Exploring Visual Programming Stagecast Creator Tutorial, Activity II: Kids Smoking Cigarettes and Cigars on the Playground Visual Programming Group Center for Human-Computer Interaction Virginia Tech This tutorial is a draft of materials being developed as part of behavioral research underway in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech. It is provided on an "as-is" basis; however, we welcome comments and suggestions. Please direct any feedback to

n Open the Smoking Kids with Cigar simulation. n Now, Play this simulation. u How does this differ from the smoking kids simulation? What is causing the changes? Are they still smoking cigarettes? n Stop and then Reset the simulation. Cigarettes vs. Cigars

Making Cigar Smoke Rings n Cigar smoke different from cigarette smoke -- let’s make some cigar smoke rings. n Click the orange tab under the characters drawer to open it. u This is where characters are defined. One way to create a new one is by copying and then editing. n Click tool and then click the smoke character. Place the copy in the character drawer. n Select the name of your new character and change it to be cigar smoke. n Click the and then click on cigar smoke. n Using the, delete two of the appearances. Then click on the remaining appearance and then click. n Click on the paintbrush tool and make a series of rings. When you are finished making the thick dark smoke click.

Using Cigar Smoke n You have new smoke, but nothing in the world uses it. Let’s fix that. n Open the character window for cigar girl. u Look at the rules. Where do you think the cigar smoke is being made? n Double click on the Smoking rule and then. n We want to replace the cigarette smoke with cigar smoke. Open the action list using the orange tab on the right. n Use the tool to make a cigar smoke (in the character drawer). Drag the smoke into the square in the after picture that has the smoke. u An action creating the new smoke is added to the action list. n Drag the new action to the same position as the old action that creates cigarette smoke. n Use the to delete the old action. n Make the same changes with the Smoking-sick rule.

Making Cigarette Smoke Fade n Should the cigarette smoke stay around as long as the cigar’s? Let’s make the cigarette smoke disappear faster by fading out. n Click the and then on the cigarette smoke character in the drawer. n Click the button twice to create two new appearances. u We want to make two new “faded” appearances for the cigarette smoke. n Select picture 1, then pick a medium shade of gray. n Select the paint bucket tool and then click on the the smoke drawing to “fill” it with the new color. u You can also change the name of the new appearance if you want. n Do the same for picture 2 with an even lighter shade.

n Drag the cigarette smoke out of the drawer to stage. Right click to show all possible smoke appearances. Choose the one labeled smoke. n Click the and then stretch the spotlight up one block, then: u Drag the smoke to the upper block. u Change the appearance to medium gray smoke. u Change appearance again, to the lightest one. n Using the delete the smoke. n Click Adding the Fading Behavior

n Open the smoke character rules. u Can you find the rule that fades and erases the smoke? u Change the name of the new rule to Fading. n Click on the disable rule button and then click on the Erase rule. n the simulation to make sure your new rule works the way you want it to. u Your smoke should be getting lighter as it floats up. n When you are satisfied use the to delete the Erase rule for the smoke because you no longer need it. Editing Cigarette Rules

Adding a Teacher to Stop Kids from Smoking n Our kids are still on the playground smoking. At school if a teacher came near by, the kids would stop smoking so they wouldn’t get in BIG trouble. To turn this idea into a simulation you would have to … u Add a teacher to the Playground F There is a man in the character drawer. You may reuse him as your teacher or create your own from scratch. u Add rules to the teacher, so that they can walk around u Add a rule so that when the teacher is next to the kids they stop smoking F When the teacher comes near, you can just change the kids appearance to the face front appearance. n Now try to do it. Have fun and see if you can stop the kids from smoking. A real world teacher would make them stop to protect their health.