Imagination Place! Resource Guide At-A-Glance

Contents-At-A-Glance

Introduction

I. About This Guide

Goals of this Guide: How informal educators and parents can expect to benefit by using this resource guide.
The KAHooTZ Environment: Information about the innovative online service for children that is currently hosting Imagination Place!
How to Use this Guide: Details on the guide's organization.
Tips & Strategies: Pointers and suggestions on using this resource guide.

II. Background

Girls, Boys and Technology: Lessons learned that provide the backdrop for Imagination Place!.
Why Imagination Place!?: Reasons for involving potential young designers in Imagination Place!

III. What is Design?

Design has many meaning. Find out which notions of design are important to participation in Imagination Place! and how to encourage the use of design in Imagination Place! Design Clubs.

Design Club Leader Preparation

Imagination Place! Workshops	& KAHooTZ Help
First Things First: Goals of the Design Club Leader's Prep. Getting Yourself Oriented: Suggested introductory reading included as part of this guide. Start Gathering: Suggestions for materials that will help and enhance workshop sessions. Take Stock of Your Technical Needs: Technical requirements for full participation by design club members. The KAHooTZ Environment: Information about the innovative online service for children that is hosting Imagination Place! Other Project Resources: Obtaining project materials not currently online.	Obtaining the KAHooTZ cd, Patches, accounts, about KAHooTZ help Naming Conventions in Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ KAHooTZ Tour \| KAHooTZ Help \| A Tour of Imagination Place in KAHooTZ: Design Xchange; Wacky World; Word Wave

Imagination Place! Workshops

& KAHooTZ Help

First Things First: Goals of the Design Club Leader's Prep.

Getting Yourself Oriented: Suggested introductory reading included as part of this guide.

Start Gathering: Suggestions for materials that will help and enhance workshop sessions.

Take Stock of Your Technical Needs: Technical requirements for full participation by design club members.

The KAHooTZ Environment: Information about the innovative online service for children that is hosting Imagination Place!

Other Project Resources: Obtaining project materials not currently online.

Obtaining the KAHooTZ cd, Patches, accounts, about KAHooTZ help

Naming Conventions in Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ

KAHooTZ Tour | KAHooTZ Help | A Tour of Imagination Place in KAHooTZ: Design Xchange; Wacky World; Word Wave

