I have an idea of making a tool to help teach art vocabulary to students who are still learning to speak english. Even though art is more of a visual thing, you still need some kind of way to communicate about it in order to understand it better. I still want to teach art, but I also want to help them excercise their knowledge of the english language.
It is going to look like a very basic game. I want it to be easy to use. The language must be simple. So I think that I want to start with the names of each color. I want it to have a like a row of circles (or column) and when you wave a wand over a circle, it turns into a color. Then you click in the circle, and then you have to type the name of the color inside the circle. If it turns out to be correct, the circle will turn into a smiley face. If it is not the correct name of the color, or if it is misspelled, then it wont change.
Now lets say that the person is completely stumped about one of them (either with the name or the spelling of it). If at the third try, they dont get the correct answer, then a hint will appear at the bottom. It could either be something like this (Ex. gr_ _n). There is really no point system here. There is no pressure in winning or losing. The whole goal is to make the circle turn into a smiley face. I have always thought that that icon was a rather encouraging one, and that is how the process of learning should be.
This game is actually quite versatile. There is no age group in mind. Anyone could use it. I specifically named a group of people who are learning english and need to learn these basic things, such as the names to the colors. This game can also be used with young children that are also learning these same things. I want it to be a simple game that teaches.
I am not sure how I am going to put this together. I am thinking about maybe starting out with Photoshop. Making the images and text first, then using some kind of program to animate the images. Maybe I wont need to make a series of circles. Maybe it could be just one circle that turns into a different color when I wave the wand over it, but must click into it to be able to type the color in. However if i do that, the student is going to be skipping through all the colors that they might not know every time they wave the wand. I still have to make a decision about that. I am not sure about what program to use in order to animate it. So far this is the idea that I have in mind to construct as my final project.
December 19, 2009 at 11:03 pm |
This is a great idea – I’d like to play this game myself. I really liked that digital math site you showed us during your presentation. That one was so Fantasia meets Einstein! Tons of stuff going on, a zillion jiggling wiggling parts – a lot for me to keep track of, but probably just right for an 11-year-old. Reading your project proposal just now, i was thinking about how many times I’ve seen the color wheel this semester, mostly over at Amidon-Bowen, where the kids have been learning about it by making them. They use a fairly sophisticated template. It’s less like a wheel and more like a compass, with many points, at the ends of which balloon-like shapes in primary, secondary and complementary colors float. I walked around Mrs. Peake’s classroom one day trying to help students who were having trouble, and I had to look sharp so that I didn’t make a mistake myself! Wonder if it would be possible to make a color wheel digital game? Maybe some kind of cartoon figures, or ColorForm shapes, that you’d click on (or not click on) depending on whether the color was right or wrong, in terms of the color wheel scheme. There are probably sites like this for interior decorating students (if not, there should be.