Design Doc - Point P video

Presentation Prowess Design Documentation

– The Life and Times of Point P

Bruce Barker

IT6710 – Creative Designs for Instructional Materials

April 25, 2010

Overview

The purpose of this presentation is to serve as a refresher of basic geometric shapes, including points, lines, planes, line segments, rays, triangles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons; there may also be some new terms and concepts (e.g., infinity, equilateral, regular polygons), depending on the students’ previous experience. It is intended for the beginning of the geometry unit in a first year high school integrated math course – which integrates the different math strands (algebra, geometry, statistics, etc.) each year. Although this could be used in any high school or middle school math class, I will be using it with alternative high school students, many of whom have had big gaps in their schooling, especially in math. Even those who have been fairly successful need a review of these basic shapes before diving back into geometry, as it’s usually been at least one, and sometimes a few years since their last geometry lessons. The intent is to provide an amusing and entertaining refresher – a change of pace from the ‘normal’ types of reviews or advance organizers, including those that I have used in the past, such as matching exercises or definition ‘marathons’. Its intended setting is in a fairly small classroom – with a maximum of 24 students, although it could certainly be used in a large room or in an online course.

Audience

I teach math at an ‘alternative’ high school, so the range of personalities in my audience is usually significantly more variable than the other, ‘normal’ high schools, and hence include all personality types. There are many introverts – those that have just disappeared in the large classes of the regular high school, as well as many types of extraverts – those that were so ‘verbal’ that they kept teachers from teaching and got bumped to our ‘last-chance’ school, those who are there primarily to socialize, etc. There are always those students who want all the facts and reasons for everything, and those Intuitors who just take everything in and make their own judgments about the big picture (which is all too often something like: “This is all of no use to me, so I’m going to check out and fail yet again!”). We always have more feelers than thinkers; they go by their gut when deciding whether this teacher cares about them as people and hence whether to buy in or not. There are plenty of Judgers in the class who want to know exactly what the end goal is and why up front, and who don’t like the open-ended investigations of our curriculum. They’ll often say “Just tell me how to do it, I don’t care about WHY it works!” And others want to know about different ways of doing the math, and debate about why they should be able to do it their way.

Learning Objectives

With this population, I have learned not to take any previous geometry knowledge for granted. The general objective for this unit is to refresh their memory of the geometric objects that they should have seen past years, and to connect the terminology to mental pictures (from the video).

The specific learning objectives for this presentation are for students to: Identify and name the plane-shape (2D) geometric figures in the presentation Identify and be able to define/explain new terms, such as: ‘equilateral’, ‘regular’, etc. Have a working understanding, and be able to discuss, the concepts of infinity and

shape/size (or lack thereof) in relation to points, lines, planes, and shapes built from them

Subsequent to the two showings (and discussions) of this presentation, students will work in their groups to fill out Toolkit (math notes) entries with the geometric terms contained in the presentation; this will be available for reference throughout this and later geometry units.

Problem/Solution

The primary problem that this presentation will help to solve is my students’ lack of, or forgotten, knowledge of many of the basic geometric shapes. Our math curriculum makes the assumption that students already know the terminology and properties of the basic objects – points, lines, planes, line segments, angles, the different types of triangles, etc. It is important that students be familiar with many of these basics before proceeding with the geometry unit – which jumps right into space-shapes (3-dimensional objects such as prisms, pyramids and cylinders).

This music video – an animated PowerPoint presentation set to music, will review these terms in the context of a story about point ‘P’. I plan to run it straight through once; during a second showing, I will pause the video at various points for formative checks to see if students can remember the terms and/or explain the concepts, leading into class discussions for certain topics (such as ‘infinity’, which can be difficult to grasp). The story, along with the visuals and music, will provide a rich context from which to discuss the concepts, and to help students remember them. After the second showing, students will be asked to write definitions for all the terms they can, and then resolve any difficulties and differences with their groups. The definitions will be placed in students’ math toolkits so they can refer to them when they need during the remainder of their high school math course.

