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ButterBox Project
This project is intended to be used with students at any grade level, though it was originally used at the middle school level (grade 7+8).
In each of the four blank panels, students should create images and text which either attempt to duplicate an actual product container or create a container for a product they imagine and design. The details should meet the expectations established by the classroom teacher and be appropriate to the level of skill students have been prepared to demonstrate.
Encourage student imagination, controlling the final project with clear expectations. Use your sample as a “baseline”. Some students will far exceed what you expect. The type of product can be anything that could fit in the box: cosmetics, toothpaste, candy, etc.
The OpenOffice drawing tools should be taught either in advance of this project or in conjunction with it, though this might be more appropriate for older students who are expected in the classroom to be exploratory, independent learners.
The completed student work, with all the appropriate details, is intended to be printed, preferably on light index stock so it can be cut around the perimeter with scissors, scored at the dividing lines of the panels and glued into the shape of the actual container for display as a final project.
Note that the template was built as individual components for each side, end and flap, but that they were all combined in a group object. While it is still possible to accidentally delete the whole template group object, it is less likely that a student will accidentally delete individual parts and not notice the mistake until much later. Remember to teach Ctrl-Z (undo) in your instructions to your class.
This project was originally designed by Algot Runeman using ClarisWorks on Apple Macintosh computers at King Philip Regional School District in Norfolk, Massachusetts, but has been remade using OpenOffice http://openoffice.org/. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License, so it would be appropriate to make the template over using Microsoft Office, for example. If you do that remake, please consider sending a copy of the template to us so it can be added to our educational templates. Please clearly indicate your intent to allow the template to be distributed using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/
The template is available from the Web site of Moving to Open Source Software in Schools (MOSSSIG):
http://mosssig.wordpress.com
MOSSSIG is a special interest group of the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators
http://www.masscue.org
The project was one of a series of two-week (10 class days) projects used in a computer skills course. The first week developed individual skills with the Draw tools of ClarisWorks (here: OpenOffice). Students were required to demonstrate the ability to create and manipulate Draw objects, imported pictures and text, each skill checked for mastery before a student was told to go on to the next practice task. Most students began this, the final skill demonstration project (content self-selected by student).
Printing may/will take a long time. Ink jet printing may be faster than Laser because of the nature of how printing occurs. You may get faster results from exporting finished projects to PDF and printing the PDF file. The PDF file also makes a good way to archive student work in a way that is easy to distribute to parents, school Web sites, etc.
Please leave comments at the MOSSSIG Web site (address above).
For student use, you may wish to just provide a file with only the single template page. However, if you do, please only pass along this complete file to other teachers in the spirit of the attribution element of the license. Of course, you are encouraged to modify and improve the project!
Thanks, Algot
January 29, 2009