Script For MetaMind Software's Educational Demo of Dock'Em™
January 20, 1997
Must use ODFLibrary version 1.2 or later.
The following editors must be installed to complete all the steps in the demo: Cyberdog™, Corda's CTextbox™ and CTable™, MetaMind's Dock'Em™, Hutching's Rapid-I™ Button, and LNCSim Colored Beams.
Dock'Em™ is available from our web site: www.MetaMindSoft.com. You will need the full version to perform the steps in this demo. However the completed document is available for viewing with the Viewer, available for free from the website.
Cyberdog™ is available from Apple Computer: www.apple.com
CTextbox™ and CTable™ is available from Corda: www.corda.com
Rapid-I™ Button is available from Hutchings software: www.hutchings-software.com
Hutchings also has available several bundles of parts for sale, including Rapid I™, Dock'Em™ and the Corda parts. Other bundles contain other parts. Bundling provides users with an inexpensive way to obtain a large number of parts.
LNCSim Colored Beams is being shipped with this demo. It is an alpha version of software, has not been throughly tested, and may crash your machine if used in ways not intended with this demo. Please see the license agreement for this product.
Context:
Using Dock'Em™ as our page layout program and OpenDoc container, we are going to construct a document representing an activity that a science teacher might use for his or her class. The focus of the activity is on Colored Shadows. After being introduced to the topic, students will make predictions and carry out observations using a special simulator. Then they will have the opportunity to carry out optional experiments and use the World Wide Web to gather additional information.
Preparations:
Open the folder "Color Shadow Demo in Pieces." (Henceforth, all references to "drag and drop" will refer to items to be dragged out of this folder and into the Dock'Em document. Each item is numbered according to the page in which it will be "dropped.")
Script:
(1) Launch the stationery "Dock'Em™ Page Pad"
(2) Indicate that Dock'Em, like all Page Layout programs has Master Pages. Using the page turner in the lower left corner, turn to the left to the Master Page.
(3) If we were preparing a presentation, we would hide the paper on every page we use. To show how we could do this, hide the paper using the menu item, "Hide the Paper", under the "Page" menu.
(4) Open the toolbox using the menu item, "Show Tools", under the "Content" menu. Select a light gold color from the Fill color palette accessible by clicking on the large colored square in the toolbox. Choose the menu item "Set Canvas color" under the "Page" menu.
(5) Since we intend to construct a document that could be printed, as well as be viewed electronically, we would like to keep the paper in view. Highlight "Show the Paper" under the "Page" menu.
SAVE the document, naming it "Color Shadows Activity".
Turn to page 1.
(6) We want to construct a title for this activity. Select the label tool (the yellow tool) in Dock'Em's toolbox and drag out a label rectangle about five inches long at the top of the page. Type the text "Colored Shadows". Select all the text, and using the "Label" menu change the size to 24 and the style to Bold, and then Shadow. With the text still selected, click-hold in the center of the Fill color palette in the toolbox and choose red for the text color. Mention that most of the remaining text that will be shown in this document was constructed using the text tools available within Dock'Em.
(7) To provide motivation for students, you might make a short Quicktime movie illustrating the phenomena that they will be exploring. Drag and drop 1, Colored Shadow Movie in the area below the title. After the movie is embedded, click on it to focus it and then play it.
(8) Scroll down the page, then drag and drop 1, Introduction. This provides a brief textual introduction to what follows.
(9) Create a new page (page 2) by clicking on the + tool at the bottom (to the right of the page number). Mention that after the document is finished you can lock the page creation and page deletion buttons. Show this option at the bottom of the "Page" menu (but do not do anything).
(10) Drag and drop 2, Prediction onto the empty page. The resulting colored text and pictures will take up about 2/3 of the page. Mention that science investigations involve making predictions, and so we now must provide a context in which students make a prediction about overlapping beams of colored lights. Scroll down as necessary to read through the page. At the bottom is a white square which you will need to color with your prediction. To do that, select your predicted color from the fill color palette on the toolbox. Then click on the rectangle tool (on the left side of the toolbox) and draw your colored square on top of the white square.
(11) Create a new page (page 3).
(12) Mention that to test our prediction we will use a special OpenDoc Live Object, called a simulator, that was developed by a Moscow (Russia) software company called Physicon for an educational project here in the United States, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Drag and drop 3, Observation at the top of the page. This provides instructions for using the simulator.
