Promethean: Magic Ink

When I first started using Activinspire, I took some time to play around with the tools in the tools menu; each one useful and pretty self explanatory. But then I came across "magic ink". It was not magical. It was not ink. It didn't do anything. Of course, that's because I didn't know how to use it.

Now that I know, it's still not very magical, but it can be really useful. Magic Ink can be used as a sort of "scratch off" tool. You can hide words or pictures behind other words or pictures and use Magic Ink to "scratch off" the top layer, revealing what is underneath. It has a similar function to the transparency slider, or even using the eraser tool or other shapes for the same purpose. But this time it has a cool name and adds variety to how you reveal the information.

Here's how to work it:
1. Choose what you want to hide and what you want to reveal. I have chosen to hide a word answer below a picture.
2. Insert your items in the chart.

3. Go to the Property Browser. You will see three layers options: Top, Middle, and Bottom.  I have put text below each of my pictures to reveal using the tool. Magic Ink only "scratches off" items that are in the top layer.
4. Move all the items you want to scratch to the Top Layer. Make sure the items you want revealed are in the Middle Layer.

5. Go to the main toolbar (or Tools--->Magic Ink) to choose the Magic Ink tool. If you don't see the Magic Ink icon, go to tools. Mine is on my toolbar because it has recently been used.

6. Use the Magic Ink tool to scratch off the picture revealing the words below.

Promethean: Transparency Slider

The reason I love using ActivInspire software is because there are SO many little tricks to make a lesson fun and interactive. One of these tricks is the transparency slider.

The transparency slider lets you take an opaque image and make it transparent. This allows you to reveal things hidden underneath the opaque image. This is neat for showing pictures of changes over time, which is what I have mostly used it for. You could also use it to reveal answers.

To use the transparency slider:
1. Choose your images.
2. Layer the images one on top of the other. (For this one, I layered pictures of places before Hurricane Irene and put pictures of the aftermath on top.) Make sure to make the pictures the same size.
3. Click on the picture and the tools will appear at the top.
4. The Transparency Slider looks like a sun. Tap and hold it, a bar will appear. You can drag the slider back and forth on the line. Your top image will become transparent and reveal the image beneath it.

Transparency Slider:

As you drag, you can see the top picture disappearing and the new picture appearing:

New picture:

Another example: