This
free guide and materials like it are possible only because you
make us your source for software. There are many things in
our guide which are not documented in the program itself or by
the developer.Sunday Software's
Outline & Study Guide
to Discovery's Life of Christ CD
This Revision March 2008, Neil MacQueen
Sunday Software 1-800-678-1948
Printed from www.sundaysoftware.com
About 10 pages to print. Please wait for the entire guide to download before printing.
This
free guide and materials like it are possible only because you
make us your source for software. There are many things in
our guide which are not documented in the program itself or by
the developer.
If you are using this guide with students who are filling in the Cluebook answers. Don't leave this document laying around! If you'd like to print a handout of all 40 lessons in Life of Christ CD, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/tips
Questions or comments about this
outline or the program? Email
me at neil@sundaysoftware.com or call 1-800-678-1948.
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Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software
What's in this document...
Getting Started: Life of Christ is a BIG program. It may take you some time to get familiar with not only its content, but how the content is designed to be "played through." I suggest you spent at least an hour previewing the program before introducing it to the kids. Run through the DEMO offered through the main screen. Take a lesson, find a clue, use the clue book, print a certificate. Your knowledge of how this program's elements work will greatly enhance your plan of use. It is recommended that you preview EVERY lesson your students will use and make notes on this guide where your church's interpretation may differ.
FYI.... For a complete cross-reference of Jesus stories found in OTHER software we recommend, go to http://www.sundaysoftware.com/crossref.htm. In many cases, your lesson plan can combine material from Life of Christ with segments from other software. More on this idea later in this guide.
Life of Christ Basics
Life of Christ has several components that can be used separately or together.
Most churches simply identify one or two of the forty lesson presentations for the kids to go in, hear and take the quiz. After taking the quiz the students get credit for it in their scorebook. The 40 lessons are divided into 8 sub-groups (five lesson/quizzes each). When students correctly answer 5 or 6 of each lesson's quiz questions, they are taken to the scorebook. When all the quizzes in each sub-group are completed, the game GIVES you the answer to one of the clues needed to fill in the cluebook. You can access the lessons in any order. You can bypass any lessons you want. You don't have to use the cluebook and scorebook features. You can even try to answer cluebook questions without studying! The choice is yours.
The Cluebook is not the same as the Scorebook. The Cluebook is found when you roll your mouse to the LEFT side of the screen. Answers must be typed into the cluebook. Thus, you can completely avoid the Castle Game and complete the cluebook and scorebook. But if you go into the Castle Game, it has quizzes in it too guarding various rooms of the castle. Answering the Castle quizzes only grants you access to rooms in the Castle where you can FIND ANSWERS TO CLUES hiding in the surroundings.
All the answers to the Cluebook are found in the lessons, and also in the Professor's Book Shelf material, and also scattered throughout the Castle. Thus the program gives you three places to find answers, and many ways to learn and use its content.
The Castle is almost a program unto itself. It it full of Jesus quizzes guarding access to areas in the Castle. You must answer the guarding quizzes to enter an area and look for things hidden in the Castle room environments. These "things" are answer to items in the Cluebook! The Castle is a place to find answers to clues to fill up your Cluebook with. Not all the clues can be found there. If they get stuck answering some of the quiz questions in the Castle and can't advance into certain areas, they can always go out and study the subject they don't understand on the Professor's Bookshelf to find the correct answers, -or take a lesson on the subject from the crate of 40 lessons on the Professor's desk. In versions of Life of Christ CD sold prior to April 2003 there is no way around the New Testament books game guarding the Castle entrance. Each time they exit the Castle to go look up something, they will have to put the books back in order. In the version sold after April 2003, they put a secret bypass around the NT books game guarding the Castle. Hooray! See the note below about the secret bypass.
You do not have to play the Castle Game. It is an extra way to work with content that may or may not suit your classroom needs. You do not need to take the quizzes and you do not have to worry about filling up the cluebook. You can simply use the lessons and quizzes and then leave the program, or move into the Professor's Book Shelf for more study.