Evidence

The presentation is a story that begins with a point, and keeps building to make progressively more complex geometric objects. Refer to Abela Worksheet A.6 – List of Evidence, in Appendix A of this document.

Anecdotes

The overarching story I use for the presentation is the ‘life’ story of P, who is created by G.O.D. (Graphic Object Designer). The story follow P as G.O.D. makes friends who help her form more and more objects. She becomes more worldly, moves from straight-edged objects into circles and other curves, becomes spiritual, and finds true love.

There are a number of brief anecdotes and metaphors employed within this story. In addition to G.O.D. ‘creating’ objects on a CAD screen, there’s a chorus line of dancers, P the angle vertex ‘hugs’ the two sides of the angle to make smaller angles; angels and angles are intertwined (many students spell angles ‘angel’); cliques of friends (segments) join up to make triangles and other polygons; weights and a piano are dropped on a triangle to show how strong it is, along with becoming supports for a bridge, the Eiffel tower, and the Statue of Liberty; a painted-up VW bus named ‘rhom’ represents the rhombus; a geezer pushes the rhombus into a square; a pizza pie for the concept of pi, the earth and a rainbow represent the ‘perfect’ circle (or semicircle); P getting

blasted from a cannon shows a parabolic shape; a cross added to P makes perpendicular segments and the female symbol; Ray (the ray) is the male symbol.

Format

I chose to employ a music video format for this presentation. The main reason for this is that my students have to listen to me talk enough already; I know that showing an animated, somewhat silly story set to music would get their attention, and would help them learn and retain the information much better. I have just started using music now and then in my teaching, and find that it really hooks them in – not that it’s the kind of music they like, but it provides a change in the environment and puts them in a better and more attentive mood.

Vernallis (2004, p. 9) says that for the ‘normal’ music video, the music and lyrics are the focal points, and that the video images are secondary, supporting elements. Music videos where the narrative is preeminent are the exception. The narrative in this “music video” presentation is the primary focus; the music is meant to support and enhance the message and mood of the slides. I specifically used instrumental music so as not to detract from the story and instruction.

Sequencing

1. I chose to employ a story-centered approach to this music video, with protagonist – point ‘P’ – who experiences adventure, a range of emotions, and finally finds true love. There is a preponderance of evidence in the literature that stories help make the content ‘stick’, like Abela’s (2008, p. 65) statement that “audiences remember stories better than they remember lists of bullet points.” Within the context of the story, I inserted frequent smaller anecdotes and metaphors which correlates with Medina’s rule #4 (Medina, 2008, p. 91) where he states that “you can keep grabbing them back by telling narratives or creating events rich in emotion.”

2. I have employed the S.Co.R.E. (Situation, Complication, Resolution, Example) approach to my story, as described by Abela (2008, pp. 75-76). I have employed a series of ‘complications’ for the students (and for point ‘P’) which are subsequently resolved in a variety of ways – by either P’s or G.O.D.’s actions. For example, I tried to grab students’ attention right at the beginning with the bombastic theme from “2001 – A Space Oddysey” coupled with the suspenseful opening text leading to the “G.O.D” slide”, as Medina (2008, p. 214) stresses that: "the opening moments of a lecture are cognitive hallowed ground. It is the one time teachers automatically have student minds paying attention to them. We must therefore capitalize on this moment and capture students at the start of a lecture or presentation.” Bringing up ‘G.O.D.’ will create some tension in the students (“He’s doing religion in school?!”), which is then resolved in the next slide of the Graphic Object Designer.

3. To brainstorm the sequence of the presentation and instructional activities, I made a different card for each geometric object, with story & graphics ideas, as proposed by Duarte (2008, pp. 28-29) and Gill (2009, slide 8), in order to visualize the effects of placing components in different orders. This helped me to develop a storyline that progresses from the most simple (the point) to the progressively more ‘complicated’ geometric figures and adventures.