Design Club Workshops

Imagination Place! Workshops	& KAHooTZ Help
1) Introducing Imagination Place! Design Club Workshops Display Imagination Place! poster. What is Imagination Place!: Participants learn about IP! Design Clubs including logistics and what they can expect. Signing-up: Children join Imagination Place! Design Club by filling out a sign-up form. In addition, children are encouraged to identify things that they like to do and to acknowledge at least one thing that makes them unique or special. Imagination Place! Promotional Materials: Participants receive Imagination Place! informational brochure and other project promotional materials that they can share with family and friends. Design Notebooks: Participants receive design notebooks / portfolios that they decorate and make their own. Design Notebook Entry (Optional): Sketch something that you use everyday, almost everyday or that you use a whole lot. Is your everyday object an example of technology? Tell why. Logo / Personal symbols: Representing Yourself -- Participants explore the meaning of "logo" as an entry point into design and then design an image or symbol that can be used to represent themselves. Participant Biographies Children write brief versions of their lives to go with the personal symbols / logos that they have created.	KAHooTZ Tour (optional) Participants explore the KAHooTZ environment through the included tour. Demonstration of KAHooTZ -- Design club leader gives participants a sense of the KAHooTZ environment by showing some of its features. Tour of Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ Participants explore the Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ environment through *"Intros"* included as part of each main component. About Icons -- Learn about icons and their importance in KAHooTZ - Representing Yourself - What is an icon and why do I need one? (See KAHooTZ in the Classroom: Curriculum Support Material for Teachers 1.1.1 -- 1.1.5) - Save An Icon -- Learn how to save representations of yourself. - Publish / Make Public an Icon Information about making an icon available to the KAHooTZ world. Word Wave Online Design Journal entries get participants thinking about and recording design in their own lives. Design Survey -- Participants create their first X-pression that explores their ideas about design, invention & imagination.
Starting and Staying with Imagination Place!: You Have Options!
2) Design, Invent, Imagine	& KAHooTZ Help
Read through the goals of the three bundled activities below and choose any one to introduce participants to notions of design, invention, technology and imagination. Thinking About Technology Participants identify and explore different examples of technology. - Naming -- Participants identify and explore different examples of technology and come to appreciate the importance of naming. - What is technology? -- After viewing and manipulating examples of technology, a brainstorming activity gets participants thinking and talking about technology, design, invention, and imagination. Looking at the World and Seeing Design Participants learn to see the world as full of "design" through brainstorming, writing of personal experiences with technology and exploring relationships between form and function. Guess My Technology In pairs, participants develop clues that others use to guess the name of a secret technology (possibly, an important one in the kitchen.) Note: So far, participants have talked a lot during club sessions, they've created a few Xpressions, and now it's time for them to talk to one another using KAHooTZ mail.	About Xpressions -- Information about the basic building blocks of KAHooTZ. About Create -- Find out more about creating backgrounds, draw, stamps, sound and text -- elements that are used to create Xpressions. Xpressions: How do I -- Create -- Information on starting, testing and changing Xpressions. Saving my Xpression (in "How do I Create) Learn how to save Xpressions you have created. Publish an Icon Information about making an icon available to the KAHooTZ world. About Mail Find out basic information about mail in KAHooTZ. How Do I Mail? Learn what you need to know to use mail in KAHooTZ. Tips & Tricks-- Naming Learn about naming the things that young designers create in Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ. Wacky World Participants visit Quests & Queries and create an Xpression based on one of the explorations of technology there. Word Wave Participants visit Design Journaland develop Journal Idea 1which asks that they think of a machine that they need and then visualize their idea in an Xpression. Participants visit Buzzand create an Xpression based on one of its Story Starters.
3) I'm a Designer, You're a Designer	& KAHooTZ Help
Who Designs What? Participants collect examples of a broad range of designers -- sketch, plan, and create a visual collage to help them see that there are many ways to design and a variety of people who engage in design.	Follow entries for Activity 2: Design, Invent, Imagine Wacky World Participants visit *Wacky Puzzlesand try out Puzzle 2: Design Professions* Design Xchange Participants create an Xpression of designers and the things they design.
4) Behind Every Good Shoe...	& KAHooTZ Help
Things Can Be and Have Been Designed in More Than One Way: As participants sketch and design an artifact common to their everyday experience -- a shoe, they come to understand that things can be and have been designed in more than one way. Engage participants with Imagination Place! poster -- side 2. Making Choices: Understanding the Design Process -- As participants analyze similarities and differences in the design of an artifact common to their everyday experience -- a shoe, they explore the process behind design and see how the designer's vision is expressed through the decisions she makes during the design process.	About Chat Begin to prepare participants for chats in KAHooTZ Wacky World Participants visit *Wacky Puzzles,* play with Puzzle 1: Shirtmakerand develop a similar X-pression of their own. Design Xchange Participants visit *Design Specs 2and consider specific needs and develop an Xpression that reveals their thinking. Word Wave* Participants visit *Chat Invitiations*and begin to think about inviting others to chat about X-pressions they have created in Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ.