Reminder: The Forty Lessons can be found in the orange crate of files on Professor Newheart's desk
Here are the Lesson Summaries and the posed Question found at the end each presentation. To see what other recommended CDs also contain these stories (and you may already own) go to http://www.sundaysoftware.com/crossref.htm
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Getting to Know Who's Who
NOTE: Strangely, for the most part it is only the first four or five lessons in Life of Christ that might stir controversy from a biblical point of view. Lesson 5 takes the traditional view that the gospel writer John and the Book of Revelation's John as the same person. Many scholars don't think that's correct. Make sure to print out the complete text of each lesson for your teachers (found on the Professors bookshelf), especially when you or your church might differ in opinion. Mark the printout with appropriate comments for your teacher. Beginnings to Baptism
Introducing the Son of God!
Ministry with His Disciples
Lessons About Life and Death
The Road to the Cross
Jesus is Alive Forever and Ever
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"Books" on the Study Shelf in the Professor's Study
The BOOKS are: Study | Practice | Map Tours | Bible Books | Bible Timeline | Word Study | Bible Facts
In the Study Book on the Professor's Shelf
Miracles of Jesus --printable summaries of 35 miracles
Parables of Jesus --printable summaries of all Jesus' parables
Maps --nine maps to select from (and print) --Mediterranean Area, Israel, Paul's Journeys
*Look for other maps in the Map Tours section or by clicking on the Globe in the office.
Memory Verses --20 some printable verses from the New Testament
Bible Reading Plans -- printable list of 365 scripture references
Lesson Text -- The printable scripts from each of the 40 multimedia lessons with links to related materials on the CD* A key resource. See notes below.
Books of the New Testament -- printable list arranged according to time of writing (beginning with Galatians), includes author, time of writing, place of writing and who the book addresses.
Articles --the following articles can be printed out. They contain quite a bit of solid background information about the Bible, who , why, what. They are well-written and can be used with older students and adults. Theologically speaking, I found them fairly traditional, though not without a few nits to pick. Alas, only God is perfect.Articles to Print:
In the Practice Book on the Professor's Shelf
General | Matching | Map Tours | Bible Books | Bible Timeline | Bible Words | Bible Facts
General--
New Testament Book Hooks -Memory Aids to remembering what the books are about.
New Testament Book Names --drag each book to it's correct location (just like the version at castle entrance)
New Testament Book Order --place books in chronological order
New Testament Content --Interactive Review/overview of book content
Geography --Identify Key Locations on maps of Israel and Mediterranean by dragging names onto locations
Jesus' Ministry --drag descriptions of key Jesus events onto map locations
Interactive Map of the New Testament World --click on map locations to hear audio, read text, or see video.
Interactive Map of Jerusalem -(excellent) click on Jerusalem locations that trace events of Christ's last week. Video, audio, photos, text. Also located in this area is a slideshow of 16 Jerusalem locations (with music playing in background). **I have created a worksheet with the locations 'blanked out.' You can find it at www.sundaysoftware.com/lasttwo.htm
Old Testament Prophecies of Christ --game in which you drag the New Testament fulfillment to the Old Testament prophecy. Students will need to look up the passages. Correct matches reveal picture of Jesus.
The Gospels Compared --chart showing differences in author, view of Christ, audience, tone, characteristics, etc.Matching-- 7 matching games. Correct matches are rewarded with a clue. Assumes a general familiarity with Bible, probably best suited to fourth graders and above.
Getting to Know Who's Who --a matching game.... Gospel, gentile, Matthew, Moses, Messiah, Luke, Jewish, John the Baptist, "I Am," Mark.
Beginning to Baptism --a matching game.......Elijah, Bethlehem, Caesar, Gabriel, Jerusalem, King Herod, Simeon, Mary, Nazareth, Anna.
