Welcome to the exciting world of crowdsourcing! In this activity, we’re going to explore how working together with others can make tasks much easier and more fun. To do this, we’ll use a deck of cards and some friends to create something amazing!
Crowdsourcing is when you get help from a large group of people to finish a task faster. Imagine trying to clean up a big mess all by yourself—it would take a long time, right? But if you have a bunch of friends helping, it gets done much quicker! In computer science, crowdsourcing is used a lot. People from all over the world connect their computers to help solve big problems, like finding new prime numbers or even searching for signals from outer space!
Have you ever wondered how movies are made? Each second of a movie is made up of 24 pictures, called frames. These frames need to be created and put together to make the movie you see. My team and I are software developers who work together to create the software that helps make these images. Artists and other developers use our tools to bring their creative ideas to life.
Let’s take a look at the movie Finding Nemo. Remember the scene where Crush, Squirt, and their friends are swimming through the East Australian Current? You see the water flowing, the colors on the turtles, and the fish swimming by. All these amazing visuals are made using math and computer programs that we develop. Then, artists use these tools to make the images look beautiful and exciting.
Crowdsourcing is important because it shows us the power of teamwork. By working together, we can solve problems faster and create incredible things that would be impossible to do alone. Whether it’s making a movie or finding new discoveries in science, crowdsourcing helps us achieve more than we ever could by ourselves.
So grab some friends, a deck of cards, and see what amazing things you can create together through the power of crowdsourcing!
Gather a group of friends and a deck of cards. Your task is to sort the entire deck by suit and number as quickly as possible. Divide the deck among your group and work together to complete the task. Discuss how teamwork made the task easier and faster.
Imagine you are part of a movie-making team. Draw a series of frames that tell a short story, like a flipbook. Each friend can draw one frame. Once finished, flip through the pages to see your collaborative movie come to life. Reflect on how each person’s contribution was important.
Work with your friends to complete a jigsaw puzzle. Assign different sections to each person and see how quickly you can finish it together. Talk about how dividing the task made it more manageable and fun.
Start a story by writing the first sentence. Pass the paper to the next person, who will add another sentence. Continue until everyone has contributed. Read the story aloud and enjoy the unique creation that teamwork produced.
Choose a simple science experiment, like making a volcano with baking soda and vinegar. Assign different roles to each group member, such as gathering materials, measuring ingredients, and conducting the experiment. Discuss how each role was crucial to the experiment’s success.
**Unplugged Activity | Crowdsourcing**
This lesson is called crowdsourcing. In this lesson, we’ll use a deck of cards to learn about how much easier some tasks can be when done in groups instead of trying to accomplish them alone. So grab some friends and create something amazing!
Crowdsourcing involves getting help from a large group of people to complete a task more quickly. In computer science, we utilize crowdsourcing frequently. Thousands of amateurs and professionals connect their computers to search through vast amounts of information, looking for things like the next Mersenne prime number or even potential signals from space.
When you watch a movie, each second consists of 24 individual images, known as frames. Each of these images needs to be created, rendered, and assembled together. My team and I are software developers who collaborate to create software that generates the final images you see on screen. This tool is used by artists and other developers as part of their teamwork and creative process to produce the visuals they desire.
For example, in *Finding Nemo*, when Crush, Squirt, and their friends are navigating through the East Australian Current, you see images of flowing water, the colors on the turtle’s back, and the sides of the fish. All of these visuals are generated through mathematics and computer programs that we develop, which are then provided to the artists. They refine these images to make them look beautiful and engaging.
Crowdsourcing – Using a large group of people, often from the internet, to gather information or complete a task. – The art project used crowdsourcing to collect photos from people all over the world.
Computer – An electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data to perform various tasks. – The computer helped the artist create a digital painting with vibrant colors.
Science – The study of the natural world through observation and experiments. – In science class, we learned how computers use algorithms to solve problems.
Teamwork – Working together with others to achieve a common goal. – The students used teamwork to design a computer game for their art project.
Movies – Moving pictures that tell a story, often created using computers for special effects. – The computer-generated images in the movies made the fantasy world look real.
Artists – People who create art, such as paintings, drawings, or digital designs. – Digital artists use software to create stunning images on their computers.
Software – Programs and applications that run on computers to perform specific tasks. – The new drawing software helped the artist create detailed illustrations.
Images – Pictures or visuals created or displayed on a computer. – The computer program can edit images to make them look more colorful.
Math – The study of numbers, shapes, and patterns, often used in computer programming. – Math is important in computer science because it helps solve complex problems.
Problems – Challenges or tasks that need to be solved, often using logic and computation. – The students used their math skills to solve computer programming problems.
