The Hypermedia Zoo Project
The Zoo Visit
:We will meet on 26 April at 4:30 pm at the entrance of the Milwaukee Zoo. Prior to this time please visit the zoo’s web site http://milwaukeezoo.org/. Examine the various animal environments on the site map. Choose one of the exhibits and one of the animals in that exhibit to study. Do NOT look up any information on this animal. All of your information will be primary source observations of the animal at the zoo. Be sure to have at least one other animal in mind in case your first choice is unavailable.
You will observe this animal and record its physical description, behavior, locomotion, and a description of the zoo habitat. When giving a physical description, it is essential that you estimate quantitatively some dimensions. For instance, the length of the Asian elephant’s left front leg is 170 cm; its girth is approximately 35 cm. Each toe is about 15 cm long. Please note that in science we do not use any of those four letter words (inch, foot, mile, etc.). Behavior is what the animal is doing. Remember the word "nothing" cannot be used otherwise your animal would be dead. Locomotion is defined as behavior that results in a change of position in space, i.e. moving from one side of the habitat to the other. Again the detail here is important. You should try to describe the gait the animal uses to move, i.e. first right front leg, then back left leg, left front leg and back right leg with a stride of 1.5 m (one complete gait). You may record any information from posted zoo plaques. If a zookeeper is present during your observations, you may interview her/him. Be sure to get the person's name and position at the zoo.
In addition, you should bring material to draw this animal. Draw only parts of the animal not the whole. Try to include as much detail as possible in each drawing. Make it to scale. A drawing of the zoo habitat is very useful. I will have a digital camera with me and will circulate to try to get a photo of each of your animals. However, if you have a digital still and/or video camera bring it. Use it to record data.
We can stay at the zoo until 5:45 pm. You must start on your observations right away. Can we have dinner together somewhere after our observations? I would like to return to class after dinner for a 45-minute presentation on the work my students have done on the Hypermedia Zoo. This will be a preview of how you will transform your primary source data into a multimedia document with Hyperstudio. If you would like to see some of my middle school students’ work, try logging on to our server
http://www.franklinstower.org. Select hypermedia zoo article. Most of it should work. The following references will be provided in class for those interested:Dipinto, V. M. & Turner, S. V. (1995). Zapping the hypermedia zoo: Assessing students’ hypermedia projects. The Computing Teacher, 22(7), 8-11.
Dipinto, V. M. & Turner, S. V. (1997). Student and teachers as co-conspirators in learning. Current Issues in Middle Level Education, 6(1), 29-39.
Turner, S. V. & Dipinto, V. M. (1991). The hypermedia zoo: Seventh-graders as hypermedia authors. HyperNexus: Journal of Hypermedia and Multimedia Studies, 1(4), 5-9.
Turner, S. V. & Dipinto, V. M. (1992). Students as hypermedia authors: Themes emerging from a qualitative study. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 25(2), 187-199.
Turner, S. V. & Dipinto, V. M. (1993). Students as hypermedia composers in a constructivist learning environment. In Johnson, D. C. & Samways, B. C. (Eds.) Informatics and changes in learning. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishes.
Turner, S. V. & Dipinto, V. M. (1997). Peer collaboration in a hypermedia learning environment. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 29(4), 392-402.