Students were motivated to work on these projects in class and spent
significant time outside of class perfecting them. This engagement can be
attributed to students feeling a sense of ownership for their project.
Unit 2: Interactivity
In Unit 2 we explored different ways students could interact with the
programs they create. The goal was to show students that while most of
the work is done sitting at a keyboard and monitor, programming is not
restricted to this hardware. We began by introducing students to the
concept of Classes/Objects, which serve as the building blocks of large
programs. Understanding this concept is required in order for students
to use Processing to interface and interact with most of the different
technologies we would be exploring during the unit. We introduced
students to the technologies they would be learning to interact with using
their code. Xbox Kinect, MaKey MaKey, Android phones, physics libraries,
LeapMotion controllers, and tablets were some of the options students
had to choose from.
A student’s project titled “Wizard Battle” in which the player must use the
mouse to zap (he who must not be named) before he destroys the player.