Introducing the Son of God --a matching game....Idols, Isaiah, Jacob's Well, Bread, Cana, Passover, Samaria, Lamb of God, Galilee, Egypt
Ministry with His Disciples --a matching game.....Andrew, James/John, Bread and Fish, Walking, Simon Peter, Blasphemy, King of Kings, Parables, Capernaum
Lessons About Life and Death --a matching game.....Heavenly glory, Eternal Life, Bethany, Salvation, Peter/James/John, Martha and Mary, Zacchaeus, Jericho, Exodus, Lazarus
The Road to the Cross --a matching game.....Caiaphas, Unleavened Bread, Expensive Perfume, Pilate, Calvary, Communion, City of Zion, Last Supper, Judas, Covenant
Jesus is Alive Forever and Ever --a matching game.....Damascus, Book of Life, Stephen, Joel, Mary Magdalene, Great Commission, Saul, Joseph and the Rich Man, Lucifer, Island of PatmosMap Tours: Many of these can also be accessed from the Practice book or office Globe. Passion Week in Jerusalem --narrated map of Jerusalem with eight audio clips to hear. (Use Interactive Map of Jerusalem to see how much students remember!) TIP: Other programs have maps in them too. These include Sandals Bible Atlas -which has video to go along with the map tours. (sundaysoftware.com/sandals.htm)
Bible Books
Select a New Testament book, then select from one of five information icons to learn more about the book:
1. An outline of the book
2. What Does It Say, it's location in the New Testament
3. "Faces and Places" described in the book
4. Key Verses and Themes
5. So What --what is Matthew trying to tell you?Bible Timeline
WOW! ...a lot in this one. Students see an interactive timeline and hear a narrated tour of it. Clicking on a timeline subject pulls up a brief printable article on the subject (about two paragraphs each) or may also reveal a narrated map presentation or other teaching element. Subjects include People, Events, Period, Scripture. A veritable who's who in the New Testament and an excellent overview of the entire New Testament story.
Periods included in timeline: Between the Testaments, Life of Christ, Passion Week, Early Church, Paul's First Journey, Paul's Second Journey, Paul's Third Journey, Pauls' Arrest through Close of NT.
Bible Words -- A Bible Dictionary from Abraham to Thomas. Click on the Word and see a three or four sentence description.
Bible Facts -- Test your understanding of Bible facts by selecting from any of five topical quizzes:
Men in the Bible --27 questions
Parables-Stories & Events --71 questions
Women and Children --27 questions
Geography --42 questions
Popourri --33 questions
Professor Newheart's Multimedia Filing Cabinet
Film and Photos located (oddly enough) in his office filing cabinet
Video Clips : Jerusalem | Herod's Temple | Herod's Palace | Valley of Gehenna | Pool of Bethesda | Kidron Valley
Postcards on Life of Christ and the Gospels: 16 narrated slides of the Gospel locations as you would see them today. (Great photography, nice background music. A Walk in the Footsteps of Jesus CD takes this concept of presenting the Holy Land to the next level.)
Slide packets *All these slides have text.
16 unnarrated slides touring Jerusalem. (Pathways Through Jerusalem does it more spectacularly)
4 unnarrated slides touring Bethlehem as it appears today. (A Walk in the Foosteps of Jesus does it too).
5 unnarrated about Sea of Galilee
4 unnarated slides of Caesarea by the Sea as it appears today.
The Professor's
Globe on top of
the cabinet --extra
links to maps. Many of these maps are also accessible through
the "books" on the Professor's shelf.
General Teaching Tips for the LIFE OF CHRIST CD
Age Range: Grades 3 through Senior High. Some of the vocabulary, concepts and game play are a bit beyond many first and second graders. I've cherry-picked out certain lesson and used them with my 1st and 2nd graders. Early readers CAN understand some of the lessons and have the quiz questions read to them. The story oriented lessons, such as Jesus on the water, tend to be more understandable to younger kids. The Holy Week lesson, on the other hand, tend to be rather 'high concept.'
Having said that... let me share an email with you:
Dear Neil,
We are using Life of Christ in our beginner's Adult Bible Study and absolutely love it! We have a small class of senior citizens who have no computer experience, and they are really fascinated by the software. --Sandra T., Heritage Presbyterian Church, Centerville Ohio.