5) Marvelous Machines and Glorious Gadgets	& KAHooTZ Help
The Jobs Machines Perform -- Participants are introduced to the range of functions performed by machines, and further explore the concepts of sequence and cause and effect in the function of a tool or machine. Participants also explore the way they see themselves in relation to machines. Participants examine the mechanisms by which small tools and gadgets operate and expand their awareness of how tools and gadgets fill a need.	Wacky World Participants visit *Kids' Puzzles,play with examples they find and develop X-pressions of their own. Participants visit Artifactsand develop X-pressions of their own based on what they find there. Participants visit Wacky Puzzles,* play with Puzzle 3: What Part?and develop a similar X-pression of their own. Tips & Tricks Participants get help looking "under the hood" of KAHooTZ technical options.
At the Heart of Imagination Place!
6) An Invention the World Forgot to Make That You Want	& KAHooTZ Help
More -- Who Designs What: Participants expand their understading of what designers do and who designers are. Engage participants with Imagination Place! poster -- side 2. Dream Machines: Through drawing and sketching, participants share their "wildest dreams" about technology. They consider the relationship between form and function. My Device: This activity encourages participants to decide on a fantasy device they would like to create and share their ideas with peers on and off line. Making an Idea a Reality: Through sketching and discussion, participants come to understand how to translate an idea into a design. Sequence, Storyboarding, and Animation: Young designers begin to use storyboarding and animation to show the sequence of functions for their dream machine.	About Animate -- What animation is and the types available in KAHooTZ. Linking things together -- Find out what links are and how to create your own. About Stash -- Find out how to store your collection of Xpressions Search -- Learn how to find other children, Xpressions and icons. Tips & Tricks-- Further explorations of the technical options that help young designers create in Imagination Place! in KAHooTZ. Word Wave Participants visit Design JournalIdea 1: I have an Idea!and reflect on their design process. Design Xchange Participants visit Design Spec 1: A Machine the World Forgot To Make and develop their own imaginative invention.
7) Looking "Inside" the Design	& KAHooTZ Help
X-ray View: By imagining that there is an x-ray machine that can take pictures of the inside of a machine, participants describe in words and in pictures what the x-ray reveals about their own devices. Storyboards & Animation: What young designers learn by examining the insides of their machines and devices, further informs storyboards of their machines movements and the kinds of animations that they construct for their machines.	About Sequence -- Find out what sequence is and when to use it. How Do I... Make things happen in order -- Find out how to make thinks happen when you want them to by creating a sequence. Tips & Tricks Encourage participants to continue working to understand the KAHooTZ technical options. Wacky World Participants visit Wacky Puzzles and play with "Puzzle 3: Part of the Whole." They then create an Xpression of their own. Participants visit Artifact and create their own Xpression based on wht is there. Word Wave Participants visit Buzz 2 and create a story based on the Xpression. Design Xchange Participants visit Design Specs: Looking "inside" the design Views -- From Where I Am/ Sit/ Stand
8) Here It Is! (Now Market It!)	& KAHooTZ Help
Everyday Technology: Participants explore everyday objects to investigate important steps of the design process. Engage participants with Imagination Place! poster -- side 2. Market It: Participants experiment with describing their fantasy machines to a wider audience and explore issues such as how objects are represented in advertising, and what kind of context is necessary for object functions to be understood.	About Text -- Find out about text and options for its use. Design Xchange Participants visit *Market it* and develop an advertisment for their invention. Participants download their Xpressions or print them out to guide them in creating their ad. Word Wave Participants visit *Chat Invitations* and develop an interesting way of inviting others to come talk about their invention.
9) Patent Pending	& KAHooTZ Help
What Makes an Invention Patent Worthy? When participants have created "a machine the world forgot to make," including a front view, an x-ray view, and at least one other view (side or aerial), when there is an ad or press release describing what the machine is called, how it works, what it does, and what need it fills, problem it solves or opportunity it provides, the invention is ready for the patent office.	Publish or Send Design Xchange Participants visit the *Patent Office*and make their inventions available to the public.
10) Invention Convention	& KAHooTZ Help
Celebrate the design, invention and innovation of participants in the Design club. Display contributions in various stages of development including: sketches, Xpressions, ideas and Patented work.	Design Xchange Participants visit *Invention Convention* Participants are awarded Design Certificates recognizing their participation in Imagination Place!

Resources

Suggestions for Related Design Activities
Sources and References