Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 26 (1998-1999) December-January (No. 4)

By adding splash to their presentations, kids get a chance to use their imaginations. With Kid Pix and similar programs, they can choose colors and sounds that amplify or enhance various aspects of their work. Marybeth Kampman knows exactly how to do that—she's the author of Fat Crayon Multimedia Using Kid Pix (Kampman, 1998)—and she shares some of these possibilities here.

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Read more about Marybeth’s book Fat Crayon Multimedia Using Kid Pix.

Remember the day in kindergarten when you got your first box of crayons? There they sat in a square flat box. When you opened it, that unmistakable scent met your nose. Eight big fat crayons. They may have seemed cumbersome at times, making it hard to color inside the lines, but they fit your needs, and they were yours. You knew just what to do with them. They were hard to break and easy to use. You could identify them by name—none of this "burnt sienna" stuff—just straightforward red, blue, yellow, and green. A minimalist's approach to the artistic world!

Teachers often long for such a simple approach to their technological world when they begin to use multimedia and its overwhelming number of options. They yearn for basic tools that are easy to use, accessible, inexpensive, and applicable to their classroom curriculum. I use the concept of the Fat Crayon Multimedia Toolbox to meet this need. It offers simple yet authentic ways to acquire digital media (graphics, sound, text, and video) for classroom multimedia projects without using expensive and complicated equipment and software.

Multimedia projects are fun and enriching additions to the classroom when they are put in the context of the existing learning environment. Once teachers can confidently acquire and manipulate these digital media, they can create unique lessons and projects to meet their students' needs.

Because teachers have limited resources and time, I have concentrated on ways to use readily available digital media that are free or inexpensive. I work in a Macintosh-based environment, so my lessons and projects are designed to work with Mac LCII's and above. Having access to an AV computer (one with video and audio input), a CD player, and the Internet are definite bonuses.

Kid Pix 2 works well as a basic program for testing ideas. It is an excellent basic multimedia authoring program for importing any document saved in PICT format and for manipulating graphics, sound, and video. You can record up to 32 seconds of sound, and both sound and video can be accessed as QuickTime movies through the Pick a Movie function in the Goodies menu. The new Kid Pix Studio Deluxe offers even more features including text, editing, graphic importing and exporting in multiple formats, and Text-to-Speech. I feel comfortable saying that if you can do it in Kid Pix, then you can do it anywhere—even better!

The Fat Crayon Multimedia Toolbox has eight basic resources for capturing graphics, video, and sound on your computer:

1. screenshots, image grabbers, and sound;
2. processing film to disks or CDs;
3. scanners;
4. digital cameras;
5. clip art, video, and sound;
6. the Internet;
7. VCR+AV computer; and
8. camcorder+AV computer.

The Fat Crayon Toolbox
Screenshots, Image Grabbers, and Sound

Taking a screenshot is a free and simple way to capture any graphic. On a Macintosh computer, it is simply done by holding down three keys—Command+Shift+3—at the same time on the keyboard. A copy of your screen image is saved to your hard drive and labeled PICT1. The basic adage is, "If you can see it, you can use it," although if you plan to copy and use the image extensively—say, for any sort of publishing—then you must get permission to do so from the image's creator. You can capture a map, a chart, a picture of an animal habitat, or a photo of a famous person from another application. Open the image in Kid Pix and use it as a background that students can edit using the drawing and text tools.

To capture a portion of an image for use as a border or decoration, grab it with a program such as PICTify, which can be downloaded from the Web and also is available with HyperStudio 3.0.

Sound can be a powerful addition to your students' work. A computer's microphone provides the most basic method for adding audio to multimedia projects by capturing voices or sound (as anyone who has tried to record in a noisy classroom already knows) from musical instruments or student-created sound effects.

If your Macintosh has a CD-ROM drive, then try playing sound with your projects to set a mood. Insert any audio CD into the computer's drive and choose the Apple CD Audio Player from the menu. Use the controls in the dialog box to select the track to play and hear music while you view your project. This is a simple yet effective addition to any Kid Pix slideshow, because the CD will play behind or underneath other sounds recorded in Kid Pix. 

