G9 Tech Class #38

Due to TAKS and STAAR testing we will have classes as follows:

• 1st period in DP1
• 3rd period in room #205

If you have not submitted Design stage on April 24, you can turn it in today for 50% of the grade. For details on Design stage please visit: G9 Tech Class #36

Today we will start working on Plan stage.

In Plan stage you will be defining what will be done, when, how, by who and with what resources. 

Focus on the process of creation of the final product: 

A public announcement for young children that relates to at least 5 Learner Profile Traits and is made in Alice.

Remember to include:

• a detailed step by step list of instructions to put together your animation  (like giving very detailed instructions for someone else to do it for you!) 
• a detailed timeline (for the process of building/creation): include a Gantt and/or a CPM (Critical Path Method usually used together with PERT) 
• what resources you will be using
• Look at Due Dates for Project 3 and plan accordingly.
• For more info on Plan stage and tools to complete it, please revisit: G9 Tech Class #10

Complete your Process Journal! Make your daily record of what you  learnt/progressed today.

G9 Tech Class #37

Due to TAKS and STAAR testing we will have class in DP1.

Today we will continue working on Design stage. Please visit G9 Tech Class #36 to review the expectations for this stage.


Look at Due Dates for Project 3 and plan accordingly. Design stage is due today.

Don't forget to make your journal entry of the day. Based on today's progress, I would suggest including the sketches of your designs as visual evidence!

G9 Tech Class #36

Following the Due Dates for Project 3 we will start working on Design stage today.


Please organize your group members' roles to start working on Design stage. 

For this stage, remember to come up with different options for your public announcement, and choose one.

Include a variety of different designs for you public announcement/animation (at least 3)

Include a sketch for each design

Explain every part of each design

For explaining your designs, please use different techniques like story boards, graphs, labelled diagrams with explanations, etc.

Evaluate each design critically against the design specifications (assess what design specs that you listed in Investigation stage, each design meets or not)

Choose one design to program using Alice

Justify your choice of design that you will be programming

Look at Due Dates for Project 3 and plan accordingly.

Don't forget to make your journal entry of the day. Based on today's progress, I would suggest including the sketches of your designs as visual evidence!

G9 Tech Class #35

Continuing with what we worked on last class: G9 Tech Class # 34 please complete your Investigation stage.


Remember that:

• you can use the G9 Shared doc on Investigation Draft as a starting point to complete your Investigation stage
• follow the Due Dates for Project 3 to stay on task
• include the Assignment Standards
• check the  Design Folder Checklist to cover all the content expected for Investigation
• submit your complete Investigation stage today following the steps to submit and assignments posted in the MYP Technology website.

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G9 Tech Class # 34

Continuing in our Project 3, we will specify a couple details regarding the project.

The challenge: Make a public announcement that integrates the IB Learner Profile Traits for a young children audience using Alice.

To complete your Investigation stage, please include:

• state the problem - > 'Challenge'
• design brief
• relate to yourselves, community and AOIs
• answer guiding questions listed in G9 Tech Class #32
• add your own questions (at least 4)
• interview/ask our PYP teachers what information/announcement they suggest you can portray to their students
• investigate what are public service announcements and how they work
• include examples of public announcements
• Some Design specs are the following, but you need to add your own:
• announcement (animation/game) should be aprox 2 minutes long
• use at least 5 of: Do Together, Loop, If/Else, Do in Order, While, For all in order, For all together
• include at least: 5 objects, 10 methods and 3 events
• you can use the G9 Shared doc on Investigation Draft to complete your Investigation stage
• follow the Due Dates for Project 3 to stay on task
• include the Assignment Standards
• check the  Design Folder Checklist to cover all the content expected for Investigation

G9 Tech Class #33

Today we will continue learning about Alice.

• launch Alice in your laptop
• visit the Tutorial (if you have not done so before)
• load one of the worlds that already contains a few objects, for example: Ice
• add an object to your 'Alice world'. You can use the online gallery of objects and drag and drop it in the 'Alice world.' For example: a skater
• test the methods the object knows (use right click on the object to call the object's methods)
• by selecting the object in the object tree we will get a list of the animations the object knows how to do) 
• to get the object to 'move', drag move on to your MyFirstAnimation. 
• when you drop 'move' you will get a menu to specify the details. For example: Forward, 1 meter
• test by Playing your world and see what the skater does. 

to continue with sequencial programming we will add more:

• make the skater turn left 1 revolution (complete turn)

what does the skater do now?

To address concurrency, we can make the skater perform two activities simultaneously:

• Use Do Together to execute all the methods inside simultaneously:
• at the same time the skater moves forward, make her raise her left leg

To address repetition, you can make the skater turn multiple times

• Use Loop to make the skater  turn 3 times.

If you would like the skater to perform a task based on specific situation, you can use If 

Please continue to test different ideas!

