This post features an activity sequence based on this text:
Light can be reflected from a shiny surface like a mirror. It can be made to change direction by the shiny surface. If a ray of light passes into an object with different density - like air to water, or air to glass, the light will also change direction, but this is called refraction. The light is slowed up as it passes into something which is more dense, like air to water, just like we go slower when we try to run through shallow water. The light bends towards the normal. Light speeds up when going from water to air, (from more dense objects into less dense objects). This will refract the light away from the normal. A prism refracts light rays and splits up white light into the colours of the spectrum - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
The text was provided by a KS3 Science teacher a few years ago, along with a whole load of other texts and lists of keywords which were used in a series of TaskMagic activities (they're still available to TaskMagic3 users now from here).
The above text is full of important information about the properties of light, the way it interacts with other substances etc etc. (I'm a linguist, not a scientist...) It's important for students to learn this stuff.
So it would be really good if we had a way of ensuring that students would read the text several times in order to complete a series of DARTs (directed activities related to texts) based on it.
The SEQUENCE tab...
Textivate sequences provide just that. Sequences are available to anybody with a Premium or Group Subscription to textivate. You create your sequence by choosing from the 30 or so interactive activities. For most of these you set a target. You can decide things such as whether or not the activity auto-corrects, or the number of gaps, words etc. (See image below).
The result is an activity sequence which can be shared via a url or embedded on a blog or website. Click into the embedded example below to access the first of 10 activities based on the above text. At the end of each activity, provided the target has been reached, a "Next" button appears allowing the student to move on. (If the target has not been reached, the student must restart the activity and try again.)
Once the student has completed all activities, they can log in (if they haven't already) using your (Premium or Group) username and your shared student password, enter their name (preferably in a format specified by you) and group (optional) and submit a record of their activities.
The teacher can then access submitted work via the gradebook icon. You get a global score and time taken. You also get a break-down of scores for all activities (where these are used to contribute to the global score), time taken for each activity, the number of times it was repeated, etc. (See illustration below)
A really easy way of setting meaningful homework activities that ensure that students have lots of repetition of key concepts and key words, and of checking that homework is completed.
By the way, the above embedded sequence would take at least 20 minutes to complete, I'd guess. Maybe double that if there are a few repeats...
:0)
Related posts:
Introducing Sequences on textivate
Chez moi (a textivate sequence = a substantial bit of homework)
How to submit work at the end of a textivate homework sequence
Sequences based on activities from more than one resource