Weather Project

Applications Used

• GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
• Microsoft Power Point
• Firefox (Web browser)
• Moodle

Note: Each stage is roughly organized by the content and a particular task implicit in each session. This is not a chronological account. Each Stage took several days to be accomplished and the movement to the next stage was dictated by how well the majority of the students were able to follow along with the instruction and complete the task.

Stage 1

Students visited various sites to aquire information about their topic. Before the session, the Lab Administrator found various student friendly websites that could be used as research tools. These websites were then posted as links on this classes page on the lab intraweb site. The students were shown how to access this page and how to utilize the websites for information gathering. The students are also instructed in the procedure for downloading an image pertinent to the topic onto their computer.

Stage 2

Students are introduced to Moodle as a means of creating a classwide glossary of terms. Moodle is a freeware educational tool. It is internet based and opperates much like Blackboard or WebCT technologies. The students were instructed in how to log on to the Moodle site in order to create a glossary entry. Before this session, the Lab Administrator created an example entry that the students could investigate. Each entry was checked for spelling, and emphasis was placed on writing complete sentences. The students had to correctly enter a login name and password in order to save and access their Glossary definitions.

Stage 3

The students created GIF images that helped to illuminate their weather topic. The GIMP is a free program similar to Adobe Photoshop. It is a professional level program that can be explained to kindergarten students. The Lab Administrator demonstrated at the top of this session how a weather related image could be created using the tools and filters of the GIMP. The image used as a demonstration was that of a tornado. The files were then saved in GIF format, and each student was instructed in how to export their images in this manner. Special emphasis was placed on the location of the save, so that the students could find their images at a later date. Each E-Mac account has a "Pictures" folder preset, and this was used as the save location. Also, a unique name was used for each image for the same purpose.

Stage 4

Students used Microsoft Power Point to gather all of the work done thus far on the Weather project. The students were introduced to the basics of Power Point slide production. The Formating Palette was demonstrated and explained extensively. The students watched as the Lab Administrator demonstrated creating a slide for the images and text they generated so far. Students access moodle in order to copy the glossary definition they created. They also insert pictures created with the GIMP and downloaded using Firefox.