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Lesson Plan Go with the flow

Lesson Procedure

The demonstration for this lesson is about automobiles. You may choose a topic in line with your current area of study.

1. Cars are an important part of our lives. Once, owning a horse and cart was enough to give you importance and standing in society. These days, cars are an essential part of commuting, and almost everyone has one! But how do they work? What is involved in propelling the engine? Let’s find out.
2. First you will need to select a car. Surf the Web; choose sites that give you information on the parts involved in assembling that particular model. ( See ‘How things work’ below )
3. Now comes the fun part. Your task is to animate your model and the parts. Using Microsoft Power Point you are able to make a flow chart showing the parts as well as animate them to show your audience how they work! See sample file called Carflow - High school.ppt.
4. Have fun and share your creation with your class.

How Things Work

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ is a brilliant site that explains how things work. With an expansive topic list from human anatomy to machines, personal relations to world negotiations, global issues to science, this site has it all!

Assessment

When assessing student learning consider:

• Were students able to select and use appropriate forms of communication to present information to an audience?
• Were students able to identify t he application of technologies for the manufacture of product e.g. assembling materials?
• Did students consider t he design of goods for manufacture e.g. consideration of style, appeal and user friendliness?

How to create an Animated Flow Chart using Microsoft PowerPoint

Before you Begin

Prior to beginning this tutorial, students will need to research their subject matter, saving any images to be used in the presentation to file. Images may be scanned or downloaded from the internet.

To save an image from the internet:

1. Place cursor on the image to be saved
2. Right click the mouse and select Save Picture As
3. Locate the folder to which images are to be stored and click Save

TIP: Create a folder to which all images to be used in the presentation will be stored. This is not only good work practice, but will help greatly when locating images at a later date. When saving an image to file from the internet, you may like to rename the image to something that you will quickly associate with as pictures from the net are often named with letters and numbers relevant to the site they came from.

Create an opening slide

1. Select Start > Programs > Microsoft PowerPoint
2. PowerPoint will automatically open a new presentation with a Title slide layout. However, we want to use a blank layout for our presentation rather than the default Title slide layout. Select Format > Slide Layout
3. This is the Task pane. You can use the drop down menu options. Select Slide Layout . Alternatively select Format > Slide Layout
4. Select the blank template from the Slide Format menu displayed in the task pane

4. We are going to insert a heading. From the drawing toolbar, click on the Word Art button

5. Choose a Word Art format by clicking on the option you like best. Type in your heading and select a font and size to suit
6. Your Word Art heading will be automatically inserted into your document. You can adjust the dimensions by dragging the resize handles to suit
7. To change the colour of your Word Art title, highlight the heading by clicking on it then select Format > Format WordArt. Select a new colour and click OK

Inserting Images

We are going to use an image of a car that we saved to file earlier. The car will be used both for the title screen and as the background for a simplified version of our flowchart.

1. Select Insert > Picture > From File
2. Locate the image you would like to insert from your saved files and click Insert
3. Resize and position your picture to suit by dragging the resize handles
4. You may like to add a picture from clip art. In our example we have included a hand holding a key to compliment our presentation of how a car works.
5. Select Insert > Picture > Clip Art
6. Type in the name of the object you would like to insert e.g. Key, and click Search
7. Click on an image to insert it into your document and resize and position it on the page to suit
8. Your screen may look something like this:

Use Clip art images to add that extra touch to your presentations.

Creating the flow chart

Now that we have created an opening slide, we are ready to construct the flowchart. We are going to use a series of text boxes and lines to do this.

1. Select Insert > New Slide
2. From the Slide Layout menu, click on the blank template
3. From the drawing toolbar, select the Text Box button and draw a text box onto the page by dragging the mouse across the screen

4. Type in the first step in your flowchart. In our example, the first step is the ignition
5. From the drawing toolbar, select the Line Colour button. This will create an outline around the text box

6. To centre the text within the text box, select Format > Alignment then click Center
7. Now that we have the first text box formatted, we can copy and paste further text boxes as required. Highlight the text box by clicking on the box border and select Edit > Copy
8. Select Edit > Paste to paste the textbox. Once you have copied an object, you can paste the object multiple times

   TIP: The keyboard shortcut for copying is Ctrl C and the shortcut for pasting is Ctrl V. This is a much faster and efficient way to copy and paste multiple items.

9. Copy and Paste text boxes to create the basis for the flowchart editing the text to suit
10. Continue pasting, moving and editing your boxes till you have completed the first stage in the flow chart

Connecting Text Boxes

Now that we have created the text boxes, we are ready to add the connectors that link the flowchart together.

