[MWForum]Introducing MW 2.0

[Lauren Pacini]

No, I don't blame them at all. I understand fully. I
just need to win them over!

Lauren

--- Gary McCallister <mccallis@mesastate.edu> wrote:
> There are very few examples of consturctivism or
> constructionism in the school systems out there.  So
> they can't have seen technology used in a very
> Montessori way before.  can't blame them for
> mistrusting.
> 
> >>> lrpacini@yahoo.com 08/30/02 04:12PM >>>
> Great suggestion, Wendy!
> 
> The significance of mentioning Montessori is that if
> there are folks here working in a Montessori
> environment they can appreciate the challenges that
> can accompany the introduction of technology in
> their
> classrooms. At the risk of offending any
> Montessorians
> in the group, they tend to be resistant to
> change!!!!!
> 
> Lauren
> 
> --- Wendy Petti <wpetti@mathcats.com> wrote:
> > I used to start the school year with an
> > animate-your-body project that
> > everyone loved (grades 2 - 5).  Here are the steps
> > we followed:
> > 
> > 1) I took a digital photo of each student and
> placed
> > these in a folder.
> > The rest of the steps were done by the students. 
> > (Of course they could
> > take digital photos of each other, for that
> matter.)
> > 
> > 2) Import your photo into MicroWorlds.
> > 
> > 3) Use the drawing tools to erase around your
> head,
> > leaving only the
> > head.  (Efficient ways to get rid of chunks of
> > background include
> > drawing white rectangles or using the selection
> tool
> > then deleting.  We
> > traced around the head with a fairly thin eraser
> and
> > then retraced with
> > a wider eraser.  The students also learned to use
> > the selection tool and
> > then double-click to go into the "fat bits editor"
> > for pixel by pixel
> > fine-tuning for perfectionists.)
> > 
> > 4) Copy the head into a shape, put it on a turtle,
> > and resize it to the
> > desired size for the next step.
> > 
> > 5) Drag the head to the upper part of the page,
> > stamp it, then drag it
> > away.
> > 
> > 6) Draw a silly body under your head.
> > 
> > 7) Surround the whole body and head with the
> > selection tool, copy and
> > paste into a shape.
> > 
> > 8) Click once to select that shape, edit -> copy,
> > then click once on a
> > new shape and paste a second copy of the shape.
> > 
> > 9) Open the shape and flip it to its mirror image.
> > 
> > 10) Name both shapes.
> > 
> > 11) Write one or more procedures to animate
> > yourself.  We used several
> > in conjunction with a "speed" slider (with a
> maximum
> > of 10 in this
> > example).  We put each procedure name on a button
> > and set the button to
> > "many times."  The students could click on one or
> > more buttons at the
> > same time.  Here are some we used:
> > 
> > to dance
> > setsh "person1 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > setsh "person2 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > end
> > 
> > [[You can just say "wait 1" or whatever, or "wait
> > speed," but this way
> > the higher number gives a faster speed, and at
> least
> > on a PC, the speed
> > that is wait 1/2 ends up looking very good.]]
> > 
> > 
> > to cartwheels [[for this we made more copies of
> the
> > person and rotated
> > each 90 degrees]]
> > setsh "person1 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > setsh "person3 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > setsh "person4 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > setsh "person5 wait (10 - speed) / 2
> > end
> > 
> > to throb [[version 1]]
> > setsize 30
> > setsize 35
> > setsize 40
> > setsize 45 (etc... up to:)
> > setsize 60 [[or whatever]]
> > setsize 55
> > setsize 50 (etc.)
> > end
> > 
> > to throb [[version 2... set the throb button to
> > "once," not "many
> > times"]]
> > if size > 60 [shrink stopme]
> > setsize size + 2 wait 1
> > throb
> > end
> > 
> > to shrink
> > if size < 20 [throb stopme]
> > setsize size - 2 wait 1
> > shrink
> > end
> > 
> > to move
> > seth 90
> > fd 1 (or whatever... remember to set the button to
> > "many times")
> > end
> > 
> > to hop
> > seth 20
> > glide 100 1
> > seth 160
> > glide 100 1
> > end
> > 
> > 12) Create a textbox and write something about
> > yourself.  Change the
> > text size, style and color.  Make the textbox
> > transparent.  Drag it away
> > from your animated body.
> > 
> > 13) optional:  Draw a background scene.
> > 
> > This project took about 4 sessions to complete. 
> It
> > introduced the
> > students to almost all of the multimedia
> > capabilities of MicroWorlds and
> > a few of the primitives.  The kids LOVED it!!!!
> > 
> > Later on they made animated stories in which they
> > imported each other's
> > silly bodies and had their cartoon friends
> peopling
> > their stories.
> > 
> > Another extension to this animated-self idea was
> to
> > apply the same
> > strategy to social studies projects, in which
> > students animated
> > something relevant to their studies, along with a
> > text box of
> > information.  For instance:  animated cave
> > paintings, or Egyptian
> > gods...  importing (and then adapting) graphics
> from
> > the Internet.
> > 
> > After the animation project, I always went into
> > turtle geometry, and the
> > kids were wowed by the power of MicroWorlds to
> > create exciting designs
> > with a few simple commands.  I'll save those
> starter
> > procedures for a
> > follow-up message.
> > 
> > You can also get quite a few ideas, I think, by
> > visiting the MicroWorlds
> > project areas of the two sites I've been working
> on
> > (below).
> > 
> > I'm sorry we were not more responsive to your
> first
> > request!!  In my
> > case I was indeed stumped by the Montessori
> tie-in. 
> 
=== message truncated ===


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