Thursday, December 31, 2009

Computers Merit Badge Resources

  • Merit badge Worksheet for Computers from usscouts.org. It is a great place to organize your work.
  • Check out Mr. R's Computers Merit Badge Passport
  • Many of the requirements can be satisfied using Free (often called "Freeware") and Open Source software programs. Examples include:

o    OpenOffice.org is a freeware office suite that includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database programs. It can opening and save to Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint files.
o    Google Docs contains basic spreadsheet, word processor and presentation software. It imports Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint formatted files. Requires only a web browser and a (free) Google account.
o    Irfanview is free (no cost) to download and use (though not Open Source).
o    Paint.net is a free image editing and photo manipulation program for Windows PCs. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of powerful tools.
o    Picasa is free photo organization and editing tool from Google that can help you make web pages, slide shows and share your photos. A similar application for the Macintosh is iPhoto.
o    For those looking for more advanced photo editing software (or those using Linux) there's The G.I.M.P.. It is a good choice for those who can't use or afford Adobe Photoshop.
o    Sketchup is a "3D modeling software tool that’s easy to learn, simple to use, and lets you place your models in Google Earth".
o    QCad A free trial copy of QCad is available for downloading. The trial copy does have certain limitations (such as terminating after 10 minutes of use) but should suffice for this requirement and give a scout the chance to try a CAD program.
o    NVU - free html editor with WYSIWYG capability for building web pages.
o    Linux users can use Quanta Plus (which is also open source, and similar to NVU.)
o    Notepad++ - A more stable free HTML editor also with WYSIWYG and a spacebar HTML tag entry

o    Here are Campfire songs, skits, and cheers.
  • Sample Computer chip based devices:
o    Cell Phone
o    MP3 Player
o    DVD Players
o    Cars
Lesson Videos:

Tutorials:

Composite Materials Merit Badge Resources



Group Projects
  • Surf board
  • Canoe or kayak
  • Troop box
  • Totem poles
  • Snow shoes
  • Lightweight troop/patrol kitchen
  • Troop trailers
  • Klondike derby sled
  • Snow boards
  • Camp signage
Individual Projects
  • Skate board
  • Skim board
  • Walking sticks
  • Car or Boat Repair
  • Tool Handle Repair
  • Window flower box
  • Camp fire bucket
  • Small toy boat 
  • Modified pinewood derby cars

Communications Merit Badge Resources





Some ideas for skills or topics you could teach:
Speeches & Presentations:



Lesson Videos:



The Citizenship in the Community #8 public presentation...of your community  could be given as a Communications #3 five-minute speech  using the techniques from Photography #4b to produce a picture story and Art #1 to tell a story with...pictures which could be developed into the Computers #6e short presentation.