1. Workshop Using Alice to Stimulate Learning in STEM July 7, 2008 Brenda Parker Computer Science Department MTSU

2. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop2 Welcome MTSU Computer Science Department Computer Lab – KOM 360 Alice Workshop

3. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop3 Introduction Introduce yourself to your neighbor Prepare to introduce your neighbor to the class –Name –School –Interesting fact!

4. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop4 Rules Feel free to take a break when needed Restrooms are out the door to your left in the main hallway Feel free to ask questions

5. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop5 Purpose of Workshop Why is Computer Science Department interested in an Alice Workshop for K-12 teachers? –We live in a technological age. –Tennessee is lacking in producing a technological literate workforce! –Computer programs are everywhere –Programming is the new computer literacy! –Having a technology literate workforce will be necessary for continued economic growth.

6. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop6 Purpose of Workshop Indicate methods for improving technological literacy in K-12 schools Provide networking facilities among K-12 educators and the Computer Science department at MTSU Show how the Alice tool can be used to improve K-12 education (math and science)

7. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop7 Purpose of Workshop Why should we attempt to improve technological literacy? –K-12 students MUST become more computer literate to meet the technological demands of the future

8. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop8 Workshop Agenda Short explanations on Alice will be given Practice sessions will be interspersed during the day Short test after each practice session Participants will be asked to demonstrate their creations

9. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop9 Part I – Alice Basics Alice Workshop What is Alice? Why use Alice? Alice Basics – The Alice Environment Example Worlds Alice Texts

10. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop10 What is Alice? Software –Free –Educational programming language –Named after Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland –offered by Carnegie Mellon University –Download at http://www.alice.org

11. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop11 What is Alice? Software –uses a 3D programming environment –makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. –designed to be a student's first exposure to programming. –allows students to populate a virtual world with objects (people, animals, vehicles, etc) and animate the objects

12. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop12 What is Alice? Software –Allows the creation of passive and interactive animations Passive animations (watch the resulting video) Interactive animation (user participates in the animation – game)

13. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop13 Why use Alice? provides students with a fun way to reinforce concepts studied in class encourages creativity promotes technological literacy improves logical thinking gives a gentle introduction to programming( the new computer literacy)

14. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop14 Alice Basics Environment How to Create a Passive Animation How to Create an Interactive Animation

15. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop15 Object Tree Details Panel Method Editor Events Editor

16. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop16 Environment Object Tree Window Lists the predefined objects in the world –Camera –Light –Ground Lists objects placed by the user –Penguin –Snowman

17. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop17 Environment Details Panel Window Shows information about selected object in the Object Tree Properties –Tell color, size, etc Methods –Each method does something (shows what the object can do) –Penguin.flapWings Functions –Each function returns something Penguin’s width is 18.

18. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop18 Practice I 1.Place USB drive into your computer. 2.Open Alice 3.Close the Welcome Window 4.Set defaults 5.Click on an object in the Object Tree 6.Examine the Properties, Methods and Functions associated with the selected object

19. Practice I Test 1. C D A B

20. Practice Test I 2. What is the purpose of the “methods” tab? (1 pt) 3. What is the difference between “methods” and “functions”? (1 pt) 4. Name a property of the ground object. (1 pt) 5. Name a method listed for the camera object. (1 pt) 6. Name a function listed for the light object. (1 pt) 7. How do we select an object? (1 pt) 8. In the above picture, which object is selected? (1 pt)

21. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop21 Alice Basics How to Create Passive Animations 4 Step Process to create an animation –STEP 1: Choose a world –STEP 2: Choose objects for your world –STEP 3: Choose activities (methods) for your objects –STEP 4: Play your animation

22. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop22 STEP 1 Choose your world environment 1.Click File  New World 2.Click Templates 3.Click desired World 4.Click OPEN

23. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop23 STEP 2 Choose Objects for your world 1.Click “Add Objects”

24. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop24 STEP 2 Choose Objects for your world 2.Choose “Local Gallery” ST

25. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop25 STEP 2 Choose Objects for your world 3. Choose desired4. Choose desired gallery object

26. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop26 STEP 2 Choose Objects for your world 5. Click “Add instance to World”

27. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop27 STEP 2 Choose Objects for your world 6. Name objects if desired! Right click on object in the object tree and choose rename

28. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop28 Step 2 Choose Objects for your world 7. Position objects in your world -Use “Click and Drag” -Use sub-circuit buttons”

29. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop29 Step 2 Add Objects to your World 8. Click when all objects have been added and positioned.

30. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop30 Practice II 1.Click File  New World 2.Choose Templates 3.Choose a World 4.Add Objects- Add at least 2 animals + 2 Nature 5.Position Objects 6.Rename objects, if desired 7.Click DONE 8.Save your world on your flash drive and call it workshop1.a2w (File  Save World)

31. Practice II Test 1. Name two classes found in the animal gallery. (1 pt) 2. What is the first step in creating an animation in Alice? (1 pt) 3. Name three types of worlds users may choose from when creating an animation. (3 pts) 4. What does “passive” animation mean? (1 pt) 5. Explain how to rename an object.(1 pt) 6. What do the following mouse controls buttons do? (3 pts) 7. What button should be pushed when all objects have been added and positioned? (1 pt) 8. How can you change the color of an object in your world? (1 pt)

32. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop32 Step 3 Choose activities (methods) for your objects 1.Click on desired object in the Object Tree. 2.Choose desired method from the list of Methods. 3.Drag the desired method to the Editor Window.

33. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop33 Step 3 Choose activities (methods) for your objects 1.Click on desired object in the Object Tree.

34. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop34 Step 3 Choose activities (methods) for your objects 2. Click METHODS and choose desired method from the Method List for that object.

35. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop35 Step 3 Choose activities (methods) for your objects 3. Drag the desired method to the Editor Window.

36. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop36 Step 4 Play Animation Example Animations edwards.html Snow_Man_Story.html

37. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop37 Practice III 1.Click on one object 2.Click and drag 2 methods for that object to the Editor Window 3.Click on another object 4.Click and drag 2 methods for that object to the Editor Window 5.Play your video! 6.Save your world!

38. Practice III Test 1.When creating activities for the objects in your world, you must first ___________________________. (1 pt) 2. Which tab in the Details Panel should be chosen when choosing activities for the objects in your world? (1 pt) 3. When choosing activities for your objects, you should drag the desired _____ from the ______________ to the ___________(3 pts) 4.. What button should be selected to actually see your animation? (1 pt) 5. How many methods can be placed in the Editor Window? (2 pts)

39. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop39 FYI It is easy to create a picture from your Alice world. How? 1.Tell Alice where to save your picture (File  Edit  Preferences  Screen Grab  Indicate location  OK) 2.Click Play 3.Click Pause 4.Click Take Picture

40. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop40 Alice Texts Dann, Wanda, Cooper, Stephen, Pausch, Randy, Learning to Program with Alice, Pearson Prentice Hall Gaddis, Tony, Starting Out with Alice,Addison Wesley

41. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop41 Part II- Control Structures Alice Workshop Do in order Do together Loop Decision Structure

42. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop42 Control Structures Do in order –Instructions placed inside this structure will be executed in the order that they appear –Example:

43. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop43 Control Structures Do in order –Advantage Easy to learn about sequential logic Easy to delete a group of statements

44. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop44 Control Structures Do together –Allows multiple actions to occur at the same time –Provides an interesting effect! –Example: 4 penguins form a chorus line!

45. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop45 Control Structures Loop –Easy way to perform same instructions multiple times

46. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop46 Control Structures If Else

47. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop47 Example chorusline.a2w chorusline2.a2w

48. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop48 Practice IV 1.Add two control structure to your object 2.Use Loop or Do together or Do in order 3.Save your video 4.Play your video 5.Save a picture, if desired!

49. Practice IV Test 1. How do you change the default settings in Alice? (2 pts) 2. What is the purpose of “Screen Grab”? (1 pt) 3. Why would you want to change the default setting in Alice? (1 pt) 4. Name two advantages for using the “Do in order” control structure. (4 pts) 5. What is the purpose of the “Do together” structure? (1 pt) 6. What is a “Loop”? (1 pt) 7. Where on the Alice screen are the control structures located? (1 pt) 8. Name 4 control structures found in Alice. (4 pts) 9. How do you save a picture of your world in Alice? (2 pts) 10. When instructed to do so, where does Alice save a picture of your world? (2 pts) 11. When a world picture is saved, what file name is the picture given? (2 pts)

50. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop50 LUNCH KOM 321

51. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop51 Part II Advanced Concepts in Alice World Custom Methods Manipulating the Camera Event Programming

52. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop52 World Custom Methods Created by the user Used to break up large complex methods into smaller more manageable methods Example: Our penguin world method was getting large – let’s divide it up!

53. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop53 Penguin Storyboard 4 penguins bow 4 penguins dance simultaneously 4 penguins bow Let’s create a method called bow and a method called dance

54. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop54 Custom World Method How to create and use Custom World Methods 1.Name the method 2.Write the method 3.Call the method

55. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop55 Custom World Method 1.Name the method 1.Click on World in the Object Tree 2.Click on create new method in the World’s Details Panel 3.Name the method

56. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop56 Custom World Method 2. Write the method Place desired methods in the new method editor window Example (use methods to lower and raise the penguins’ heads)

57. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop57 Custom World Method 3. Call the method. Click on world object and click on world.myfirst method tab. Drag method to the editor window

58. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop58 Practice V 1.Add a custom world method to your Alice world. –Click world in the Object Tree –Click create new method –Name the method (give it a good name) –Write the method –Call the method from world.myfirstmethod 2.Play the new video 3.Save the video