1. From the AutoShapes menu on the drawing toolbar, select Connectors

2. Select the connector you would like to insert, hold down the left mouse button, and drag your cursor across the screen. Release the mouse button to complete drawing the connector
3. Adjust the width of the connector line by clicking the Line Style button from the drawing toolbar and selecting a line width to suit

4. In our example, we used colour to highlight the different systems contained within the overall flowchart. The ignition system is linked with blue connectors, the fuel system with green connectors and the combustion system with red connectors. To adjust the colour of connectors, highlight the connectors by clicking on it and from the drawing toolbar, click the drop down arrow next to the line colour button to activate the colour option menu. Select a colour from the palette or click More Colours for further options
5. Continue to add connectors to link your flowchart together adjusting colour and line style to suit

NOTE: In our example we have created two flowcharts, a simplified and a complex version. The simple version has been placed over the image of the car to show where each object is in relation to the vehicle. Click here to view the example.

TIP: As the flowchart progresses over sequential slides, we want to be able to carry over the information from one slide to the next so that we add to, rather than recreate, the previous information. Select the slide you would like to copy by clicking on it, then select Edit > Duplicate Slide. A new slide will be inserted directly underneath the slide you originally selected. Now you are ready to continue adding information to the new slide.

Animating Images

Animation is a great way to add that something extra to your presentations. In our example, the car appears to drive onto and off the screen transporting us from one slide to the next.

1. Return to the opening slide by selecting it from the navigation menu

2. Click on the image to highlight it
3. Select Slide Show > Custom Animation
4. Select Add Effect > Entrance. Choose an animated effect from the list of options or select More Effects to view the full menu of options

NOTE : When selecting an animation, the most recently chosen effects will be displayed in the shortcut list that appears in the Add Effect drop down menu. When you select an animation from the drop down menu, the effect will be automatically applied to the highlighted object. More Effects allows you to preview the animation without applying it. Once you have had a play and experimented with the multitude of options, select the animation you would like to apply and click OK

5. Once you have selected an effect, it will be recorded in the Custom Animation task pane

6. The effect is currently programmed to activate when the mouse is clicked. Use the drop down menu to select self automating options
7. Adjust the speed of the effect by clicking the drop down menu arrow and adjusting the pace of the animation
8. Adjust the automation, timing and speed of the effect to suit
9. Now that you have created an effect for the car to enter the slide, use the same skills to add an effect for the car to exit off the screen

Animating the flow chart

In our example, we have animated the flowchart so that text boxes and connectors appear one after the other to demonstrate a systematic process. We have applied animation features to both our simplified and complex flowcharts.

1. Highlight the first text box in the flowchart object by clicking on it. While highlighted, select Slide Show > Custom Animation.
2. From the Add Effect menu, select an animation effect and click OK
3. Highlight the connector that links the first text box to the second text box in the flowchart. Add an animation effect as described above
4. Continue highlighting remaining text boxes and connectors adding animation effects to suit
5. Now that you have a complete list of animated text boxes and connectors in the Custom Animation task pane, we need to adjust the timing so that each text box and connector appears one after the other to create a visual representation of the systematic process of the flowchart

6. Adjust the start time for each animation to Start After Previous
7. Preview slideshow by pressing F5 or Selecting Slide Show > View Show

Animating multiple objects simultaneously

In our example, the car drives from one slide to the next taking with it the simplified flowchart. To do this we have grouped all components in the flowchart including the text boxes and associated connectors, so that the multiple objects are perceived as one object.

1. Hold down the shift key and select the text boxes and connectors in the simplified flowchart by clicking on each individual item
2. From the drawing toolbar, Draw > Group
3. All individual objects are now grouped together as one object
4. Select the same entrance and exit lines that you chose for the car matching the speed options
5. Preview slideshow by pressing F5 on the keyboard or Selecting Slide Show > View Show
6. Continue animating each slide in your presentation

Creating motion path effects

In our example, the clip art hand on the title slide swirls around the car landing on the ignition point. This effect has been created using a motion path.

1. Click on the clip art image to highlight it
2. Select Slide Show > Custom Animation > Add Effect > Motion Paths > Draw Custom Path

3. Use the cursor to draw the line that you would like the image to move along. To create bends in the line, click the mouse while continuing to draw. To finish the motion path, double click the left button on the mouse

4. Select the automation, speed and timing that you would like for this effect
5. Preview slideshow by pressing F5

Finishing Touches

Now that we have completed animated flowchart, we need to automate the slideshow to automatically play through from one slide to the next.

1. Select Slide Show > Slide Transition

2. Click on Automatically After from Advance Slide options. You can choose how long the slide stays on the screen before changing by electing a time frame
3. Click Apply to all Slides
4. That’s it! It’s ready for viewing. Have a great time learning and don’t forget to save, save, save!