Today's students are very visually oriented. As experience and research have shown, high school students don't take well to the lengthy lecture format so commonly used in universities. Still, lecturing is sometimes a valuable adjunct to the teaching process in the high school setting.
The question then is, "How can I lecture my students and still keep them learning?" Part of the answer is to use applications like PowerPoint to visually dazzle and stimulate your students during those still-necessary lectures. In this project you will learn to use PowerPoint and then create a snazzy lecture presentation. In addition, you will incorporate some excellent physics images from the CD-ROM Color Images of Physical Phenomena by Christopher J. Moore and Robert G. Fuller of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Many students choose to skip working through the tutorial thinking that it will take no time at all to just begin working successfully with this software. This has proven not to be the case. PLEASE, for your own sake, work through the tutorial. In the long run you'll spend a lot less time on this project. Don't worry about making a "perfect" end product. It is more important that you get to know the program than to create a polished presentation.
1. Following an introduction to PowerPoint by your instructor, create a presentation using the 13-lesson learning guide provided by your instructor to do so. Make certain your title slide carries the following wording, "Presented by Christopher Columbus and [your name]."
2. Select some area of physics where you think you'd need to present a lecture. See the PowerPoint Physics webpage for examples of what good Physics-based PowerPoint presentation can look like. Create an on-screen, slide presentation (10 or more "slides") using the full potential of PowerPoint (transitions, slide build, clip art, etc.). Your presentation should contain at least one equation that you created using Equation Editor. (Equation Editor is accessed in PowerPoint through the sequence Edit/Insert/Object/Equation. Since you cannot change the color of the postscript equation text, color the background in which the equation is embedded. This is done by selecting a color under Object/Fill.) Your presentation must also contain at least three images taken from "Color Images of Physical Phenomena." See your instructor to obtain the required CD-ROM.
3. Deliver a "live" presentation to your instructor using this slide creation. Provide a copy of your presentation on diskette to your instructor following your actual presentation.
This project will be evaluated on the basis of presentation
quality and discussion, as well as completion of all required
work.