Workshop Report

From SuperMe

Our REU participants helped organize the 2008 Maine middle-school conference. (May 30, 2008)

• Block 1: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
  • Kara West: Real Science, Real data, Science Alive (D.P. Corbett 115)
  • Daniel Dorman: This is High School? Fun with Projectiles! (Jenness Hall - Soderberg Lobby)
    • "This is High School? Fun with Projectiles!" was an interactive presentation given to a number of middle school students. The presentation demonstrated some cool ways that computers can be used to do physics experiments. The presentation was broken up into three different groups, each one of them doing the same thing. Each group gathered around a table that had a projectile experiment set up on it. There was a cannon that could launch a projectile at three different speeds, a photogate sensor that could sense when the projectile was launched, and a landing pad touch sensor that could sense when the projectile hit the floor. The sensors were both connected to a peripheral data collection device, which was then connected to a computer. The cannons were all leveled horizontally, and the projectiles were launched at three different speeds, with the computer displaying the time from launch to landing at each speed. Before the experiment, the middle school students were asked to hypothesize which launching speed would cause the shortest time from launching to landing. The students hypothesized that the fastest speed would have the shortest air time, because it would be going faster and would thus land sooner. However, it turned out that all three different speeds had about the same airtime. This presentation was a good demonstration of the capabilities that computers have for running science experiments, and it introduced the middle school students to the wondrously fun subject of physics.
  • Omar Padron: Wii can Do it! Interactive Whiteboards for All! (Barrows Hall 221)
    • "Wii can Do it! Interactive Whiteboards for All!" focused on using the infrared sensors on the Nintendo Wiimote to create an interactive whiteboard. The setup made use of special software that allowed a marker fitted with sensors to communicate with the Wiimote, which relayed the communications to a computer. Several demo applications were also introduced, ranging from a digital canvas to a drum machine. Participants also fabricated their own pens for use with the setup using a marker, a soldering gun, a sensor, and several wires.
  • Wen Luo: Visualizing Mathematics: Using the free & Open Education Resurce Geogebra to Explore Interactive Investigations (Shibles 35)
    • This is a presentation on the open source software GeoGebra, which can be found at here. GeoGebra is a tool that enable students to visualizing geometry problem with graphs. One can draw a geometry graph with its algebraic equation and modify the graph with different parameters. The first half of the presentation introduced the GeoGebra. It is emphasised that GeoGebra is free and open interactive tool, that means everybody can give an effort to improve the Java based software. The second half of the presentation is some examples that students from Winslow Junior High School. The students showed what they have created with GeoGebra and told us how they did it. The presentation as a whole serves a purpose of encourage students to use GeoGebra and possibly give suggestions to improve the open interactive tool.
  • Andrew Pellett: Animating a Figure using Drawing Software (Jenness Hall 116)
    • This presentation introduced the middle school students and teachers to some very basic animation techniques through the use of a presentation program, Open Office Impress. The presenter, Floyd Wygant of Waterville Senior High School, led the students step-by-step through the animation of a tree going through the four seasons. The students learned how to create objects and manipulate their size and color over a series of slides. With the slides created, the presenter demonstrated to the students that an animation is simply a series of frames shown in rapid succession. This was done by quickly moving through a slide show of the slides. The students also received a packet of information which covered what they had done, as well as how to export the OOImpress frames and compile them into an iMovie video.
    • The presenter showed some animations that had been created for use in the classroom, including an animation of cell mitosis, in order to demonstrate the usefulness of simple animation.
  • Jessica David: You learned what on the computer? (Barrows Hall 130)
    • The focus of the students' presentation was to talk about their findings with phosphorus levels in ponds as well as simulated environments with bunnies. For the phosphorus levels presentation, the students used software called Ecobreaker Maine Explorer to learn how to improve water quality at a local lake.They were able to simulate increasing levels on phosphorus at a local lake effected by run off to see how the fish and environment would react. They showed videos on experiments they did in class, as well, doing a real-life simulation using milk cartons. Also, they did a "bunny" simulation program. They were able to program a bunny depending on what was in its environment at a certain square, as well as learning how to randomize its moves. A tarp was used in the classroom to demonstrate the situation in real life.
• Block 2: 10:40 AM - 11:40 AM,
