Wednesday+Tech

At the Project School, we will be using Macs and various software for student creativity.

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Lynda.com's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Essential Training Note: Watch these tutorials starting at Part 2 and follow along on a Mac, because there are some keyboard and mouse features which will be missed otherwise.

Google Sketchup
Sketchup allows you to create and view 3D models, primarily architectural ones.

Google Sketchup Blog: Tips and Tricks Note: There is also a section purely about Sketchup in education. The blog will also provide great examples of what Sketchup is capable.

Google's Sketchup Youtube Channel

Lynda.com's Sketchup Essential Training Note: On the Mac, Sketchup differs, such as with its shortcuts and menu. This tutorial series is done on Windows, so be sure to watch Part 1's //Tips for Mac users//.

SketchUp2India Note: These are written instructions for using Sketchup on Windows.

Alice
"Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience." -Alice.org

Alice comes with a tutorial, so start Alicing (not quite as catchy as using Google or Bing as verbs) to pull up the program's tutorial.

Alice.org's Frequently Asked Questions Note: This page offers technical advice on the program and interesting tidbits about the program itself.

Scratch
Scratch was developed by MIT students. Abilities: create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art to share online. Student Benefits: begin to "think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively." -Scratch Official Website

How to Create a Game Note: This //student production// covers the absolute basics of sprites, colors, backgrounds, sprite speech, and movements. More tutorials for games (Pokemon battle animation is particularly popular) can be found on Youtube.

[|http://learnscratch.org] This site is very easy to use and can give you a very basic overview of how to begin using Scratch. The video courses will take you through moving screen shots of the program as the speaker describes what is being done and demonstrates what the results will be for various actions when using Scratch. This is a great tool for users who work well with following along with a visual demonstration. This site also inclues basic lesson plans that can be used with students as you begin instructing them with Scratch. The lesson plans coincide with what you learn from watching the videos.