Drag and draw
June 28, 2007 at 6:34 pm | In Animation, Fun | Leave a CommentThanks to Andy Polaine’s Playpen blog for pointing me in the direction of this very fun prototype from Philips called Drag and Draw.
The video shows a child interacting with a set of technology that allows them to draw objects on the wall with ‘light’. In addition, a little like Moovl, the pictures can then be moved around. Unfortunately it’s not clear exactly how all the pieces of technology work together to create the effect, but visually it’s stunning.
Also reminded me of MIT Media Lab’s I/O Brush.
Naace
June 27, 2007 at 7:21 am | In Primary curriculum, Reviews | Leave a CommentNaace have recently re-launched their website - it’s much more accessible, better organised and with a better search facility. They also have a separate blogging site, though when I looked there wasn’t much there yet – no doubt it will build over time. In case you don’t know Naace, they describe themselves as:
… the professional association for those who are concerned with advancing education through the appropriate use of information and communications technology. The association was established in 1984 and has become the key influential professional association for those working in ICT in Education.
And what does ‘Naace’ stand for?
Originally the letters stood for ‘National Association of Advisors for Computers in Education’. NAACE merged with MAPE and CEG in January 2004 and more recently in 2005 with ACITT so we now have a broader membership with teachers, lecturers, consultants, inspectors and other ICT leaders in our membership in addition to Advisors.
Moovl gets a mention in the latest Naace newsletter – though you need to be a member to receive this.
French kinetograms
June 21, 2007 at 11:54 am | In How to, Primary curriculum | Leave a CommentInspired by Primary Teacher UK’s blog post about Diglot, I suddenly realised (sacrebleu!) that the text tool in Moovl, along with the physics could be a great way of learning some vocab.
I typed in the words, then adjusted the physical properties to give the desired effect. Works best with verbs and adjectives, but I could see it might also work with adverbs and some nouns. I hope this could help with remembering the vocab, by relating the word directly to its meaning in a very visual way.
Child Education and Junior Education
June 21, 2007 at 7:48 am | In Reviews | Leave a CommentThe July editions of Child Education and Junior Education come with an ICT supplement. Moovl is featured in the section on ‘Software across the curriculum’. One quote:
This innovative product enables children of any age to create drawings that they can animate using the laws of physics to bring pictures and words to life. The product features content for science, literacy and problem solving and embeds ICT in a way which encourages children to explore ‘what if’ questions for themselves.
Futurelab
June 20, 2007 at 8:53 am | In Moovl development | Leave a CommentIt looks like the Futurelab site has been recently re-designed (or maybe I just missed it). Very nice look and feel, with new features like search, a tag-cloud and a blog.
The Moovl section of the site has also been revamped with information on the research and development phase of Moovl, including video interviews with the creators. Well worth a look.
The blog (called Flux) is also interesting, emphasising discussion and debate about innovation in education.
Pivot Stickfigure Animator
June 16, 2007 at 3:01 pm | In Animation | 1 CommentThanks to Simon Mills’s ICT Inspirations blog for pointing me in the direciton of Pivot Stickfigure Animator.
It’s a very simple program that lets you move a stick figure around one frame at a time and record the sequence – like an on-screen flick-book.
It has a very different feel from the Moovl animation tool (which is more like a training tool – just move the objects where you want them to go), but nice and simple all the same.
Spaceman
June 13, 2007 at 11:48 am | In Fun, How to, Science | Leave a CommentInspired by NASA’s recent spacewalk to repair the International Space Station I created a little Moovl experiment…
I created three identical men. Then I made the one on Earth quite heavy (for gravity) and quite sticky (to simulate air resistance). I made the one on the Moon lighter, and slippier. Then I made the one in space ultra-light and ultra-slippy.
As you would expect the Earthman managed a small jump, and came to rest quickly. The Moonman jumped higher and took longer to settle back down. And the spaceman… well, let’s just say I’m still looking.
The Big Draw
June 13, 2007 at 10:49 am | In Events | 1 CommentThe Big Draw 2007 will run throughout October (Big Draw Day: 13 October). The Big Draw is the Campaign for Drawing’s annual showpiece.
Thousands of venues across the country will take part, giving everyone the chance to engage with drawing as a creative and rewarding activity.
In the meantime there are some great online activities to try immediately.
Olympics logo
June 8, 2007 at 1:12 pm | In Fun | Leave a CommentGiven all the debate about the London 2012 Olympics logo, I thought I’d put Moovl to good use and design my own.
The text tool, along with the simple animation feature made this a quick and easy process. Maybe it shows…
Problem-solving in Moovl
June 7, 2007 at 2:48 pm | In How to | Leave a CommentThis Moovl drawing is set up to encourage problem-solving skills.
The man lives in the desert and needs to collect rain – but his house doesn’t have a roof. Draw a roof to keep him dry and collect the rain.
I’ve come up with a couple of solutions, but I’m sure there are many more. At the moment my solutions do allow him to collect the rain – but unfortunately he can’t seem to get at it. Mind you, he can’t get out of his house either…
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