Well, it arrived yesterday. Apparently customs held it for a while to determine the strange contents. I have to agree, a marker with a light on one end and a battery on the other, with a switch, does look suspicious. Whatever the case, my old useless Pentium 3 computer is now a touch screen! As previously mentioned, using a Wiimote, bluetooth and infrared light, you can control the mouse on your computer.
Today and tomorrow, my computer club will project the computer image onto the wall and test the accuracy of the IR pen and Wiimote to determine the feasibility of making a homemade interactive whiteboard.
I’ve read about many teachers who are purchasing Wii’s for their classroom, especially for Daily Physical Activity use. However, with four people playing at a time, I don’t see the value, especially if others are trying to follow along to someone with little Wii experience.
What I suggest is a video showing the gameplay of someone who scores close to 100% in either Wii Fit, Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero. A quick YouTube search for Wii Fit reveals multiple videos of step aerobics or boxing with near perfect scores. Putting these videos on the SMARTBoard and having the students follow along saves you $300 and provide about the same effect.
Why not have some air Guitar Hero for Drama? How about Dance Dance Revolution? Or even make your own guitar / dance mat in art class.
YoutTube is blocked in our schools so you might want to record your own video or contact the owner of the YouTube video to see about downloading theirs.
This past Wednesday I delivered an enrichment workshop to students from our area of schools. Here is a brief summary:
I opened the presentation with some technology “wows” (NES PC, Wiimote Mouse, Sega Genesis Controller Hard Drive) then went into some explanation writing.
I discussed the concept of how CDs and DVDs work with repect to the pits on the disc surface that are converted to 1s and 0s by a laser. We discussed these 1s and 0s as binary machine language and converted them back to decimal.
To end the day I had a scenario for the students. Triyums (3 fingered aliens) have landed on earth. Your task is to communicate with them numerically, using your knowledge of decimal (base 10) and binary (base 2). How many numerals will you use? What are they? How would Triyums write the number 3? 6? 16? (I actually found this activity online somewhere and thought it fit perfectly.)
Overall the day was a success. Next time, I would have a more practical hands-on activity instead of a scenario worksheet. Under the circumstances of our “Tecnhology Mystery” (which is what our workshop was called) I found it difficult to come up with something hands on technology wise that was cheap and readily accessible.
About 2 years ago I completed my first Nintendo NES PC. A Nintendo NES PC is a gutted Nintendo with a computer running inside. Check here for instructions on building your own. All the lights work and the originial controllers work thanks to some NES to USB adapters that I ordered online. I think it even has a 10 gig hard drive! I was really into emulation at the time. (I also have had multiple MAME projects).
I have recently decided to dust it off (unfortunately I don’t even use it) and bring it in for show and tell at an enrichment workshop I am presenting next week.
I am taking my Computer Club to a secondary school Computer Science competition where we have to recreate the original Super Mario. Pretty sure this got me thinking about the NES PC.
And thanks to GlovePIE, I can use my Wiimote on my NES PC!!!
Well, who knew you could make your own interactive whiteboard for under $100! Thanks to one Johnny Lee, you can turn your laptop into a touch screen, or even manipulate your desktop through a projected image on the wall! How? By using the Wiimote and some infrared light.
Ever wondered why there is a sensor bar for the Wiimote? It certainly doesn’t detect the motion of the Wiimote. Instead it projects IR light which is detected by an advanced camera in the end of the Wiimote.
My computer club and I have successfully connected a Wiimote to a laptop through bluetooth. Using the computer app GlovePIE, you can run scripts which gives you computer control through the Wiimote.
Useful in the classroom? I can see myself using Johnny Lee’s app in the gym, where there is no SMARTBoard, especially for top secret sports plays. Other than that, I would use the Wiimote to advance my SMART Notebook slides from the back of the room, allowing me some freedom to move about the room and not stay beside the SMARTBoard clicking “Next” every few minutes. Also useful (and just plain fun) with Google Earth and simple paint programs. (getpaint.net)
