This week in class we have continued our work on our Scratch project on puberty to be published online. Most of us have gotten past a simple cover page and are now working on compiling our information in a both informative and fun way using the Scratch program. To accomplish this, we have had to put our minds together to figure out ways to properly program our websites to do what we want when clicked. At first, this process was fairly easy, but as we add more and more slides and information, the programming definitely becomes more of a challenge. However, we still have had fun working on these website together and tying in some fun aspects to make the website more enjoyable.
I have definitely noticed the Scratch programming process to become more complex, however, the more I work with the program the easier it becomes to navigate Scratch. I’ve learned that I have a fairly good grasp on the material and I enjoy explaining to other people how to work the website as well. As mentioned before, I have learned that less is definitely more. Providing less in the website makes the process a lot less complex and easier to navigate and understand. I am still enjoying the process of making these website and I can’t wait to have them finished and get to see the final product.
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This week we are farther on our lessons and we have started to make games for them. Blythe and I have joined forces on my lesson. We've decided that she would do the writing, I would draw the pictures, and we would both work on the games. So far we have the writing and a few pictures. Our lesson is about the changes girls can expect during puberty. It was originally my lesson, but I had a concussion and been getting bad migraines so Blythe is helping me out. This year, being a senior, I'm busy with a ton of homework and my Senior May Program assignments so Blythe is a huge help. So far, my favorite thing is working on the lesson and I can't wait for it to be all finished!
Since the start of the project we are working on, we have been focusing in more on each particular lesson assigned to us. The overall aspect of the lesson we are creating is teaching young girls about puberty. Not only are we teaching them about it and the changes you go through, but we are going into health issues, body image, reproduction, and how you can take care of yourself and others. The lesson that I have been working on is about basic reproduction, how the baby develops, birth control, and STDs and how to care for people with them. I started working on interactive games and creating lessons within Scratch. When creating the lessons we have to think about who we are giving them to, and for that we have to make fun and engaging activities that will also inform correctly. By going back and forth from a game to a page with information is the best way we think we can keep if fun and engaging. I am looking forward to working on my lessons and finding new and exciting ways to make the lessons interesting and interactive.
As someone in her third year of CSG’s OLPC program, my studies have become more independent, allowing me to dive into exactly what interests and inspires me the most. This past summer, I had the amazing experience of traveling to Ghana for 23 days to bring and install technology, including three “Internet-in-a-Box” (IIAB) systems, which are essentially digital libraries. Internet-in-a-Box provides people access to educational sites such as Khan Academy, Wikipedia, and Project Gutenberg who do not have access to the “real” Internet. I spent most of my time in Ghana teaching students and teachers alike how to use this technology to enhance their educations. For more information about my work in Ghana, feel free to visit the daily blog that I kept during my stay at http://technologyforghana.weebly.com/.
After returning from Ghana, one of my lingering questions was how I would best be able to continue my work with IIAB from Columbus, OH. In response to that question, I have decided to use my unique experience installing and teaching IIAB in Ghana to create a handbook on how to set up an Internet-in-a-Box system from start-to-finish, based on what I learned through my work (what went right, what went wrong, etc.). The hope is that this handbook will teach others how to to install and teach Internet-in-a-Box on their own. The closer Internet-in-a-Box comes to being a plug and play device, the easier it will be to install this technology in all parts of the world so that many people can benefit from it. My handbook is still very much in the works, but I have a working draft of many pages, and I am excited to see where it ends up! |
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Students will be blogging weekly throughout the school year as they prepare for the trip. Please check back occasionally for updates. Archives
May 2016
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