Author's Note: This is a scenario for using Java applets in an educational setting.
It was originally published on
Apple's Educational Object Economy (EOE)
Web site, and
reflects the philosophies of our project. We encourage you to visit our Web site and join
our growing community.
Janet Canfield is a 5th grade public school teacher. Since her school is in an urban setting,
she emphasizes the study and experience of nature. To do this, she takes her class for nature
walks in a nearby park. This year she wants students to take a deeper interest in the fauna
and flora on the trails.
In the past, Janet gave students introductory readings on plants and animals, explaining their
differences and relationships with one another. She also assigned them additional library
research on specific animals and plants of interest. This year she wants students to do their
research and preliminary learning with the aid of the three classroom computers connected to
the World Wide Web. Having made only occasional use of computers in earlier classroom exercises
(paper writing and games), she enlists the help of the school technology coordinator.
He recommends the Educational Object Economy (EOE) Web site as a place to begin.
After looking at what is available, Janet notices that there is a nice Java applet with matching
exercises, including some on botany. One in particular catches her eye -- it has pictures of trees,
their leaves, and a selection of names. The task is to match the names with the pictures (using
drag & drop methods). There is a problem with the exercise though; the trees are not local and
the program does not save the scores.
While exploring the EOE Web site she discovers that entering into discussions with users and
developers has several benefits: In addition to finding solutions to her immediate classroom
problems and participating in a virtual community, she can also become involved in the generation
and improvement of the Java applets that interest her. She decides to test this by inquiring
about a program that will allow her to alter plant and animal graphics/names as well as access
student scores to the completed matching exercises.
Her first problem is easily solved: she is told that the applet already allows people to create
their own matching exercises by adding their own graphics and names. She also finds that she can
create more than just matching exercises she can make identification and sorting exercises as well.
The solution to the second problem comes when three Java programmers answer her plea. Although
they are short on time, they distribute the programming task between themselves and lighten the load.
Within four days they add a feature to the program that lets students download their scores when
they are ready to exit the applet. This new, improved applet is now reposted to the EOE Web site
so that everyone can benefit from the improvements.
Having resolved her problems, Janet has another thought -- if she can make these exercises, why
can't her students? With their help, she can create countless new activities. She wants to get
rid of the Palm tree (her state does not have any) and add some of the more common trees in her area.
She also wants to include a few exercises on bird identification -- especially those they encounter
during the nature walk.
A week before the walk, she divides her students into groups and asks them to find pictures of
local plants and animals and create exercises around them. Because they are creating their own
exercises, the students are enthusiastic participants. They post their new exercises to the
applet's original site and add their own objects to the Educational Object Economy's library
of Java applets. Now people from all geographic locations can see and use their exercises!
On the day of the field trip Janet’s students are armed with printouts of their exercises and
quite a bit of interest in finding the plants and animals they have "virtually" discovered.
The biggest problem is keeping them on the path! They want to get a closer look at this tree
here and that bush there, dig up a mushroom here, examine a bird's nest...She has never
seen such interest nature before! She wonders if she can ever convince them head back to school.
Because many students find unidentifiable trees and insects, they are ready to return and update
their work.
"Will they ever move on to anything else?" Janet asks herself. "Maybe if I find
another applet!"
Comments:
Send your comments to
Martin Koning Bastiaan - mjkb@trp.research.apple.com