  • All participants: Oh My Goodness! I Blew up the Screen! (Bruce Segee), Student Innovation Center
• Block 3: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
  • Timothy Russell: From creating your own computer game to doing your geometry homework - learn how to use MicroWorlds! (Shibles 35)
    • From creating your own computer game to doingyour geometry homework - learn how to use Mi-croWorlds!The focus of this presentation was teaching middle school students to useand gain familiarity with elements of the LOGO language. The presenterbegan with an introduction to LOGO and some examples of basic oper-ations, such as creating and moving turtles using menu buttons. Next,she introduced the console and covered some common commands, includ-ing movement, orientation, and writing commands. The students quicklygrasped these simple concepts, so they were moved onto so they were shownhow to program LOGO by writing simple functions, such as drawing squaresand circles with the turtle. I must say that I was happy to see that children are being introduced to programming concepts such as functions andscript-building at this stage in their education. And the children were veryreceptive to the instruction and the exercises; it was clear that they werehaving a good time and were absorbed in the process (though they might’vejust been happy to be out of class for the day!). Additionally, it was ob-vious from the outset that several of the students already had experiencewith LOGO, and a few actually talked about other languages that they hadused.
    • The instructor went on to show ways to manipulate the LOGO turtle,changing its speed, behavior, and avatar. Finally, she showed some of themore advanced features of LOGO, including: animation schemes, environ-ment building, and simple game design. At each stage of the instruction, thestudents were allowed to explore various aspects of the program and createtheir own projects. All of the instruction was apparently staged to end withthe students’ creation of a simple game, but time ran out before most ofthe students could appreciably begin. Still, the introduction of a program-ming environment, albeit a simple one, seemed well received by the students,and I believe that such an exposure will lay the foundation for some of thestudents motivation to pursue programming and computer science interests.1
  • Donald Lewis: Harness the Power of Data with Datastudio (Neville Hall 227)
    • I attended a presentation by Eric Chamberlin, a teacher from a Boothbay area high school. While I was assigned to a session called "Harness the Power of Data with Datastudio," the session in Neville Hall room 227 turned out to be about Comic Life. Comic Life is an application that is on all of the MLTI laptops that can be used by the students to create their own comics. It is a very easy to use application, and I noticed students were able to create simple comics within the first 15 minutes of the lecture.
    • Some applications for Comic Life, according to Mr. Chamberlin, included making story boards, slide shows, and even cover pages for English papers. The application seemed to be very simple, and I could see it being a rather fun way for students to apply their creativity. However, the program has a rather limited scope, and is primarily used for creating comics and comic type presentations. While this is good for middle school students, I do not think that this application is very useful in professional work.
  • Jennifer Brown: Way Too Much fun with Physics (D.P. Corbett 107)
    • The object of the workshop was to learn physics concepts through game play. The middle school students were directed to a website, Fun With Physics. The three basic physics concepts mentioned were velocity, gravity, and friction. We first watched two “Tech Dawg Tracks,” which were renderings of a freefall game called Line Rider. Next, students were given several challenges to complete in Line Rider, keeping physics in mind.
    • One issue which I found interesting was that a few teachers and students were initially blocked from game access on their laptops, even from educational games. The workshop coordinator mentioned that although he believes gaming to be of value in education, it is not often incorporated because most parents are critical of playing games in school.
    • Other note: I am now addicted to the Line Rider game.
  • Craig Harrison: Make a World of Difference: A My World andGoogle Earth Mashup (Shibles Hall 311)
    • The Make a World of Difference: A My World and Google Earth Mashup lecture was centered around the practical uses of GIS (geographic information system) data in an academic atmosphere. Students and teachers were shown how to use the My World application to generate unique maps from a large collection of GIS data, including political boundaries, geological features, cities, and census information. The selected GIS data were then manipulated using mathematics-related operations to tailor the information displayed to any specific needs. As an example students created a map of Maine, adding in selected features such as rivers, cities, and city labels. After laying out these maps in a presentable form students learned how to export their maps as JPEG images for simple inclusion in school projects. A demonstration was given showing how the exported maps can be loaded into Google Earth for a more dramatic presentation; students were able to replace the default images of Maine provided by the Google servers with their own Maine maps.