Using a macro as a black box is easy. All you have to do it hide what it does. When you create it, instead of giving it a name like "Glide Reflection" call it something like "Black Box" or "Mystery Tool".
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Give it a mysterious icon, too. |
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You can create a menu bar with several Black Boxes. |
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The Black Box activity can be as simple as having students load a macro or menu bar file, and try to determine what the mysterious buttons do. Or you can prepare a worksheet to guide their explorations (See the Triangle Black Box activity for example). |
Supported by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Page last updated May 2005 by David Reid