A Beginner’s Guide to Conducting an Alice Workshop Brenda Parker Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro TN

A Beginner’s Guide to A Beginner’s Guide to Conducting an Alice Conducting an Alice

WorkshopWorkshop

A Beginner’s Guide to A Beginner’s Guide to Conducting an Alice Conducting an Alice

WorkshopWorkshopBrenda Parker Brenda Parker

Middle Tennessee State UniversityMiddle Tennessee State University

Murfreesboro TNMurfreesboro TN

Alice Symposium - June 17, 2009 - Duke University

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Introduction• Why offer an Alice Workshop?• Planning the Workshop• Delivery of the Workshop• Survey Results and Follow-Up

Activities


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Why offer an Alice workshop?

• We live in a technological age.– Provides technological exposure to K-12 students– Most states need more advanced technological

education

• Computer programming is the new “computer literacy”

• Revolutionize the way programming is taught in the United States

• It’s the right thing to do!


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Planning the Workshop• Establish goals• How to seek funding• Who should attend• Publicizing the workshop• Research similar projects• Produce PowerPoint Presentation• Produce “hands-on” activities• Gather supplies


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Planning the Workshop• Establish Goals

– Make a list of workshop objectives• Participants will be able to:

– Create and play an Alice world– Understand basic concepts in programming– Know why students should use Alice– Know how to use Alice in the classroom– Guide students in creating Alice animations– Etc.


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Planning the Workshop• How to seek funding

– Departmental funding– Internal and external grants– Textbook publishers– College bookstores– Corporate donations


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Planning the Workshop• Determine workshop participants

– Middle/high school teachers– Middle/high school students– Math/science teachers?


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Planning the Workshop• Publicizing the Workshop

– Determine dates/times for the workshop– Create and publish an Alice web site– Design and print brochures for distribution– Produce application forms– Attend K-12 in-service training sessions– Give presentations at in-service training

sessions– Establish contact with education coordinators


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Planning the Workshop• Research similar projects

– http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice/– http://www.cis.uab.edu/programs/alice-

festival/– http://www.aliceprogramming.net/

workshop2008.html– http://visualization.sju.edu/newsletter.html– http://itestlrc.edc.org


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Planning the Workshop• Produce Presentation

– Divide presentation into components• Welcome and Introduction• Alice Basics (adding and placing objects)• Alice control Structures• Advanced Concepts

– Creating and calling functions– Creating events

• Using Alice in the Classroom– Presentation should meet the goals of the workshop


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Planning the Workshop• Produce “hands-on” activities

– Should be short and “manageable”


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Planning the Workshop• Gather supplies

– Flash drives– CD’s– Door prizes– Participation Certificates – Recruit student aids– Manage luncheon details– Award plaques or ribbons– Reserve laboratory facilities


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Delivery of the Workshop

• Welcome and Introduction– Indicate your state’s need for

computer programming– Indicate employment statistics– Show sample Alice animations


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• Presentation Components– Brief PowerPoint Presentation– Hands-on Activity– Brief component “test”


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• Alice Basics• Alice Control Structures• Advanced Concepts in Alice• Using Alice in the K-12 Classroom


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• Alice Basics– What is Alice?– Where to obtain Alice?– Alice environment– How to create a simple Alice

Animation


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Delivery of the Workshop – Alice Basics

• Hands-on Activities– Practice 1 – Open Alice, set defaults, click on

an object, examine properties and methods for the object

– Practice 2 – Create a new world, add at least 4 objects to the world, position the objects, rename the objects and save the world.

– Practice 3 – Click on an object, drag method for object, play and save the animation. Do this for 2 different objects.


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Delivery of the Workshop – Alice Basics

• Example: Practice 1 - Test Questions– How do we select an object?– Show names for the different areas of the

Alice window.– Name a property of the ground object.– Name a method listed for the light object.

• Test questions have point value• Purpose of test – aid students


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• Alice Control Structures– Do in order– Do together– Loop– Decision structures– Screen grab



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• Advanced Alice Concepts– Creating and calling custom methods– Using events– Managing the camera– Billboards– Scenes– Dummy camera


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• Using Alice in the K-12 Classroom– Very short lessons on Alice– Encourage lab time in pairs– Use Alice tutorials– Allow students to change previously

created worlds– Begin small – delay advanced concepts


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Using Alice in the K-12 Classroom• Example assignments

– Animation about math/science question– Create a space quiz– Create a video about a famous person– Book report– History Day project– Advertisements for school programs– Art classes


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Survey and Follow-up Activities

• Survey– Alice is easy to understand.– My students will benefit by using

Alice– I plan to discuss Alice with others.– I will use Alice in my classroom.


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Survey and Follow-up Activities

• Follow-up Activities– Keep in contact with the teachers– Request experiences with Alice– Conduct surveys after using Alice in

the classroom


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Summary• Planning workshop is very important!• Planning requires methodical efforts.• Is it worth it?• Advice:

– Plan well– Plan easy to follow steps for all

attendees.


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Brenda Parker - (615) 898-2389Email - [email protected] site: http://www.cs.mtsu.edu/~parker/Alice

Documents

A Beginner’s Guide to Conducting an Alice Workshop Brenda Parker Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro TN