Processing Film to Disks or CDs

Scanning and storing photographs directly onto a floppy disk or CD is an inexpensive way to create digital images. This can be done by your local photo processing store. As many as 100 images can be added to a CD, depending on their size (check with the photo processor for more information). This method makes building a library of images easier, whether photos of students, field trips, classroom activities, or anything else that relates to a particular curriculum area. CDs can be easily shared by classrooms studying a common subject.

Scanning Images

Flatbed scanners are also becoming more affordable. You can share images from books, student work, maps, and charts and place them in Kid Pix documents. For instance, after scanning the cover of a book, open the image in Kid Pix and have beginning readers record their oral book reports. The title, author, and publisher are already on the scanned cover, so no writing is required. You can also scan flat objects—leaves, for example—for use as illustrations in Kid Pix projects.

Photo scanners such as the Easy Photo Reader by Storm can scan photographs or student-drawn images up to 4 x 6 inches in size. Before students scan their work, they can write a fact, poem, or statement on the back of the photo or card. They can then record or type in what they have written with the scanned image. This is an excellent way to organize class slideshows.

Students can also scan greeting cards or postcards and use the simple editing program that comes with the scanner to select and manipulate all or part of an image. Create your own clip art library to add to worksheets and newsletters.

Digital Cameras

Although they are expensive and at times cumbersome, digital cameras are becoming more common and easier to use. They can be invaluable resources for capturing images for multimedia projects while saving film-processing time and expense. Digital cameras are great for placing photos into newsletters or for recording school and field trip events.

Clip Art, Video, and Sound Collections

Commercial collections of clip art, sound, and video can be purchased on disks or CDs. Perhaps you already own a few of those that are packaged with other applications such as HyperStudio, which contains a variety of art, sounds, and videos. You can access clip art in PICT format in Kid Pix by using the Macintosh's File Open command. Use the art to enhance images that your students create with Kid Pix tools.

You can open any QuickTime movie that you choose with the Pick a Movie option in the Kid Pix Goodies menu. QuickTime movies often come with such programs as encyclopedias and nature CDs. These also can be used in multimedia projects. For instance, a short animal movie pasted into a student-drawn habitat can make an exciting presentation. Sounds that have been saved as QuickTime files also can be played, increasing your choices for interesting sound effects.

The Internet

The Internet offers unlimited possibilities for grabbing images, sound, and video. To grab a graphic from the Internet, simply click and hold on the image until a dialog box appears. When you choose Copy, the graphic will be saved to your clipboard as a PICT file; you can paste it directly into Kid Pix.

QuickTime movies and sounds can be captured in a similar way. Click and hold on the movie or sound you want to use and choose Save from the pop-up dialog box to save it to your hard drive. Then use Pick a Movie to paste the QuickTime movies into Kid Pix documents.

Using the Internet as a resource can be challenging with primary-grade students who have only beginning reading skills. One option is to read and discuss the information with the class. Instead of asking students to write formal reports, use Kid Pix to record their "reflections" about what they have learned. Use the images, movies, or sounds copied from the Internet as visual cues and examples of the topic being studied.

Many sites offer graphic images and icons as freeware. But again, remember to be respectful of copyright ownership. Do not use graphics without permission, and remember to cite the URL as a reference.

VCR+AV Computer

Your VCR is another excellent resource for acquiring images, movies, and sounds. If you have access to an AV computer (with audio- and video-input ports), attach the VCR to your computer (use the appropriate cable, usually a simple RCA cable, to connect the video-out port on your VCR to the video-in port on your computer). Capture the video display with the Apple Video Player, which comes bundled with Mac AV computers, or use HyperStudio. Both programs convert video to digital images that can be displayed on the computer screen. Freeze the frame you wish to capture and save it for later use in a Kid Pix project.

The VCR offers an easy alternative to a digital camera: You can use pictures of students, their pets, community workers, shapes in nature, or anything else you capture on video. Sound can be used the same way. You and your students can capture short movies and sounds from movies you rent from your local video store, borrow from the library, or taped TV programs. Hear and see orchestral instruments played in a student-made slideshow by adding short QuickTime movies from a music special. Add QuickTime movies of plants growing captured from a nature video to a picture of a farm or garden drawn by students. In keeping with the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia, be sure to to credit your media sources, giving a full bibliographic description of the copyrighted work. Projects created by students using copyrighted materials can only be used only for noncommercial educational purposes.

