Chapter 8 Designing with Technologies

From reading this chapter I have realized that there are many different design programs available for students to use in class. I have only had experience with a couple of design programs, scratch being one of them. My Dad use to have a cabinet shop and I would help him work on a design program that he had for Kitchen layouts. I remember it being really helpful for his clients to visualize what they wanted on a screen and then be able to change things that they see would not work for them. He told me that it was much better than his two dimensional drawings that he had previously done for clients. I really liked the one about creating the trebuchet.I haven't tried it yet, but I am wanting to create one and see how it will work. I wish they would have given us a chance do these fun types of programs when I was in school (though it was so long ago we didn't even have the internet at school or home). I really liked the scratch program that we have already used in class. It really took me a long time to find out how to manipulate my sprites, but when I figured it out I could make it do what ever I wanted it to do. I want to incorporate designing tools into my classroom in the future. One reason is because they are very engaging for students and they can learn skills that can transfer over to building actual models like the book mentions being done with the trebuchet model. I want to teach Kindergarten or first grade but I still feel that if I can find the right design program it can be incorporated and modified for young students. They can catch on to things pretty fast. I know from experience that my chidren have been able to play games on the computer and video games quite well even without being able to read. Actually I think that the game zelda for the gameboy helped my oldest one learn to read. He would constantly ask me what the game was telling him to do, so I told him that he needed to try and sound out the words on the screen.