Graphics

1. According to Medina (2008, p. 324), "If information is presented orally, people remember about 10 percent, tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if you add a picture." Reynolds’ picture superiority principle states that “pictures are remembered better than words, especially when people are casually exposed to the information and the exposure is for a very limited time.” (Reynolds, 2007, p. 1) Whereas geometry is inherently more visual than most other strands of mathematics, the typical ‘picture’ in a geometry text is a diagram of thin lines and points. By giving the geometric figures in my video some personality and combining them with real-world pictures and artwork, the students will remember the different shapes better, even though the slides progress fairly quickly.

2. For this video, I have gone somewhat against the advice of Abela (2008, p. 98) who says to never use clipart in a presentation, although it is used mostly for the main protagonist P’s various facial expressions and a couple of post-it notes. Duarte (2008, pp. 166-171), on the other hand does see a place for icons and line art in a presentation. I use a mix of ‘traditional’ geometric figures (some of which talk and exhibit emotions) and a variety of photos, along with the clipart ‘smileys’ to create a unique cartoon-ish feel

3. I tried to be consistent in the use of colors in the video. Duarte (2008, p. 132) suggests that using darker backgrounds are more formal but with more dramatic possibilities, whereas light backgrounds are more informal, with a bright feeling. Vernallis states that "Blues and greens seem emotionally cool, and reds and oranges are warmer” (2004, p. 123). I used a darker (blue) background most times when G.O.D. was involved and darker backgrounds for the most dramatic scenes – the opening “in the beginning” sequence and the closing rainbow sequence; I used the white computer drawing palette for most of the object drawing scenes. P and the other points vary between the warmer oranges and yellows.

Text

1. Abela (2008, p. 103) says that research shows that color can attract attention, but irrelevant color is distracting and harmful. Duarte (2008, p. 94-5) notes that “Audiences need contrast.” which can be accomplished with different sizes, shapes, shading, color and proximity. I chose to use a fairly small number of colors for my text, with enough contrast to be seen clearly – bright yellow on the dark blue background, mostly black text on the white “drawing screen”, along with black or purple on top of light green callout bubbles. I used bold, red capitals for the first appearance of important geometric terms. Other examples of text contrast used were a script font for when G.O.D. is speaking, a larger font for certain important words (like ‘big’), a funny-shaped Jokerman font for the word ‘shape’, and a different color for ‘color’.

2. Duarte (2008, p. 96) and McCloud (2008, p.36) both emphasize the need to assist readers’ cognitive processing by following western culture’s ‘Z’ pattern – left to right, and top to bottom. Duarte adds that if your text differs from this then it should be introduced over time, which she also mentions on p. 145 to help keep the audience from getting ahead of you. I have employed this technique, by having the narration appear at the top when the slide is shown; other significant text (besides short labels) appear after the narration has been read. I also have some slides where the reading order must be controlled because it doesn’t follow the ‘Z’ pattern (e.g., when G.O.D. responds, at top, to something said or done below), so I make them appear in time order.

3. A big challenge for this presentation was limiting the amount of text while still providing enough to create a meaningful narrative that moves the story along. One rule of thumb I used to help accomplish this while ensuring the text is sufficiently large enough to read was Duarte’s suggestion to “use a point size no smaller than 30 point. It will make your presentations better because it requires you to find the most salient points…” Abela (2008, p. 127) acknowledges that self-contained presentations usually require more text, and that “One way to add this text is to use callout boxes” which is what I have done in this music video.

Layout

1. I employed Duarte’s principles of proximity (Duarte, 2008, p. 104-105) and Abela’s (2008, p. 133) guidance that “It is a good idea to put text and visuals close together.” for related elements in several places. Whereas the narration is, except for a couple of exceptions, placed at the top, text corresponding to the graphics, such as words ‘spoken’ by the various figures and terminology for the objects, are contained in callouts from those objects.