Scheduling Suggestion: Many churches have found that creating a wall chart
of "lessons completed" either by individual names or
grades has helped them avoid confusion about who's done
what and on which computer they did it at. This
can be a particular problem for a program that gets used over
a long period of time by different teachers.
Establish a Policy about who or what at the User-Sign. Given that our students don't always attend each week, and that kids will be working together, some children may sign-in with several different groups. Create your sign-in policy and post it on the wall in the room. Suggest that groups of users create a group name. If "who's in what group and how far did they get" gets a little messed up, the teacher can always give answers to certain clues to bring a certain "sign-in group" up to a certain level of completion.
If you're going to be selecting lessons on a random basis without going into the castle then have the kids sign-in under a name like "Sunday Class." Otherwise your sign-in list could get V-E-R-Y long. In my lab we have several sign-ins the different classes use: K-2, 3-5th, Youth.
Here are some of the ways churches have been using the Life of Christ CD.....
1) Use as a 40 lesson curriculum
on the life of Jesus Christ.
Sign up individual kids,
a groups of kids, or an entire class. Set aside 8 to 10 Sundays
(or weekdays) for them to work through the program. Assign a teacher
to work with them. While Life of Christ could be used without
a teacher, why miss the opportunity to explore and talk with your
students?
Many churches report that it takes about 8 to 10 hours to complete most of the lessons and fill in the cluebook. Some kids may be able to move more quickly through the castle or already know many of the quiz answers.
The individual sign-in feature allows explorers to pick up where they left off --a real advantage for irregular attenders on Sunday morning or during a weeknight program. Track their progress on a wall-chart, hang their certificates under their name (or not).
2)
Use ANY the 40 lessons as needed ...and
skip the 'clue and hunt' portions of the program.
This is the approach most
churches initially take in order to get familiar with the program's
feel and features.
Examples of lesson strategies:
Some churches have grouped several lesson presentations together by THEMES for use in one class. Jesus the Teacher, The Miracles, Holy Week, Advent, Journeys of Paul, the New Testament World, etc. Several of the articles and items on the Professors Bookshelf work well with themes. For example, several lessons have Jesus performing miracles. There is an article on the Professor's Study Book about the miracles of Jesus.
3) Using
Life of Christ's sections as UNITS of Study
Look over the outline
of the lesson at the beginning of this resource (or when you open
the orange crate on the desk). There are seven groups of lessons.
Instead trying to complete the entire program in 10 weeks, you
could complete a unit, such as, The Road to the Cross,
in about three weeks by going through the five or six lesson
over a three week period.
Some of these units could be longer than three weeks if you pull in other programs, such as, Footsteps or Disciples Diary where they match up with the lessons in Life of Christ. Consult those program's outlines.
4)
View a Sample Lesson Plan
You can find a SAMPLE
LESSON PLAN using Life of Christ at http://www.sundaysoftware.com/lessons/lifeofxst.htm
It is about Holy Week and shows how the maps of Jerusalem and
matching quiz can be turned into a neat reflection activity.
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TIPS:
These printable lesson texts have hyperlinks that jump you to content and multimedia elements related to the specific lesson that are found elsewhere on the CD. It's a handy way to see what material goes with your lesson. After viewing a narrated lesson and taking the quiz, you can go into this section of the program, find the lesson text, and access the materials found elsewhere in the CD related to that particular lesson you have accessed. You may choose to have the students do this, or you the teacher may preview the lesson materials this way and make note of what maps, quizzes, multimedia and other content are LINKED to the lesson you want your students to work on.
*A complete Cross Reference of all Jesus material found in all our recommended CDs can be found at www.sundaysoftware.com/crossref.htm
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More Thoughts
on using the Life of Christ CD...
Consider
creating student worksheets with questions to answer for each
lesson. These sheets could be in the hands of each student -or-
provided to the teacher as a guide to discussion after/during
the use of the CD. You can print each lesson's text from the Lessons
database in the Study book on the Professor's Bookshelf. Add to
this handout your own comments and questions. Note: These questions can also be
entered into the Lesson builder interface in the program "Let's Talk" (www.sundaysoftware.com/lets-talk),
or...spoken to the students at the computer who then type their answers in the
"Talk Now" screen to make their onscreen characters respond.
