Discovery - a time to investigate

About two weeks a go I took the cover off a faulty desktop computer so we could look at the components inside. Some of the children have been looking at it each day and talking about what they can see.

Today the girls in my class decided to investigate further. It started with two girls who wanted to take a closer look and I encouraged them to pull it apart.

By the end of the lesson there was a group of 7 children collaborating to together to explore more.

It was interesting to watch as they problem solved how to unplug the wires and remove parts. Just before the bell I found a screw driver and the children were really looking forward to seeing deeper inside.














Want to know more then click on the appropriate link. I searched what is inside a computer for kids.

Tinkercad 3D printing, Imgflip Meme Generator

Tonight at the Mind Lab I had two goes at Tinkercad. The first attempt ended with me walking away as things weren't quite working out.









After a small break using Sketch Up I returned because I really wanted to create Jaws which was a coffee bag clip.

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/aNNUblAIuKJ-jaws

In the war zone

Tindercad 10 Dion 0

Time to walk away...

The 2nd design Jaws-Mark 2

Success!! Sometimes it is good just to walk away, reflect and then rethink. If it is starting to become less fun then it might be time to consider when is the appropriate time to stop. What actually worked was a mint flavoured Kit Kat that was passed to me. The sugar fix refocused my thoughts and I had more energy to try something new.
50 Encouraging Quotes to Persevere in Life and Motivate You to Succeed

Today I was looking through Google + to see how the other Mind Lab learners around NZ were going. I saw some awesome Tinkercad work.


and then the Meme Generator Imgflip. I had to have a go for myself. I have already made one for my classroom door.

Here is the finished image

Week 14 Readings put into perspective

Today I was trying to do the readings in preparation for Week 14 at the Mind lab but my daughter had other plans. As I was reading through the class overview about a blog written by Justine Hughes’s students: http://thecreatoropssteam.blogspot.co.nz/ I could hear Taylor Swift's Album 1989 playing.

What caught my attention was not Taylor Swift but the ukulele playing along to the entire album. In the context of learning my daughter was in her element she was doing what she loves most singing, playing music and pretending she was in a concert performing in front of thousands of people.

There were two thoughts going through my mind

• the blog which showed the learning that was captured over a period of time
• and the imaginative play going on in the room next door to me

I was starting to think how can I capture this type of enthusiasm for the children in my classroom. How could I relate activities to what they like doing. It was nice to take time to reflect on the year so far and think what is learning? and what makes it meaningful?

 In room 5 this year we have already become improved users of technology. We are also regulating what others are doing on the devices. There is still a lot of work to do and I am very fortunate to have a like minded IT person in the school who is also an innovator. We may not have all the answers but we are constantly looking for positive ways to keep children engaged in their learning. Humour is definitely required as most times I have had something go wrong each week(as mentioned in the letter above).

A few weeks back at The Mind lab we learnt that teachers should contact other schools because someone else may have already solved the problem you currently have. It is so true through The Mind Lab we have been able to establish contacts with like minded people that have amazing resources. Sharing ideas across this group has been amazing Professional Development.

Click on the link here to find out more about Taylor Swift here

Robot 1, Human 0

This week in the Mind Lab we attempted to programme instructions for a robot to follow.

We were given the basics for what a robot needed to operate and also instructions on how to programme it.

There was a great balance how much information was given at the start and we were given an opportunity to trial ideas before the next step was introduced.

My robot programming partner was a great team mate we shared roles and we both took a role at being the lead programmer. It worked really well and I actually enjoyed trialling the robot making small changes, testing it and then reprogramming the robot.

We didn't succeed at all so we put our robot on another computer that had a successful programme. When we downloaded the data and trialled it we still had a rogue robot. At this point after a lot of fun we realised no matter what we did all night we were destined to fail as our IR sensors were incorrectly wired.

After an excellent feeling of failure we immediately thought we have six older Mind Storm kits at school that we can dig out and start using. The learning that was happening was amazing. I could have spent many hours trying to figure out how to make the robot follow a black line of tape.

Want to know more about:

How Robots Work check out this link here
Robots in the classroom check out this link here
Robots that teach each other check out this link here
Why can't robots understand sarcasm? check out this link here

You've just been droned

This weekend I was schooled by a 16 year old. Not only was I out of my depth I was a complete novice. It was an insight being shown technology that I had never really seen before. It was interesting to watch especially when the person operating it is passionate about their hobby.

 I was on the West Coast hoping to be forcibly switched off from technology and take a few days to recharge.

Unfortunately a cellphone tower had recently been erected and internet coverage was remarkably strong. 

When I was down on the beach enjoying the surroundings a hefty black case was opened and a DJI Inspire Drone was unveiled. 

After a few minutes checking the camera and Drone I experienced Droning 101. The images that were being recorded were amazing. 

The test flight before sunset 

The 16 year old put the packed the gear up and headed inside to work on the footage.

Later that night we watched the raw project. Although it was apparently only 90% complete (also with copyright free music) it looked incredible. The learning taking place was huge. Apparently he has been filming at school events and he always seeks permission before filming.

The range on the drone was amazing it can go up to 2 KMs. It was interesting to see the high spec Drone being taken out over water as an error would cause loss of the drone.

Want to know more then check this out. It could be a newer model of the DJ Drone as it originally cost close to $10000.

http://myfirstdrone.com/news/dji-inspire-1-official-specs-price/

Piktograph has 18 new users

Today I hoped to get my class using Piktograph. I got the projector sorted and I connected a computer as if i was one of the students.

I showed the children the steps to navigate to the Piktograph site using the PCs. When I got to the site I demonstrated the options for logging on.

At this point we had a vote they could either create an account using their email which would be harder in the sense they would have to practice previous skills or create an account with my email and I can confirm to set up the account(the easier option).

In the back of my mind I thought the old Room 5 would say take the easy option as that is their usual approach. Luckily they all voted for the harder option.

The option that required them to go  and create a user in Piktochart and then go to Gmail sign in, and confirm their account. I didn't get them to use Google + to sign on first because I wanted them to practise signing into a website as a new user.

I got one of the girls to create an account on Piktograph and when she went to Gmail for the confirmation email it wasn't there. At this point I changed the goal posts and said set up your user names and as homework you can confirm your account.

It felt really deflated as it was now another example of here is a cool website we can't get into it at school individually but imagine what it looks like.


So i regrouped and...

I logged in on my personal account and we created a 2 minute poster as a class. We talked about using images and creating templates/icons that matched the message we were trying to send. For sustainability we looked at the impact of waste and how we can capture our audiences attention.

I initially selected two flowers and then added the fridge. Although we were pressed for time we discussed taking away the pretty images and just having things that matter. The fridge needs work as it is currently transparent but it definitely promoted a rich discussion.

At this point we talked about purpose and what were we trying to achieve. The positive was we were set up for using Piktograph next week.

After about 20 minutes  and at the point of when we were going to give up the first user got a confirmation email. We then all created accounts for the whole class because the magic confirmation fairy at Piktograph was suddenly sending timely emails.

Although our learning time was cut down we talked about logging into and out of devices especially Gmail, usernames, passwords and appropriate talk in Gmail messages.

The lesson ended with another look at how to log out of devices. We then checked each others device to see we were not still logged in to Gmail.

Next week we are ready to begin our next attempt at using Piktograph as a class. No doubt there will be some early adopters that will be trialling it over the weekend.