Projects

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Activities & Games

Slowmation/Robotics Story

My robotics team consisted of Jacob, Christina and myself. We picked the ‘golfer’ lego robot. Christina and I meticulously laid out the parts. Jacob and Christina started construction while I acted as the ‘assistant’ about a quarter of the way through Jacob started on the iMovie part and Christina and I constructed the bot even further. Much to our dismay we thought we had lost a piece! It turns out it was there all along…whew, we could now continue! We were all able to alternate taking pictures of the entire process with our phones. At the end Christina got some great video of the robot moving! Our group was able to compartmentalize quite well. We worked as a team but also divided the work load well. Jacob was most familiar with iMovie but he shared what he knew with the group. This activity was a great constructivist activity. We all came together as a group to actually build something functional. Without active participation of all the team members we never would have completed the project. I am keenly interested in computer programming so that part was very fascinating for me. I feel like our group faced problems head on and resolved the “missing part” issue by re-reading the manual thoroughly and finally asking another group and our terrific Professor, Dennis Jablonski.

One problem I had was the lack of ‘step by step’ instruction. I felt like there was something missing the entire time I was constructing the bot. This could very well have been my inexperience in reading technical information. It definitely is a weakness of mine because its something I do not practice or ‘do’ on a regular basis. I overcame this by asking for help from other group members and other groups. I also did an internet search on our Lego bot to see if there was anything online that was missing. It was good practice.

I learned that timed project work can create group cohesion and the heightened time restraints can strengthen the learning process. Everyone was an ‘expert’ in one sense or another. It was a great project and I think we all took something away from it.

Geocaching

The Geocaching activity is a great constructivist learning project. When I’m engaged in something new in a class I really like it. For me it makes learning fun. I was ready to go but a bit hesitant at first with my GPS skills. I am quite knowledgeable with my iPhone. When I am engaged in something new I tend to want to become involved and learn new skills. I approach it will excitement, wonder and anticipation and my disposition toward the activity is positive. I approach new complex task with team spirit when I have to cooperate with others. I can learn a lot from other students. In general I tend to work well with others. Giving up easily is not in my nature. I do let others help solve problems as long as I can help too. Everyone in the group needs to help solve problems in some way. I have excellent interpersonal communication skills.

It felt good to be successful in this project and make it to completion with my group. This activity can be applied to my curricular area very easily. I am working with young learners so any type of science project work would be applicable. I can envision a nature study, plant study and even geology geocaching project. It could be successful with young learners. I would need to adjust the directions, they would have to be clear and there might need to be a supervising teacher or aid assisting with the equipment for it to be successful.
I learned that its not always easy and I need to allow plenty of time for the activity. I also learned that I was out of shape and working against the clock was hard. I would also need to be aware of any physical conditions my students had going into it. I think determination and willpower are great attributes that I have that would help. 🙂 I would try and be enthusiastic and assertive while conducting the activity. For more information on Geocaching visit: https://www.geocaching.com/

Blended Media

  The Blended Media Project was an excellent activity. It allowed for much creativity on my part. My partner Jacob and I not only stylized clay shapes, colored the background and generally ‘had fun’ with it we also learned about lightning and what it can do. We researched electrical storms and found out that the intensity of lightning striking an object is hotter than the sun. It’s approximately 30,000 Kelvin.  This peaked our interest. We began gathering facts about lightning and how it actually ‘searches’ for a path to the ground. We discovered that there was more to ‘lightning’ than met the eye.
    There were times during our Blended Media project where we became frustrated. Jacob and I knew what we wanted to portray but it really took several attempts to achieve the affect we wanted.  We both spent hours outside the class brainstorming ideas and gathering examples that would help us best illustrate the concept to the audience.  We both learned how to use iMovie in a way never thought possible.   It was the timing, the dedication and narration that really pulled it all together. We had to do several ‘edits’ of the sound effects and our own voice overs.  We added some exciting still images to accompany our video. Some still shots showed lightning in the desert, single and multiple strikes were evident. We also included research from leading scientists in the field.  Watching the final polished product was fabulous!
 I really enjoyed this project in many ways.  It allowed me to examine how I would use this in the classroom and what challenges I faced that my students would potentially face.  Timing was one issue, use of materials and overall communication skills were a must.  I think it could work in a young learner classroom with supervision and clear definitive instructions.  It could be a collaborative learning assignment.  It could also be a ‘writing’ assignment as Jacob and I each had to write out own ‘script’ for narration.  We created all the materials used in the video ourselves.  It was hard to find footage of lightning actually ‘striking’ a tree in a manner in which we needed so we made it happen “slowmation” style!
*Further ‘storms’ exploration were left out of the video because we did not want to get too ‘broad’ for our audience.  Focusing on one specific aspect of electrical storms was superb.

I really enjoyed this project in many ways.  It allowed me to examine how I would use this in the classroom and what challenges I faced that my students would potentially face.  Timing was one issue, use of materials and overall communication skills were a must.  I think it could work in a young learner classroom with supervision and clear definitive instructions.  It could be a collaborative learning assignment.  It could also be a ‘writing’ assignment as Jacob and I each had to write out own ‘script’ for narration.  We created all the materials used in the video ourselves.  It was hard to find footage of lightning actually ‘striking’ a tree in a manner in which we needed so we made it happen “slowmation” style!

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  The Blended Media Project was an excellent activity. It allowed for much creativity on my part. My partner Jacob and I not only stylized clay shapes, colored the background and generally ‘had fun’ with it we also learned about lightning and what it can do. We researched electrical storms and found out that the intensity of lightning striking an object is hotter than the sun. It’s approximately 30,000 Kelvin.  This peaked our interest. We began gathering facts about lightning and how it actually ‘searches’ for a path to the ground. We discovered that there was more to ‘lightning’ than met the eye.
    There were times during our Blended Media project where we became frustrated. Jacob and I knew what we wanted to portray but it really took several attempts to achieve the affect we wanted.  We both spent hours outside the class brainstorming ideas and gathering examples that would help us best illustrate the concept to the audience.  We both learned how to use iMovie in a way never thought possible.   It was the timing, the dedication and narration that really pulled it all together. We had to do several ‘edits’ of the sound effects and our own voice overs.  We added some exciting still images to accompany our video. Some still shots showed lightning in the desert, single and multiple strikes were evident. We also included research from leading scientists in the field.  Watching the final polished product was fabulous!
 I really enjoyed this project in many ways.  It allowed me to examine how I would use this in the classroom and what challenges I faced that my students would potentially face.  Timing was one issue, use of materials and overall communication skills were a must.  I think it could work in a young learner classroom with supervision and clear definitive instructions.  It could be a collaborative learning assignment.  It could also be a ‘writing’ assignment as Jacob and I each had to write out own ‘script’ for narration.  We created all the materials used in the video ourselves.  It was hard to find footage of lightning actually ‘striking’ a tree in a manner in which we needed so we made it happen “slowmation” style!
*Further ‘storms’ exploration were left out of the video because we did not want to get too ‘broad’ for our audience.  Focusing on one specific aspect of electrical storms was superb.

I really enjoyed this project in many ways.  It allowed me to examine how I would use this in the classroom and what challenges I faced that my students would potentially face.  Timing was one issue, use of materials and overall communication skills were a must.  I think it could work in a young learner classroom with supervision and clear definitive instructions.  It could be a collaborative learning assignment.  It could also be a ‘writing’ assignment as Jacob and I each had to write out own ‘script’ for narration.  We created all the materials used in the video ourselves.  It was hard to find footage of lightning actually ‘striking’ a tree in a manner in which we needed so we made it happen “slowmation” style!

ELL's In America

Students who are identified as English language learners (ELLs) can participate in language assistance programs to help ensure that they attain English proficiency and meet the academic content and achievement standards that all students are expected to meet. Participation in these types of programs can improve students’ English language proficiency, which in turn has been associated with improved educational outcomes.1 The percentage of public school students in the United States who were ELLs was higher in fall 2017 (10.1 percent, or 5.0 million students) than in fall 2000 (8.1 percent, or 3.8 million students)*
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Students who are identified as English language learners (ELLs) can participate in language assistance programs to help ensure that they attain English proficiency and meet the academic content and achievement standards that all students are expected to meet. Participation in these types of programs can improve students’ English language proficiency, which in turn has been associated with improved educational outcomes.1 The percentage of public school students in the United States who were ELLs was higher in fall 2017 (10.1 percent, or 5.0 million students) than in fall 2000 (8.1 percent, or 3.8 million students)*

Source https://nces.ed.gov

Voicethread

Communicate, Collaborate and Connect
Voicethread is an excellent resource. It allows educators and students to collaborate online and share their ideas in a constructive way. Students can view other students responses as well as their instructors. It allows for an interactive classroom online. It was very interesting to see and hear other students responses. Voicethread puts all of these ideas together in a concise way. It’s an invaluable tool and one I will undoubtedly use in the classroom.

“VoiceThread is an interactive collaboration and sharing tool that enables users to add images, documents, and videos, and to which other users can add voice, text, audio file, or video comments. You can post yourVoiceThread on your website or save it to an MP3 or DVD.”
-Voicethread.com

To watch “Digital Nation” a Frontline documentary about life on the digital frontier click on the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/

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