Here's an example of follow up discussion questions for Lesson #31 -- New Meaning to the Passover Meal
- What did the Passover meal celebrate? What were the essential elements of the meal?
- What two elements of the Passover meal are found on Christian communion tables?
- What new meaning did Jesus give to the Passover meal?
- What does it mean to say "Jesus was the lamb sacrificed for us."
- How does it make you feel knowing what Jesus did on the cross?
- The next time you take communion, what will you be thinking now that you've learned more about it?
- What was Jesus feeling later that night in the Garden? View the photobubble of the Garden of Gethsemane found in the A Walk In the Footsteps of Jesus CD. What could Jesus see that night? (Answer: Turn around in the photobubble. Directly across from the garden across the Kidron Valley is the Temple Mount and the East Gate where he had ridden in on a donkey proclaimed as King.)
Other Uses and Ideas:
New Testament Geography ...Maps are "graphic user interfaces" (to put it in the language of computers). They help visually organize and represent information. Life of Christ has the first set of narrated, navigable NT maps we've seen. Disciple's Diary also has very interesting Holy Land 3-D map "flyover" videos in its QUEST portion of the CD. Other programs, such as, Walking In Their Sandals Bible Atlas, are great to bring into the fray if you have them. Have the kids use the software to research and then construct a wall map or clay model of the Holy Land. Tag sites of interest to make it interactive. Themes to guide their construction and tagging could include: "10 famous Jesus spots," "Places Paul was in Jail," "the 10 most famous places in the Bible." This kind of theme approach helps guide their research.
Bible Timeline -- Take some time to explore the timeline in Life of Christ. Some of the segments have animation and multimedia. Create a wall mural or display of the timeline. This kind of secondary processing of the information from one medium to another really helps the material stick. You can find an Old Testament Timeline in Pathways Through Jerusalem CD.
The Books of the New Testament -- A class could do a unit on learning the books of the New Testament using the MANY Bible Books games in Life of Christ (and not just the one at the main castle gate).
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At http://www.sundaysoftware.com/lasttwo.htm you'll find a map of Jesus' Last Two Days in Jerusalem with the locations blanked out (see smaller version to right here). Cut and paste this page into a handout for your kids to fill in. By using the "print screen" button on my keyboard and a simple painting program like Windows Paint, you can make all sorts of great handouts that guide students through areas of this program. |
Tip: Cal & Marty's Scripture Memory Game CD can be used to create lists of books which students can scramble and then unscramble. Instead of editing in words from a verse, just type in the books in order. Bongo Loves the Bible CD from Sunday Software also teaches the order of the books of the Bible.
Using Life
of Christ in Confirmation Programs
Many churches
have immediately seen the potential of this program to work in
Confirmation. Two churches have even gone as far as putting this
CD in a laptop computer and signing it out to their students to
work on at home. The students then produce the certificates and
share with you what's in the locked chests to prove they've completed
the program.
Several churches have purchased Life of Christ to lend to families. If you do so, be sure to check the condition of the CD before and after loaning it.
Visit www.sundaysoftware.com/christ-home.htm to read how one church is using Life of Christ as a home study for families.
The CD doesn't start when you put it in the CD-drive. You must go to "Discovery Interactive" in your PROGRAM group to start the program or use the Desktop icon. Click Start, Programs, Discovery Interactive, then Life of Christ. (another problem may be that you have a newer version of the CD which you're trying to run with the old start icon... see the message below about "not mixing versions.")
How can I access the Help / Clues / Office / etc. tool-bar when I'm in the castle? The tool-bar can only be accessed if you are in the main courtyard or else when you have found a clue. Otherwise the system is playing a Quicktime vr segment which blocks access to the tool bar. Remember, once you are in the Castle area, you can't go back to Professor Newheart's Office and return to the castle without having to put the NT books in order again (unless your version of Life of Christ has the "secret bypass" hotspot mention above).
