Category Archives: blogs

Using PowerPoint to remove background from an Image

Have you ever been curious how to remove background from an image? Besides Photoshop, here is a simple way to do it by using Powerpoint.

  1. Add an image to a slide and click on it and click on the “Picture Format” panel at the top of the page
  2. Click on the “Remove Background” button and mark the areas you want to keep, along with the areas you don’t want to keep.  you don’t have to be super precise – the algorithm will figure things out with just a few hints!
  3. Click “Keep Changes” when you’re done
  4. Right-click on your image to save it, or copy-paste it into the application of your choice
  5. Insert another background
  6. Put them in the right order and type the caption
  7. Done! End product : )

 

Marshmallow tower building vs. VR Tower Mini Coding Challenge

Today, we had two challenges: Mashmallow tower building vs. VR Tower Mini Coding Challenge

First, for the marshmallow tower challenge, with the materials we prepared, 1 marshmallow, 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, scissors, and 1 meter of masking tape, we need to compete whose tower is the highest within 5 minutes. Previously, We did a similar activity at school with kids, but their rules are that they have to cooperate based on teamwork. They first discussed the ideas on how they gonna construct their tower, and they build with their strategies. They could also observe other groups’ actions, but they could not discuss across the groups. After participating this activity just now, I think that organization and time management skills are critical and I really admire my students’ creativity. I should have pinched the marshmallow into small pieces, and used them to stick the parts as I built the tower.  See my first tower below. It is only one layer and not very stable because I did not build it with any strategies.

 

Second, the VR Tower Mini Coding Challenge was interesting. Although with limited coding experience, it was not easy for me to figure out the variations between x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis, it was cool to experience the magic of coding and being fascinated with it.

Four reasons to learn a new language

As global citizens, why do we need to learn different languages? Watch the video and find out the reasons!