59. Practice V Test 1.What is the difference between “primitive” methods and custom methods? (1 pt) 2. Give two reasons that custom methods are often used in Alice, (4 pts) 3. What is the name of the method that is executed when your animation first begins? (1 pt) 4. What are the three steps for creating custom world methods? (3 pts) 5.What does “call” the method mean? (2 pts) 6. How are custom methods “called”? (1 pt)

60. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop60 How to Create Interactive Animation Event Programming Interactive –User participates while the video is playing –When the user clicks mouse or presses a key, an event occurs. Example: Typing lesson (cat.a2w)

61. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop61 Event Programming 1.Click “create new event” in the Events Editor Window 2.Choose desired event 3.Create methods to handle each event 4.Play and save video

62. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop62 Example: cat.a2w

63. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop63 World.T method

64. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop64 Practice VI Add an Event to your Alice world –Create a new world method to be executed when the event occurs and name it properly –Drag the instructions for the new method to the editor window –Click “create new event” in the Events Editor window –Choose desired event and make sure the new world method is called when the event occurs Play animation Save and Play your animation

65. Practice VI Test 1. What is the difference between “interactive” and “passive” animations? (1 pt) 2. Interactive animations are created in Alice creating a/an ___________.(1 pt). 3. _________________ run __________________ when certain things happen like a key is pressed or the mouse is clicked. on an object. 4. Show the specific instruction that should be used for each of the following scenarios. (1 pt each) a. We wish to move a penguin when a number is typed on the keyboard b. We wish to move a penguin when the mouse is click on the penguin c. We wish to allow the mouse to move the penguin d. We wish the arrow keys to move the penguin. e. Allow the mouse to control the camera location 5. If we want a custom method called “jump” to be executed each time the mouse is clicked on a penguin, what must we do first? (1 pt)

66. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop66 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Advice Math Science

67. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop67 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Advice –Give VERY short lessons on Alice –Encourage lab time in pairs –Alice has excellent tutorials –Allow students to change previous worlds –Begin small Delay or omit custom functions Do very little Control Structures Event programming is more difficult

68. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop68 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Advice After downloading Alice, change the default setting, if desired. Click EDIT  Preferences on the menu

69. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop69 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Advice – Changing Preferences

70. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop70 Part III Using Alice in the classroom MATH - SCIENCE –Display math/science question and allow users to answer the question (mathquiz.a2w and mathquiz2.a2w ) –Create conversations between objects (spacequiz.a2w) –Create stories of famous mathematicians/scientists

71. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop71 mathquiz2.a2w Creating a movie file with Alice mathquiz2.avi HINT: I used AviScreen Classic available from www.bobyte.com to produce the avi file!www.bobyte.com

72. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop72 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Suggestions given by 8 th Graders –Book Reports –Use as a visual in their History Day projects –Create character education movies for younger children –Create advertisements for school program (fundraisers, field trips, special events)

73. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop73 Part III Using Alice in the classroom Suggestions given by 8 th Graders –Any/all class projects (science, social studies, etc.) –A new media for Art classes –Public service announcements (a way to teach handbook rules)

74. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop74 Other Alice Features Import sound into an Alice World Export as a web page Export as a movie Record sound to be placed in the animation Create games Move camera Create Billboards

75. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop75 Part IV References http://aliceprogramming.net –Helpful information on Teaching with Alice http://alice.org –Download Alice http://visualization.sju.edu –Archive of Alice newsletters, grants, useful information

76. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop76 Part IV References http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice/ –Workshop materials & tutorials http://www.cis.uab.edu/programs/alice -festival/http://www.cis.uab.edu/programs/alice -festival/ –Alice Contest in UAB

77. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop77 Part IV References http://www-groups.dcs.st- and.ac.uk/~history/BiogIndex.htmlhttp://www-groups.dcs.st- and.ac.uk/~history/BiogIndex.html –Index of famous Mathematicians http://www.alice.org/kelleher/storyt elling/index.htmlhttp://www.alice.org/kelleher/storyt elling/index.html –Download StoryTelling Alice (appeals to middle school students)

78. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop78 Part IV References http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/des/demos/ Animations.htmlhttp://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/des/demos/ Animations.html –Screen shots of student Alice worlds http://www.cis.uab.edu/gray/Pubs/npr-4- 3-07.mp3http://www.cis.uab.edu/gray/Pubs/npr-4- 3-07.mp3 –Interview on NPR radio regarding UAB’s K-12 outreach efforts in Alabama (5 minute discussion on CS education, job market, Alice)

79. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop79 Part IV References Randy Pausch – Carnegie Mellon professor gives The Last Lecture with comments regarding Alice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5 _MqicxSohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5 _MqicxSo

80. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop80 Class Demonstrations Volunteers????

81. July 7, 2008Brenda Parker - Alice Workshop81 Evaluation and Door Prizes Thank you for your support today! Hope you can use Alice to encourage technological literacy and at the same time reinforce topics discussed in your classroom.