Electronic Materials for Children and Young Adults

epainting Whether writing a paper or painting a picture, there are lots of software tools young people can use to create.

Open Source Software

Software can be expensive. Increasingly, librarians are seeking open-source solutions to meet their technology needs. Consider identifying a set of open source software that can be installed in your library and that patrons can also download at home.

map Explore five tools that are popular with young people and can be downloaded at no cost:

Audacity - for recording audio
CMap - for concept mapping; like Inspiration.
GIMP - for image manipulation; like Photoshop.
Open Office - for word processing, spreadsheet, draw, graphics, presentations; like Microsoft Office
Tuxpaint - for paint graphics for children; like Kidpix.

The graphic on the right was created in Tuxpaint.

Proprietary Software

Regardless of whether you run the Macintosh or Windows operating system, you'd be surprised how many "freebies" come with your system. Be sure to check out Photostory for Windows and iPhoto for the Mac. These are two wonderful tools for creating simple, yet effective projects with photos.

Read Freedom or Nightmare: The Implications of Open Source Software by Annette Lamb to learn more about the implications of using open source software. Also, explore ten treasures of open source.

Starters

views While some young people love the thought of using Microsoft Word to write a paper or Tuxpaint to draw a picture, others are overwhelmed by the choices. Think about ways that you can help young people by providing prompts, pictures, and other starters to help facilitate their work.

For example, let's say students are learning about alternative perspectives on social issues. Rather than a traditional paper, how about recording audio reflecting two different perspectives. Provide photos that young people might use to represent "characters." Then provide a tool such as Microsoft PowerPoint where students can paste the photo, add bubbles, and record audio.

Go to Desktop Learning Spaces to find examples of PowerPoint Starters.

video clip View The Jazz Age (8:28)

After reading The Great Gatsby, students chose Jazz Age topics, did internet research and created Power Point presentations that related their topic to the book (Grade 11).

Download free Windows Media Player.

Proceed to Creativity Tools on CD and DVD.