2. Duarte (2008, p. 207) states that “The effective use of a template helps viewers become accustomed to where the content will appear on a slide.” I tried out different layouts, and decided to use the white main screen for the Google SketchUp drawing program to be G.O.D.’s canvas, and just the (blue) background when the objects are interacting with G.O.D., or are doing ‘non-drawing’ types of activities, like supporting the Eiffel tower or traveling around the Earth. McCloud (2008, p. 20)says that “Readers like change and variety . . . Just make sure that the changes in your artwork aren’t distracting from more important changes taking place in your story.” I have included a big variety of drawings and graphics, but the small set of templates help keeping it from feeling too scattered.

3. Duarte (2008, p. 190) says that “There are times when one slide isn’t enough real estate for all your content. Instead of piling it all on one slide, split the content between two slides.” I often found myself cramming too much (text and/or graphics) on a slide, and then either split it into two slides, or kept it on the same slide but used animation (appearances & exits) to make it seem like two or more slides. As much as possible, I kept the graphics (points, lines, etc.) in the same place on similar slides to keep the layout from jumping around. McCloud (2008, p. 12) emphases the “choice of moment” when determining the optimal number of panels needed to communicate the plot of the story. Whereas one action, such as G.O.D. creating a point, might only need one panel/slide, another (e.g., converting a square into a triangle) might need several slides.

Measurement

The primary method for measuring the effectiveness of this presentation is to give a pre-assessment and a post-assessment of their knowledge of the basic geometric shapes. They will consist of the same matching, multiple choice and short answer questions. The post-assessment will also include a couple of additional questions related to the effectiveness of the presentation. A more subjective measurement will be my observations of the students engagement and interaction – both during the first, non-stop showing, and during the second showing when we I solicit terms and other information when I stop it periodically.

Peer Review Results

The guiding questions that I asked my peer reviewers to answer are included below, along with the comments from my peer reviewers.

1. What was your impression of the opening sequence – with the GOD stuff. Did you think it was too

much? And did you ‘get’ the Graphic Object Designer part?

I think it was great and did not imagine it would segway into math. But I should have know better. I

believe so, the designer is being likened with God and his masterpiece.

Being one of the most staunch supporters of separation of church and state – I actually think you did a

good job of making fairly neutral. I think this would be more for an alternative school environment –

alternative can be very liberating. If you feel uncomfortable with the possibility of it being

controversial, you could try using a mythical god(dess) instead. Athena?

“In the beginning there was “name” the god of reason and blah blah blah...” Then the conversation and

P could continue without religious assumptions.

I do enjoy the storyline! I like the conversations between the point and god. Very creative!

2. How well does the music work with the content? (if you watched that version) Do you have any

suggestions for changes? I watched both and felt that the music worked better with it. In the beginning of the presentation when the music played, there was a deep rumbling in the music towards the end of the 1st slide and before the introduction of the designer. I think that that sound (if you can identify it) would be great with the appearance of the designer, like a surprising entrance.

The music is totally appropriate! I especially like the middle song – French – En Douce. The music in

the beginning is right on and connects the concept to the story. I don’t think the video would be as

engaging without the music – which is the purpose. I wouldn’t change any of the songs. The timing is

impeccable.

3. What are your thoughts on the layout, color scheme and font choices?

I thought that the layout showed a level of contrast between God design and the designer works space. The color and font were distinguishable and worked well together. I would have liked to see more consistency in the left to right flow of how things show up.

You might want to consider consistency with your capitalization. There are some hanging sentences

and missing punctuation. Some small errors -- In slide with P in the middle of the other points, the

arrow covers part of the word – claustrophobic - !, know(n) as, and representatio-n.

The color scheme is fun, your photographs are good (maybe change the angels to match the tone of pp –

they look a little too serious).

I love the use of the universal emoticons. Icons, symbolism, and metaphor seem to be a more critical

part of videos than that of other pps.

One other piece that was a bit distracting is the narration is at the top of the screen – I’m not sure why,

but it was difficult not to look at the picture first and then look for the narrations. When god speaks –

the bubbles frame the words which make it very easy to identify. Maybe frame the narration? Or place

it in the frame with the story.

4. What are your impressions of the (rudimentary) motion/animation in the presentation? Is it too much? Any suggestions for modifications? I thought the animation worked well with what you were trying to achieve. I particularly like it towards the end with P and Ray and how they faded into the background. Very creative!