And remember that QuickTime movies take up large amounts of space on your computer's hard drive, so think of your movie's length in terms of seconds.

Camcorder+AV Computer

For another unique addition to your classroom environment, connect your camcorder to your AV computer to capture homemade videos, stills, and sound, and then display them in your Kid Pix projects. Videotapes of classroom science experiments, student productions, or sharing times can be made into short movies and incorporated into slideshows or student-drawn pictures.

A few more words about sound. We've all seen silent movies, but have you ever heard a movie without seeing the images? By connecting the audio output from your VCR or camcorder to the audio-in port on your AV computer and using a video-capture program, you can save your movie's soundtrack as a QuickTime movie. Then you can access it through the Pick a Movie option and paste it into your Kid Pix document. Now you'll have a whole new library of sounds for use in student work.

You can convert audiotape sound to digital form by connecting your tape recorder audio-out port to the AV computer's audio-in. Usually, you will need an RCA phono cable. Use the method just described to capture the sound as a QuickTime movie. This comes in handy for making homegrown sounds such as class songs or sounds captured from interviews or nature.

Summary

Think about your curriculum and pick one of these eight resources that you would like to expand and use in a new way. Before long, your class will be creating multimedia projects that are fun and exciting. But, more important, these projects will reflect your students' learning styles and enrich your unique classroom environment.  

Resources

Kid Pix 2 and Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, Brøderbund (a Division of The Learning Co., Inc.), 500 Redwood Blvd., Novato, CA 94948-6121; 800.548.1798 (toll-free); www.broderbund.com/

HyperStudio, Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc., 1050 Pioneer Way, Suite P, El Cajon, CA 92020; 800.HYPERSTUDIO or 619.442.0522; 619.442.0525 (fax); www.hyperstudio.com/

Storm Easy Photo Reader, Storm Software, 1861 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043; 888.438.3279 (U.S. only); www.stormsoft.com/storm/

PICTIfy, Scott A. Johnson (1992–94); Macintosh-only freeware available from www.download.com/Mac/Result/TitleDetail/0,4,0-19108-g,1000.html

References

Kampman, M. (1998). Fat crayon multimedia using Kid Pix. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Available in ISTE's online book store at www.iste.org or from 800.336.5191.

Marybeth Kampman ( mbkampman@aol.com) has been involved in both regular and special education for the past 25 years. She is currently working as an education technology consultant in Mill Valley, California, providing teachers with training and support in integrating technology into the

My book, Fat Crayon Multimedia Using Kid Pix (ISTE, 1998), contains a collection of primary-grade math and language-arts projects using this box of digital tools. Each project includes an Overview Sheet that outlines the curriculum, multimedia, and computer skills presented, as well as a step-by-step Cheat Sheet that guides the adult through the project.

"Facts, Thoughts, and Ideas" is a language-arts project that can be adapted to fit any age level or subject matter. Kim Kirley and Shari Graham, two kindergarten teachers at Park School in Mill Valley, California, used this project as springboard for their Animal Alphabet Project.

During the year, students learned the letters and sounds of the alphabet by relating the letters to animal names. They also learned the American sign language hand sign for each letter. Kim took photographs of student-made clay models of animals representing each letter of the alphabet. With adult help, students scanned the photographs, then they opened the pictures in Kid Pix and added their "facts" by simply stamping the letter relating to each animal's name. Students were videotaped as they named the letter, sound, and related animal and then made the hand sign for that letter of the alphabet. QuickTime movies made from the videotape were combined with the students' animal pictures to make a Kid Pix slide show.

Shari's students scanned their pictures of the animals before they added their "facts" by stamp-ing the corresponding letters in color patterns. A slideshow was made that included animal-related haiku, written and read by fourth-grade buddies to accompany each kindergartner's picture.

Copyright © 1998, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.