(13) Scroll down and drag and drop 3, Beam Simulator into the space just below the previous text and pictures. To make the simulator work you have to first click inside it to focus it. Then click on the upper beam projector to select it. (Square handles will appear, as well as a special double arrowed rotation handle to the bottom right of the projector.) Move the mouse over the rotation handle and note that the cursor changes to a cross. Lay the cross on top of either arrow head, click and drag rotate the beam projector until the red beam aims downward. The region of overlap will be yellow. This is a surprise to most people, and suggests that the overlapping of colored lights is quite different than the overlapping of colored paints, inks or crayons.
(14) Scroll down and drag and drop 3, Table Directions immediately below the simualtor. Students usually are asked to record their observations in some organized manner, for example in a Table.
(15) Scroll down and drag and drop 3, Color Table immediately below the Table directions. Mention that this table is its own LiveObject, called C-Table, and was developed by Corda Technologies, Inc. Click on it to focus it. Note the menu bar at the top of the screen provides lots of flexibility to set-up and display the table. We have already filled in the table with the results of several different experiments the students might have done with the simulator.
(16) Create a new page (page 4).
(17) Drag and drop 4, Equipment pictures onto the page. Mention that students also need to the opportunity to perform experiments with actual apparatatus. Here we have made some picts of the materials that the students will use. Choose the screen pict and show how you can click-drag it around easily. Also show how you can re-size it; holding down the shift key when click-dragging will cause it to change size proportionally. Show how you can lock the screen picture by selecting it and highlighting "Lock Item(s)" from the "Content" menu. Also hightlight "Hide Locks." This causes the picture of the screen to behave like wallpaper. That is, the student can draw on top of it, without accidently moving or deleting the underlying picture. Use the tools to draw some graphics on top of the screen.
(18) Scroll down to the lower part of the page, which is blank. Open up your scrapbook and select any interesting picture you have. (Apple's scrapbook often comes with nice pictures of the sun or moon.) Click-drag the picture directly from the scrapbook into the document. Mention that you could store in the scrapbook a series of pictures constructed in any drawing program and then easily place them into the appropriate places in the Dock'Em document. Again show how you could move and resize the picture.
(19) Create a new page (page 5).
(20) Mention that not only can you embed other Live Objects inside Dock'Em, but you can also embed a multi-page Dock'Em document in itself. Drag and drop 5, Activities embedded near the top of the page. Mention that this mechanism provides an opportunity for the teacher to provide some additional activities, for example, for the faster students in the class. Focus on embedded document and turn through its four pages, then turn back to page 3. Go up to the Edit Menu and highlight "View in Window." Drag the window to the side of the screen and show how you can also turn through the pages in the window. Stop on either page 2 or 3 and click on the window size box to make the window the entire size of the monitor, giving you the entire page to edit and provide information. Mention that, in principle, you could also embed Dock'Em inside this embedded Dock'Em. Close the embedded window, and scroll down the page (of the original document) to a clear area.
(21) Scroll down and drag and drop 5, For more info onto the page. Mention that students can learn more about colored shadows by visiting the San Francisco Exploratorium science museum, either in person or over the World Wide Web. We will do the latter. Drag and drop 5, Exploratorium button into the blue rectangle. Option-click on the button to focus it and then move it so it is centered inside the rectangle. Mention that this is a Live Object button part, called Rapid-I button, developed by Hutchings software. We have already linked the URL for the Exploratorium to this button. (Options for doing this are provided in "Link To CyberItem" in the button's "Action" menu.) Click on the canvas to deselect the button, then click on the button to try it. Cyberdog will launch and the Exploratorium web site will appear (if you are connected--if not just mention what should happen). Close the Cyberdog document.
(22) Scroll down to near the bottom of the page and drag and drop 5, End print/non-print. Mention that the teacher could use use Dock'Em to prepare both printed questions and printed feedback for students. First the teacher would construct both the questions and answers in the document. Next he/she would select each "answer" and choose "Don't print item(s)" from the "Content" menu. The teacher would then print out the document, and only the questions would print, leaving black spaces where the answers would ordinarily go. Next, the teacher would return to the document, select each answer again and highlight "Print item(s)." Finally, the teacher could print out a feedback sheet with both questions and answers to distribute to the students.
(23) This ends the demonstration. You can now close the document.
