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These observations were made as
children in a Year 3 class worked with RM Colour Magic. For many
children, this was only their second experience of the whiteboard,
having earlier taken part in a collaborative e-mail exercise with
the class teacher. |
The first group appeared bemused, but I suggested
they select one tool and explore what they could do. Spray and stamps
were the most popular, also stars. Children who had finished work were
allowed to watch. This may have been of benefit, as the later groups
all seemed much more able to use a range of tools.
Children who had been watching remembered how to
use the text tool. One child also stood up and correctly used the right
button to access the menu for special colour effects. I intentionally
made no mention of Fill. I wanted to see whether they figured this out
for themselves.
A boy stood up for his turn, and drew with the pencil
a 'horizon' across the screen. He then filled in 'sky' and 'ground'.
He had learned to do this on his computer at home. All the following
groups used Fill, and quickly discovered the patterns and shading.
Undo was quickly picked up, although there was confusion
at first about the difference between 'undo' and 'fresh page'. Occasionally
the latter was chosen by mistake. No harm was done because the new page
could be closed, revealing the original work underneath.
The only problem arose with the 'line' tools which
draw continuous lines. They can only be ended by clicking the right
button. Pressing Esc removes the entire line.
The Wizard was a good starting point because it
formed the basis for a whole class introduction of just the right length.
It introduces an unusual feature - the zigzag (not that there are many
uses for it!)
The 'stars' also made an impression, as nearly all
the children wanted to try this. At one point, an assortment of coloured
stars had been made on the screen (they all wanted to see how large,
then how small, they could make them!) 'Fill' was chosen, with a colour
and a shading pattern. The stars changed to the new colour the instant
they were touched. Children were looking at their fingers! I was told,
"I keep thinking my finger's like a magic pen - I keep looking for the
ink!"
I had anticipated that, once they knew the 'stamp'
tool, they would want to drag stamps haphazardly around the screen,
but this didn't happen. Nearly all were very thoughtful and the groups
watched each other intently - this has not happened when we have been
doing a writing activity. One girl made a picture that just used the
sharks, in the three stamp sizes so it appeared to have depth.
No-one said, "I'm going to do a picture of ..."
I wouldn't encourage this in the early stages! Children need to explore
the tools and effects, then explore the type of designs they can make.
I recommend that the next lesson is introduced with
the second Wizard feature, to re-cap and introduce new vocabulary. New
terms did crop up during the session - e.g. 'canvas' for the painting
screen. Children didn't seem to know this word at all.
Helen Smith
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