Computers are a powerful tool. They contain programs that may help your students as they work on the activities contained in the Arcade. Here are a few ideas about how to use the computer programs your students may have.

Word Processing Program

A Word Processing Program lets your students take notes and write about things they see and do. Common Word Processing Programs that may be loaded on their computers are Word and WordPerfect. A Word Processing Program would be a valuable tool to keep notes during the Mock Trial in My Home Town or to capture interviews with police and court officials if you invited them to visit your school.

Drawing and Painting Program

Nearly all computers have a Drawing and Painting Program in them. It lets your students create great color pictures on the computer. Most such Programs have features that help users create shapes "automatically" by picking one of the choices already in the Program or they can draw whatever they want "free hand". Depending on the Program, there may be special features to help them color or shade their picture. A drawing program would be an ideal tool to create a poster of the human body in Alcohol, Mind and Body.

Spreadsheet Program

Some of the computers you and your students are using may have a Spreadsheet Program. A spreadsheet is a very useful tool for recording and presenting numbers. Excel and Lotus are two common Spreadsheet Programs. What makes the Spreadsheet Program really cool is how it can take the numbers you put in and turn them into a graph. Your students could use a spreadsheet to capture and graph the results of your student poll in "My Home Town".

Presentation Software

Presentation Software is a great tool for making slide shows. The slides can contain words, still pictures, sounds and even moving pictures in a videotape. PowerPoint or WordPerfect Presentations are two common kinds of Presentation Software that you and your students may find on your computers.

These programs contain many of the features you will find in a Drawing and Painting Program. They also contain special tools called "templates" that allow your students to give their slides a special look at the click of a mouse. Presentation Software would be great to create a class presentation around reasons people drink in the Why People Drink unit.