For today, please create a method  that will have the following specifications:

• use an existing world
• insert an object
• make the object perform at least 5 different things
• use Do Together, If and Loop for the object to compete a specific task (retrieve another object, perform an action: skate, dance, walk, etc)

G9 Tech Class #32

Today we will experience how to create programs on a TI 93 Graphing Calculator. Please follow the links to view the exercises:

• TI program herons
• Making a Program that calculates the length of the hypotenuse given the lengths of the 2 legs

If you are able to use the specific programming instructions and you get to the expected results, take a picture of the calculator (& yourself if you want to) to add to your Process Journal as evidence! :-)


Continuing with what we began last class G9 Tech Class #31, we will move forward developing Investigate stage.

Remember to visit the official Alice Site and the Alice Blog to get started. You can download Alice from Download Alice 2.2 if you will be using your own laptop. Once it is installed, launch it and visit the Tutorial :-)

At this point, focus on the following parts of Investigation:

Continue looking into the following:

• What is a programming language?
• What is Alice?
• Who created Alice?
• What is Alice for?
• When was Alice first released?
• What is Alice's interface like?
• What other Programming languages does Alice relate to?
• How many versions have been released?
• add your own questions... (at least 3 or 4)

For Investigation stage, please: 

• Get in new groups with people who you have not worked with before
• Use the listed questions (in red) as an introduction to Project 3: Investigation
• When working on your Investigation stage  document, please remember to:
• include the Assignment Standards
• check the  Design Folder Checklist to cover the following Investigation stage content: 
1. What do you think you will learn during this project?
2. Relate it to yourself, the society, AOIs
3. Answer the questions to begin your research
4. Add more questions
5. Cite your sources
6. Include your reflections on the two activities we did last class: Taboo & Giving the 'robot' instructions.
• You can use the G9 Shared doc on Investigation Draft as a starting point
• Following the Due Dates for Project 2 to stay on task.
• This part of Investigation stage is due today!

Don't forget to make your Process Journal journal entry of the day. 

G9 Tech Class #31

Today we will start our Project 3:  3D programming

Today we will start investigating the basic concepts of this specific programming language: Alice. But let's start at the beginning and think about: how do we give (step by step) instructions? 

Let's see this example: Making Smores 

We will Play Taboo and Give the teacher- Robot instructions to get started.


What are your thoughts on these two activities?

Next ideas to explore: 

• what is programming? 
• what is a programming language?

Some context info regarding 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. 

"What Is Alice?" Alice.org. Carnegie Mellon University, 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=what_is_alice/what_is_alice>

You can visit the official Alice Site and the Alice Blog to get started. You can download Alice from Download Alice 2.2 if you will be using your own laptop.


Look for the following information:

• What is a programming language?
• What is Alice?
• Who created Alice?
• What is Alice for?
• When was Alice first released?
• What is Alice's interface like?
• What other Programming languages does Alice relate to?
• How many versions have been released?

Today we will start working with Investigation

• Get in new groups with people who you have not worked with before
• Get started focusing on the listed questions (in red) as an introduction to Project 3: Investigation stage
• When starting your Investigation stage  document, please remember to:

• include the Assignment Standards
• check the  Design Folder Checklist to make sure your Investigation stage will be complete.
• You can use the G9 Shared doc on Investigation Draft as a starting point

Don't forget to start your Process Journal adding journal entry of the day.

G9 Tech Class #30

Tech Class #30! yahoo!
Today I will be away at a conference. Please work on Evaluate stage.


Evaluate stage is due today (11.59pm):  

• Include feedback received/experienced (if any) when the stock tracker spreadsheet was used/tested.
• Analyse results of questionnaires (if any) for testing your spreadsheet.
• Include a detailed evaluation of your performance at each stage of the design cycle by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each stage. 
• Include ideas on how each stage could have been improved.
• Compare the predicted time plan (original Gantt chart/timeline) with the actual and gave reasons for the changes (if any) - include original timeline and actual changes.
• Compare the chosen Design with the actual final spreadsheet and give reasons for the changes (if any) - include original sketch and pic of final spreadsheet.
• Include a discussion on the impact of the product on yourselves, others and/or the environment.

Remember that you can an always use the Design Folder Checklist to make sure your Evaluate stage is complete.

G9 Tech Class #29

Following our G9 Due dates webpage, today is Presentation Day!!! Be prepared to show and explain your final Stock Shares Tracker in 5 minutes:

• built, 
• operational,
• what did you do to track your shares?
• what spreadsheet features did you use to track your shares?
• how much did you invest in each one? Why?
• did you make a "profit"?
• talk about the process of creation
• issues you had to overcome
• timeline and your time management
• group work
• strengths / weaknesses / areas of improvement
• Q&A mini session

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April 1st: Watch the following new uploaded Google videos