“Diamond Girl” and “Meateater” were just two of the many “super hero” stories that were created by sixth grade students after interviewing their second grade buddies. Sixth graders used HyperStudio to write and illustrate the stories. HyperStudio’s multimedia capabilities allowed students to include hand-drawn illustrations, photos of their buddies and sound affects. It was gratifying to see the smiles on the young student faces as they read the stories for the first time last week. Many of the superheroes were creatively illustrated using a photo for the student’s face and the body drawn with HyperStudio tools and colors.
I believe that HyperStudio is one of the best software programs for students to show their knowledge and understanding of a topic. The program can be used in almost any curricular area from second grade through high school. This powerful tool allows students to create “stacks” that can include text, buttons, pictures, sound, animation, movies, and hand-drawn graphics. Student learning of content can easily be identified through the combination of these elements. At the beginning of the school year second grade students created stacks about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly that included text and hand-drawn illustrations of each phase. Fifth grade students created a presentation on an award-winning book that showed more sophisticated illustrations and in-depth reflections on the story.
Software MacKiev purchased HyperStudio and announced that they would be releasing Version 5 in late Summer, 2007, first for the Mac and later the PC. I am hoping the Version 5 will be released in the imminent future since it is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful software programs for enhancing classroom learning.
The full press release on HyperStudio 5 can be read at: http://hyperstudio5.com/press.htm
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