plan Three
Objectives
Students will understand the skeletal system including joints and range of motion. Students will be able to explain the shape of type of motion of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, fingers and vertebrae. Students will also understand the muscle system in terms of range of motion and limitations. Students will translate this range of motion into both their model of their character, and their stop animation short.
Do Now
Students will watch two segments from
Wallace and Gromit
. One segment will be a stop animation created recently. The second will be the first stop animation ever created by Aardman. Students will compare the motion of the characters in each of these stop animations.
Procedure
The teacher will start by having a discussion about range of motion, and how far you are able to move each limb.
The students will then complete a lab portion of the lesson, where they are given a worksheet with the name of each joint on it. They will need to record as much information as possible about each joint including bones involved, range of motion, and limitations of motion. Students will be asked to report their findings, focusing on which joints are similar to each other. Students will need to guess what the bones in each joint look like – how they attach and interact. They will need to be able to support why they feel the joint looks this way.
After some class discussion on findings the teacher will hand out copies of the skeleton and will also place plastic skeletons at each table (borrowed from the science department). The teacher will ask the students to look at the way each joint in question is constructed on the skeleton. Students will look at their predictions and compare them with how the joints actually look. They will learn the proper names of each joint, along with the correct terms for movement such as flexion, extension, adduction, rotation, etc.
Students will then be challenged to create a skeleton for their character using this new information. They will reference back the drawings they created of their character for proportions. Using heavy straws as bones students will construct an armature using tape at hinge joints and only clay at ball and socket joints.
Closure
The teacher will ask how their skeleton might limit their character's motion, or allow too much range of motion in some places. (As the next lesson students will add polymer clay over the skeleton to create their final character.)
Assessment
Students will be assessed based on a rubric of different joints that should be included in their skeleton armature. They will also be assessed on how accurate their three dimensional sculpture coincides with their original drawings of their character, and their character's range of motion.
Once students can draw their character they will begin to develop a story based on their character. Once their characters are created students will need to go through the motions themselves, and translate these motions to their character model. They will begin to use their character to create their story, posing the character and then taking photographs to capture the character in motion. Students will learn to use the digital cameras, the importance of having a tripod, and the amount of movement between each frame that still looks fluid and believable. Their final project will be a short five-minute stop animation film using the characters that they have created.