PAINTING IDEAS

During the second class, I had to double check to make sure that the computers were fully functioning and then we started our class. I first showed them how Paint Pot worked in full detail, and then allowed them to have a go on their computers.

How did I explain in full detail?

I had to first introduce/refresh their minds about the designer and blocks tools - they are the two parts that you'll need to create your app. The designer is where all the visual parts are drawn - you can control the user interface of your application. The blocks is where everything comes to life, and where the logical thinking and problem solving skills flourish. After going through these two parts, I introduced them to the different components that the program uses on the designer, such as the button, image, fill parent, and the horizontal arrangement functions. We decided to use a 'troll face' image for the application, selected exclusively by the Year 5 students. Copyright and plagiarism problems are very strict at our school, so we made sure that we added a credits button to give credit to the creator of the image. We then chose the colors of the paint that we were going to use - red, blue and green. These buttons were arranged with the horizontal arrangement (it took a long time to insert all of the buttons into the small table), and then our interface was good to go!

We then moved onto the blocks stage. To be honest, I had to sometimes look at the example to make sure that I wasn't getting mixed up - the App Inventor I was used to had updated. I had to explain each of the components in the blocks editor, and what they would normally be used for.

Since I came to CIS in Year 7, I didn't know what they had learnt in math class. In Paint Pot, it is required that we use X and Y coordinates to create a line, but most of the students didn't know what that was. To solve this, I had to draw a map and fold creases to indicate the specific points, and then pretended to find some treasure and let them locate the 'X' by calling out the X and Y. This method allowed them to understand what was going on in the code.

After we finished with the example, I let them have a go for 20 minutes. Many students were confused with what pixels were, and what fill parent was, and etc. Because they were so focused, it helped me to answer all of their questions in a short amount of time.