The home page for the Bootstrap program contains links to all materials for both teachers and students, as well as links to the charts that show how the curriculum is aligned with the curriculum frameworks for several of the US states. Additionally, there are pictures of children, testimonials, and other useful information.
For this workshop we have prepared copies of some of their materials to be available locally, and prepared the setup for programming several games, so you can get started a bit faster.
All materials have been installed on the lab computers. However, if you want to use the materials on your own laptop or at home, please use the following links.
The home page for the Bootstrap program.
Game.rkt The skeleton of the Bootstrap game for the Level 1 (grades 6 - 8) workshop.
Teachpacks.zip The Bootstrap library for the Level 1 (grades 6 - 8) workshop.
DrRacket The programming environment for the Level 1 (grades 6 - 8) and the Level 2 (secondary schools and introductory university level) workshop.
NinjaGame.zip The sample completed Bootstrap game for the Level 1 (grades 6 - 8) workshop.
BootstrapCurriculum.zip The complete Bootstrap curriculum materials for the Level 1 (grades 6 - 8) workshop.
Download the BootstrapCurriculum.zip and open the file. You will see several pdf files, including the Teacher Workbook, Student Workbook, and Unit 1 through Unit 9 instructions. Your handout contains a copy of the Student Workbook (though printed in a somewhat smaller format).
The nine units represent nine lessons, taught in 90 minute sessions once per week, culminating with a public showing of student's work in the tenth week.
Start DrRacket application. You will see two windows, the Definition window on the top and the Interactions window on the bottom. One at a time type the following things into the Interactions window and observe the results:
You are now ready to see how to run the game. Download the NinjaGame.zip and open the file. In DrRacket open the file NinjaGame.rkt that you have downloaded. When you hit Run the game will start. You can control the Ninja with the up and down arrow keys, trying to catch the gem and avoid the dangerous black spear. To end the game, close the game window. At this point, start working through the student worksheets.
During the first lesson children select the characters for their game, so that the teacher can find the images to fit their scene. To simplify this step, we have selected images for three possible games. Decide which game you want to work on and download the images for this game:
A soccer goalie (European/Brazilian football goalie) trying to catch a soccer ball and avoid the oncomming soccer player.
Download the file ImagesSoccer.zip
A farmer trying to collect a apples and avoid the worms.
Download the file ImagesApples.zip
A mascot of a football player (American football) trying to catch a football and avoid the oncomming player.
Download the file ImagesSoccer.zip
Save the images in the folder MyWork.
Before you start programming, do the preliminary work just as the students would. Once you are ready to program you will find the rest of the instructions, guides, etc. in the materials for the students and teachers. Ask questions if you are having problems with anything.