How can I take names OFF the sign-in list? Depending on which version of Life of Christ you have, open Windows Explorer and burrow down to the Life of Christ FOLDER found at either C:\The Life of Christ or C:\Program_Files\The Life of Christ\LOCGDATA (or whatever folder you have installed Life of Christ to on your computer). RIGHT click the LOCGDATA file and select "open with" and choose Notepad. Edit the list or delete the text, and "Save" using exact file name and extension. This should do it. (Do not use a wordprocessing program --it will leave funny code in the text).
I can't get the program to operate on Windows XP! Versions of Life of Christ made BEFORE April 2002 require a patch to run on XP in the main user account. Visit Sunday Software's technical support page at www.sundaysoftware.com/techie2.htm. In earlier versions of Life of Christ you cannot run the program under a "limited" account in XP, only through the MAIN "admin" user account. If you purchased Life of Christ AFTER April 2003 FROM US we sent you the very latest fully XP compatible program, and it will run through a limited account. Your CD should say "version 3.0" on the CD.
Running LoC in Vista... The version of Quicktime that attempts to install with LoC won't run in Vista. You need to download the latest Vista compatible version of Quicktime from www.quicktime.com
______________________________________________________________________
A Caution about
Mixing Older CDs of Life of Christ with Newer Version Life of Christ CDs
The older
and newer versions of Life of Christ have 99.9% the same content.
However, if you installed an older version on your computer,
and then put a newer version of the CD in the drive and try to
start it, the program won't start. You must first INSTALL the
newer version on that computer. That will make an important change
to the start icon for the program. So...in labs where there are
older and newer versions floating around, MARK YOUR LIFE OF CHRIST
CDs and MARK WHICH COMPUTERS they are installed on.
______________________________________________________________________
Theologically Speaking...
Life of Christ is being used in Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, Episcopalian and Church of Christ churches (to name a few). There are a couple of places, sentences, ideas, and choices of wording that I would have changed; lesson 38 about the Devil, for example. That lesson I just won't use. Some folks get hung up on vocabulary they aren't used to. For example, "The Plan of Salvation" (tucked away in the Articles on the Professor's Shelf) isn't the way Presbyterians talk about salvation. Yet The Plan may be very familiar to your older teachers and those from traditions which still use this particular vocabulary.
Others may be tripped up by one-liners like the one in Lesson #1 where the narrator says Matthew was the actual writer of his Gospel. With my older students, I mentioned in passing that most scholars don't think Matthew actually wrote his Gospel. Because we had already dealt in previous classes with the topic of where the Bible came from, I didn't need to rehash it.
This
resource may be updated at our website www.sundaysoftware.com.
If you have a great idea or suggestion to contribute, call me
at 1-800-678-1948 or email me at neil@sundaysoftware.com
Life of Christ Outline and Teaching Tips Copyright 1999 - 2008, Neil MacQueen and Sunday School Software Inc. Graphics courtesy of the Life of Christ CD. They are intended ONLY for the use of those who have purchased the Life of Christ CD from our ministry. They MAY be copied by a local congregation for use among the teachers. They may not be generally copied or distributed beyond the church which received the CD from us. For more information, contact Sunday School Software at 1-800-678-1948.
There
is an undocumented "Secret Bypass" that allows you
to get past the New Testament Books Game at the Castle Gate and
continue straight into the castle. Double click on the rock
wall just to the right of the instruction panel (see graphic
at right). This is handy if you've already done the game. This
bypass is only on version 3.0 (the version number is printed
on your CD). However, I have heard that it may also be present
on the version released just before 3.0. Try yours.
Each of the 40 Lessons found in the
"orange crate" on the Professor's desk, can also be
found as lesson texts in the STUDY book on the Professor's Bookshelf ----in the "Lessons"
section They can be printed for teacher/student use. You can also
find them by opening a lesson, then rolling your mouse over the left
hand side of the screen and click the MAGNIFYING GLASS. These
lesson texts under the magnifying glass have links to multimedia content
related to the lesson. Pretty slick!
How
to make your own Map Worksheets using graphics from the Life
of Christ CD