Second Grade MicroWorlds Butterfly Metamorphosis
The programming language, Logo, is reintroduced all second grade students during the course of the year. One piece of software that is used for this development is MicroWorlds. MicroWorlds helps you explore Logo programming using graphics, music, animation, and other multimedia techniques. Logo is a computer language and like any other language it has its own vocabulary and rules for using the vocabulary. Instead of sentences you write instructions or commands. In MicroWorlds the commands are given to a turtle. The commands for moving, drawing lines, turning, changing the turtle's shape or color, and stamping are reinforced in each lower school grade.
The second graders at The Blake School start off the year with a study of lepidoptera-butterflies and moths. As students study the life cycles they raise monarchs butterflies that are eventually tagged and sent off to Mexico in the fall. During this monarch study each second grade student used MicroWorlds and the Logo language to create the transformation of a butterfly through the stages of egg, larva, pupa and adult. Students first use the Paint Center to paint and draw a background to serve as their life cycle setting. Next, animation cells are created by duplicating the previous page and editing it to reveal the next step in the metamorphosis. Finally, students will create a "grow" program on the Procedures page enabling each individual butterfly to grow from egg to adult and students ultimately create a button to control the action.
This metamorphosis venture is an art/computer collaborative student undertaking. This project gave your children an opportunity to integrate skills learned in the classroom, in the art studio and in the computer lab.
You will need a MicroWorlds plug-in to view the presentations. The latest plug-in may be downloaded from the MicroWorlds Web site in Macintosh and Windows formats.
Enjoy the projects for the 2005-2006 school year!!
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