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Teachers and students from across North Carolina learned the Alice programming language this summer during a workshop and camp at Duke University with support from the National Science Foundation and IBM. Alice uses simple commands to animate student-created movies and video games. According to the workshop organizer, Dr. Susan Rodger from Duke University, “Middle school students don’t really know what computer science is about. Alice is changing that by attracting both boys and girls with its virtual worlds storytelling and interactive capabilities. Our workshop showed that Alice can be used for problem solving and presentations in different disciplines such as math, science, English, art, business, and history.”

Students and teachers alike were drawn to the visual format. Tom Robertson, a middle school mathematics and technology teacher from Asheville, said, “This summer I had the opportunity to observe middle school students using Alice to build creative 3-dimensional interactive worlds. They were completely engrossed in the task at hand: computer programming. Clearly, Alice was providing a technology experience that went beyond the typical PowerPoint presentation.” Janie Torain, a business teacher from Person High School in Person County, agreed. She noted that students in her class will use Alice Programming software to explore multimedia production while creating presentations in a ”FUN-damentally’ different and more enjoyable way than ever before.”

Teachers from many disciplines beyond technology and career education connected with Alice. Math teacher Bridgette Scott created a world for teaching the coordinate plane. Math teacher Cheri Grantlin from Durham plans to integrate Alice into creating engaging class starters. Nashville science teacher Alisa White noted Alice’s assessment possibilities. She said, “Worlds created by middle school students effectively promote interdisciplinary understanding, problem solving and learning fundamental concepts in life, earth, and physical science within a short period of time. It is a great assessment tool.”

Humanities teachers recognized Alice as a way to encourage student creativity and engage students with literature. According to Person County teacher Andrea Payne, “Alice slows the thinking down and helps a child think about ‘thinking about.’ Storyboarding takes thoughts from abstract to concrete. This is how screenwriters do it: they storyboard.”

For students, the most important aspect of Alice was the opportunity for self-expression. Jesse, a middle school student at the camp, said, “It’s interactive; that’s cool. It’s open - you know - there’s a lot you can do with it.” Brittany, another middle schooler, was looking forward to using Alice for projects. She said, “I like that you can actually create your own ideas and express yourself and have fun with it.”

Teachers who are interested in Alice can download free middle school lesson plans and materials from the Duke workshop. -DR. SUSAN RODGER

Note: This article was put together by Dr. Susan Rodger and several teachers attending the Adventures in Alice Programming Workshop held at Duke University in June and July 2008.

Alice (free download)

Free Alice lesson plans for middle school

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Got an Itch for Creative Learning Tools? Scratch It!

Get Pro Developer and Design Tools for Free with Microsoft DreamSpark

Johnny Lee, a YouTube personality and “human-computer interaction researcher” is changing the way we use existing technology through simple modifications, and he’s sharing it with everyone. This amazing demo proves that using something as inexpensive and highly obtainable as the Wii Remote, he can create an interactive whiteboard. Lee explains that while the whiteboard isn’t exactly the quality of it’s $3000 likeness, you’ll still get “80% there for about 1% of the cost.” He notes that teachers are able to access this technology for use in their classrooms, and many already are.

Lee makes no qualms about making this sort of technology available for anyone who wants it. He’s put the software on his website, and at the time of this demo, it had been downloaded half a million times. View the demo for the full extent of what other uses Lee is finding for the technology, and visit his website if you want to learn more. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Johnny Lee’s $40 Interactive Whiteboard

Johnny Lee Computer-Human Interaction Researcher

I’m about to make a bold prediction: computers will play a big role in society in the future. Remember, you heard that here first.

And since learning computers is so important, give your students a chance to acquire advanced technology skills like programming and Web design and development. If you have any aspiring programmers or Web designers in your midst, they’ll definitely want to know about Microsoft DreamSpark. College students can download professional-quality development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio, and XNA Game Studio 2.0, which students can use to build games for Windows and their Xbox 360.

You have to be a college student to get these for free. While that excludes a lot of your students, this offer is perfect for your graduating seniors, as well as any grads from last year who you still keep in touch with. Hey, if you’re completing your student teaching, or you’re getting your masters, this stuff might be for you, too.

I know this probably sounds like crazy talk, but trust me. Computers are gonna be huge. Huge, I tell you. And now that you’re wise to this new trend, you may as well clue your students in about it, too. -BILL FERRIS

Microsoft DreamSpark

Imagine a world where school children could develop their own code to produce original content for the web. Now look around you because you are living in that world. Scratch is an application developed by MIT to allow children (of all ages) to create their own interactive games, stories, and other media with the ease of putting blocks together.

Children are exposed to media that was previously inaccessible to those of us who grew up before the internet, so it’s about time that someone put the right tools in their hands to create and not just watch. Not only that, but Scratch is an amazing learning tool. A free download gets you the software to begin creating right away. The web site offers tutorials to get you started, because if you are not used to this sort of interface (I wasn’t) you might need a push.

The program implements “sprites,” which contain far less sugar than the bottled version, and building blocks to allow users to create stories, games, and learning tools. The cartoon “sprites” are merely templates, though, as Scratch is highly customizable, therefore something that will adapt to your learning level.

Scratch offers the perfect way for students and teachers to interact with a medium that might be unfamiliar to either, and therefore learn together. You can also share your content with others, creating a specialized network for kids, teachers, and parents alike. If this technology continues, your 10 year old might be asking for more RAM for his birthday instead of some ridiculous toy robot. –JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Scratch