You will need to download the prac4.zip file to do the guided practices for this module. Decompress its contents in the C:\Clic\Course\Module4\Practice folder.

Practice 1
Creating activities with ARITH2

First of all, copy the ARITH2.DLL file, which goes with the Clic "demo", to the working directory:

- Open Windows Explorer (Start - Programs - Explorer).

- Find the C:\CLIC\ACT\DEMO folder in the left panel and select it.

- Click on the ARITH2.DLL file, which should appear in the right hand panel, with the right mouse button. Select Copy from the menu.

- Find and select the practice folder for module 4 in the left-hand panel.

- Click on the right hand panel with the right mouse button and select paste from the menu.

You should now have a copy of ARITH2.DLL in the working directory.

- Start up Clic, go to the File - New... - Association menu and select the working directory for module 4.

- Set a layout of 1 column and 5 rows.

- Select Text for grid A, make sure that the NEW TEXT option is selected in the drop list and click on the Edit contents button. We will call the file EMPTY.TXT

In fact this text file will have a purely testimonial role. It will be used to create a skeleton of the activity and we will set up the actual content for the activity with ARITH2.

- When Notepad opens, insert a couple of returns and go directly to the File - Save and File - Exit options.

- Open the list for grid B and select the EMPTY.TXT file again.

- Mark the Solved grid A box and select EMPTY.TXT once more.

Accept the changes. We have a normal association between two empty grids. The next step is to use ARITH2 to fill the cells:

- Go to Activity options (CTRL+O) and mark the Activity automation box.

- Select the ARITH2.DLL file from the drop list above this box and click on the Configuration button.

- Leave the predetermined values (values of between 0 and 10) in the Arith2 configuration window and accept everything.

Test the activity. Each time the green flag is clicked, the activity is reloaded with different operations.

- Edit the activity to write the following Welcome message:

Solve these calculations

  ... and add a congratulatory good bye message.

- Save the activity as ADD1.ASS.

Now we can make a few changes to improve the activity's appearance. We will use the technique of showing the game window on a decorative background as in the TXA06.TXA activity in the Clic "demo":

- Go to the Activity options (CTRL+O) and click on the Solid colour button for the main window. Select white.

- Select white as the background colour for the game window as well.

- Mark the Image box for the main window, open the list and select BGROUND.GIF

- Mark the Centred box and accept the changes.

- Everything seems to be going well so far. A background image has appeared, but the game window is too large and does not appear in the frame in the background decoration. We will have to make a few more changes:

- Go back to the activity options and unmark the Centred box for the game window. Just below this box there are two numerical fields that set the co-ordinates of the game window in relation to the top left corner of the background image. Change them to X: 270 and Y: 10

- Change the cell sizes to 164 x 64 for both grid A and B.

- Unmark the Shaded frames box and accept everything.

The game window is now placed exactly where we wanted it and fits in the rectangle in the background image. We will make a few last changes to the appearance:

- Edit the activity (CTRL+E) and unmark the Delimit cells button for both grid A and B.

- Click on the Fonts button, select the Message box area and choose marine blue as the background colour and white for the text. Once that is done select the Grid B area and change the shadow colour to white (the "shadow" colour is also used to fill the cells once a pair has been solved).

- Save the activity again with the same name: ADD1.ASS

Now we will make use of this activity to make a few variants with more difficult calculations:

- Go to Activity options and click on the Configuration button in activity automation.

- Change the first operator to a range of 10 to 99, mark the Do not carry box and accept everything.

- Press the F12 key (which is the same as File - Save as...), change the name to ADD2.ASS and accept.

- Unmark the Do not carry box in the Arith2 configuration.

- Save the activity as ADD3.ASS with F12.

- Continue the process of making the calculations more difficult and saving the activities with F12. You should make the following activities:
 

ACTIVITY	ARITH2 CONFIGURATION
ADD4.ASS	Second operator between 10 and 99, "without carrying"
ADD5.ASS	The same as above, but "carrying"
SUB1.ASS	Operator: minus. Both operators between 1 and 10
SUB2.ASS	Operator: minus. First operator between 10 and 99
SUB3.ASS	Operator: plus. Unknown: A @ ? = C (only mark this option)

 

If you have followed all the steps, we will have a set of activities that we can use to make a series of threaded packs in the next exercise.