Although the “gurus” suggest that animation is not necessary – this video wouldn’t be as engaging and

fun without it. My 15 year old son (a total math whiz) thought it was great! He really enjoyed the

animation and thought it had some great ideas on how to show the concept

5. Do you have any other comments about the content, delivery, ‘humor’, or etc.? I did get some humor towards the beginning and end. I got lost a bit around the rhombus area. I noticed that writings were popping up on different areas on the screen that made it difficult to read and follow. For example, there was the canvas where things were being done and then the text would appear at the top of the screen. I might be good if the text at the top show up first before the information on the canvas so that the readers does not have to go back and forth. Seriously Bruce, I think this is one of your best pieces. You really do show prowess when it comes to

using PP in a fun and engaging way. My son said you really know how to use PP! Humor is one of your

strongest talents and you do so well incorporating it into your concepts. The sequencing of the content

is very well laid out.

I asked question 1 because I must be very careful when getting anywhere near religion. I wanted the opinion of others’ whether I crossed the line, and whether it was clear that God was just a graphic artist who was drawing the point, line, etc. The reviewers thought it should be fine, especially in an alternative school. I did talk on the phone to one of the reviewers, and we decided to turn GOD into an acronym by adding points.

Question 2 was important, as this is my first attempt at adding music to a presentation. The responses were very positive, including a positive comment on the timing (which I tried hard to make work).

Question 3 is always a concern of mine due to my color blindness, and lack of any artistic training. I made the minor fixes that were requested. I made some minor changes to the title narratives, and deleted a few, but if would have been an enormous amount of work to totally change my narration scheme, so I still kept most of them in place. I would like to get input on this area from other experts.

Question 4 was a concern because of the blanket statements in our literature against animation (though our literature is mostly geared towards business presentations). The reviewers agreed that this was supposed to be a fun presentation for teenagers, so the animation is great.

Question 5 was open-ended because the most important questions are usually the ones you don’t think of. The second reviewer really liked the humor, though the first got lost in some of the geometry and missed the humor in the middle. Hopefully my students will know enough to “get it”, and I guess much of it is closer to ‘silliness’ than to humor. There were also comments about the narrative here, which I addressed with question 3.

Bibliography

Abela, A. V. (2008). Advanced Presentations by Design: Creating Communication That Drives Action. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Duarte, N. (2008). slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Gill, K. E. (2009). Craft your story visually. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from: http://www.slideshare.net/kegill/presentation-zen-1248852

McCloud, S. (2008). Making Comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Medina, J. (2008). brain rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Reynolds, G. E. (2007, April 30). Presentation Zen. Retrieved from http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/04/the_picture_sup.html

Vernallis, C. (2004). Experiencing Music Video Aesthetics and Cultural Context. New York: Columbia University Press.

Appendix A – Abela Worksheets

Below are the worksheets from Appendix A of the Abela worksheets (from Advanced Presentations by Design)

Worksheet A.1a. Audience Personality Type

Audience

Personality Type

12 to 24 ‘alternative’ high school math students

All personality types

Worksheet A.1b. Audience Personality Implications

Instructional Product (presentation or job aid) Implications:

Introverts & Extraverts. I will place a link to the presentation video on the class website ahead

of time in case students would like to watch it. I will run to consecutive shows of the video, the

first to just watch, and the second to stop at various points for questions and discussion.

Sensors & Intuitors. Detailed definitions for the objects will be developed, within their groups,

after the video activity. I will have former students’ completed math Toolkits for use by ‘sensor’

students, if needed. I will give an overview of the story and what we’ll be doing during and after

each showing ahead of time.

Thinkers & Feelers. The video provides both an overarching story, complete with feelings and

emotions; within that story are the details of the individual objects and the sequential logic of

how they are formed.

