Kahootz - More than just Software

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Writers Workshop

The opening scene.
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A cow in the disco.
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Activity Background

View Project		Teacher and School

	Click here to go to the project		Nigel Baker Burleigh Heads State School, Queensland, Australia.
View Kahootz Xpression		View Kahootz Movie

	Author : Mikaela Download Kahootz Xpression To download and view a Kahootz Xpression, you must have Kahootz Software or Demo Version.		Quicktime Movie (365 KB)
Key Learning Areas		Theme

	English, The Arts, Technology		Contrasts
Year Level		Student Age

	Seven and Eight (Queensland = 6 and 7 NSW)		12
Ability Level		Class Size

	High � students picked especially to attend the workshop.		We had fourteen students attend.
Computer Access		Duration

	One iMac/eMac per student They also have a 1 hour computer session each week in the computer lab		Single day workshop

Rationale

As a part of our seven-school cluster (primary and high schools), we run an annual one-day workshop for writers. The theme for this year was contrasts. Kahootz was used as the culminating activity to explore the contrasts between worlds, and the devices authors use to move their characters from one world to another e.g. wardrobe, rabbit hole etc.

Student Tasks

The students were asked to make a world, then make a second world based on the first, but altered to become more surreal by the use of swatches. A device was then needed to move between the worlds. Once this was done, the students had free rein to populate their worlds, create others, make dead ends, hide the entry and exit points etc.

A cow surrounded by animated swatches.
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A rabbit with animated swatches.
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Involvement for Xpression Participant

Each participant was given basic instructions with the use of a data projector on the fundamentals of creating and modifying a world. From then on it was individual exploration and creation. The group was called back together on a needs basis for further explanations.

Each participant needs to:

	Know how to create a scene, and a world;
	Know how to navigate and explore this, and subsequent, worlds;
	Know how to create and name a second scene and world;
	Know how to choose textures/colours of a world and alter these by the use of swatches;

	Know how to link an object to another scene, and add a sound if desired;
	Know how to use the play controls to test their Kahootz Xpression;
	Know how to return to a scene, and make modifications or adjustments if necessary;

	Know how to save an Xpression.

Learning Outcomes for Student Creator

The actual workshop had many outcomes � analysing two scenes from a movie to contrast various aspects, changing text into poetry and formatting it to produce a shape poem, the creation of diamante poems and the use of a multimedia program to produce an electronic version of these, and finally the use of Kahootz to create these parallel worlds.

Collaborative Potential

Writing stories/descriptions/poems from the stimulus of the worlds, working with younger students in a buddy system to discuss and write about adventures, the �framework� for an electronic pick-a-path book � all of these and many others can be produced in collaboration with students at the same school or others, each individual producing a separate facet of the whole. A project room or bulletin board could be used to share students�/classes� perspectives of scenes � what�s happened, and where do we go from here etc.