Judgers and Perceivers. There is no real main point for this presentation, though a couple

‘subpoints’ might be: “all geometric objects are made from points”, or “math can be fun and

silly while learning something.” I could provide these points, or the story ending up front (she

meets her soulpoint and they live happily ever after) if students want it; I could also relate the

other endings that I considered.

Worksheet A.2. From-To Think-Do Matrix

From To

Think Math (and geometry) is boring and difficult.

I can never remember all these different geometric objects and terms.

Maybe math can be kind of fun, and maybe I CAN do this stuff.

I can remember a lot of these objects in the video, or look in my Toolkit if I need.

Do Not remembering many of the basic geometric objects and terms.

Getting frustrated when they can’t remember how to ‘do’ the math.

Remembering the geometric objects and terms due to mental hooks from the video,

Looking in their Math Toolkit when they need, instead of getting frustrated.

Worksheet A.3. Audience Problem

The problem that much of my audience has is a sketchy memory of the various basic geometric objects and terminology that they’ve learned (or not) in elementary and middle school. This is due to being unsuccessful in earlier grades, but being passed on anyway, and/or inconsistency in their school attendance. Many have developed a math ‘phobia’, and get frustrated easily in math – which also contributes to a lack of learning and retention.

Worksheet A.4. Spectrum of Solution Contributions

Solve the whole problem

Solve part of the problem

Help define the solution space

Help define the problem

Help

recognize

there’s a

problem

This video presents a new way to remember to see and

remember geometry, along with building a Toolkit of terms and drawings for

reference.

Worksheet A.5. Solution Evaluation

Evaluation Criteria

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

Do two showings of the presentation

video (1st straight through, 2nd with

discussions; groups write definitions

afterwards

(proposed solution)

Do nothing

(follow the curriculum which

does not review the geometry basics)

(alternative 1)

Do a traditional review of the basic

figures – use a worksheet to match terms to figures, etc.

(alternative 2)

Remember objects and terms

Remember at least 80% of objects & terms

Large gaps in basic geometry terminology knowledge

Limited individual recollection of terms

Ability to write a definition/description for

Yes. Will hear more, and have them written down

No more ability than before

Limited ability – mostly for those terms already know

Student engagement High engagement with music video, class discussions and cooperative group work

Low engagement; frustration with lack knowledge needed for new material

Low engagement; boredom with individual work

Worksheet A.6. List of Evidence

Evidence – Information I will need to include in the presentation

1. Begin with the most basic object – a point; then the other two ‘undefinable’ objects – plane and

line.

2. Use those 3 basic objects to build a ray, segment, perpendicular segments, and angle (obtuse,

right, acute). Show a translation of

3. Starting with a segment, add two to build a triangle (3 sides), and show how triangles are the

strongest polygon and are used in construction.

4. Keep adding sides to make a quadrilateral (4 sides) – with two special quad’s – a rhombus and

square. Then keep adding to make a pentagon (5 sides), hexagon (6 sides), and every 2 sides up

to 12. Show how to name a 13+ sided polygon.

5. Then show a circle and circle terms (radius, diameter, circumference, pi) and a few other curves

(semicircle, parabola, teardrop).

Worksheet A.7 Stakeholder Analysis

Who will be impacted by the success or failure of this instructional product?

Students Instructor Parents

What is their role in the success or failure of this instructional product?

They need to put in the effort and get involved – participate in group & class activities

I must spend the time to develop the video and associated materials and activities

Parental support and involvement are the biggest determiners of student success

How will they be impacted if the instructional product is a success (i.e., learners achieve learning objectives)?

They will have a much higher chance of staying engaged and propagating their success, passing the course and improving their attitude about math.

I will enjoy teaching more, and will be more inclined to spent the time to create other instructional technology in my teaching.

They will be pleasantly surprised to hear positive comments about math class, and to see better grades.

How will they be impacted if the instructional product is a failure (i.e., learners do not achieve learning objectives)?

They may not have the needed foundation for continuing onto further geometric concepts; no change in views of math.

Will get frustrated, and be less likely to spend so much time on technology products

May receive yet another negative comment about math from their student; though might appreciate my trying something new.