The Beartown Play: A Play Written, Enhanced, and Performed by 6th Graders

I often give my students choice and voice which I discussed in my blog post, Giving Students Choice and Voice.

This project, written, enhance, and performed by 6th graders, was truly an example of voice and choice along with having them do a Type III enrichment project. Three 6th grade girls began this project last year in their gifted class as a stop-motion animation. They asked if they could continue it as a play when I become their gifted education teacher. I said, “Absolutely,” and provided some guidance and coaching as they worked on it all semester (about 3 hours per week).

This project could be classified as Type III enrichment as described in The Enrichment Triad Model developed by Joseph Renzulli, a leader and pioneer in gifted education. Type III Enrichment incorporates investigative activities and the development of creative products in which students assume roles as firsthand investigators, writers, artists, or other types of practicing professionals (https://renzullilearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/TheEnrichmentTriadModel.pdf).

For this project the girls:

• Wrote, refined, and formatted their script so it included dialogue that it sounded good and was grammatically correct, was formatted like a TV or movie script, had stage directions and good narrations.
• Created a broadway show type program designed in Canva.
• Included sound effects from the internet and uploaded into Google Slides in a way that made sense to their sound technician
• Included commercials written and recorded to be satires of local commercials.
• Made technology-enhanced costumes using fairy lights, Turtlestitch embroidered/LED lit patches, micro-bit/neopixels, and circuit playgrounds.

They elicited the assistance of 6th grade friends for the performance at our school’s talent show.

The Script

As stated above, the story was conceptualized and began the previous. The girls asked to continue it as a movie during this school year. We spent months revising it. I acted as a coach, pointing out plot holes and grammatical errors along with assisting them in formatting it in a standard script form.

Inserting Sound Effects

Recording Self-Composed Commercials

Making Costumes

The girls made patches for their story characters designing them in Turtlestitch, a  browser-based educational programming language (Snap!) to generate patterns for embroidery machines, and then sewing them with an embroidery machine.

One student decided to light up her character’s patch using Lilypad lights. This was her first time sewing so she was rightfully proud of herself.

The girls used fairy lights to create head decorations and they coded Neopixels and Circuit Playgrounds to light up the other actors’ costumes.

Creating the Playbill Program

The girls examined Broadway Playbills and then used Canva to create their own.

The Performance

The video below contains some of the excerpts from the talent show performance (note that the girls only had a few rehearsals with their classmates and none in the gym using the mics that were used during the talent show.

Pi Day: An Example of an Interdisciplinary, Engaging Lesson

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students at two Title 1 schools for multiple years. Each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days. It is like planning parties. I want to give them memories of positive school experiences that last a lifetime. When I announce these upcoming celebrations, the students who have been in my program for multiple years cheer loudly. My new students then get excited, too.

I’ve blogged about the value of interdisciplinary units before – All Lessons Should Be Interdisciplinary https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/all-lessons-should-be-interdisciplinary/

Pi Day Activities

The day consisted of the following activities:

• Introduction – Pi Day Trivia
• Book: Sir Cumference
• Kahoot Pi Games
• Digital Breakout
• Making and Decorating Pies
• Measuring for Pi
• Stations
  • Pi Fortune Teller
  • Pi Sky Line
  • Race to Pi Card Game

Standards Addressed

A variety of cross-disciplinary content standards were addressed during this lesson.

Common Core Math Standards:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.B.4
  Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1
  Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
  Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10
  By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

National Core Art Standards:

• Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
• Refine and complete artistic work. (https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/)

Pi Day Trivia

Students were introduced to Pi and Pi Day through the following videos:

Sir Cumference

The students then were shown a reading of Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) by Cindy Neuschwander:

Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this geometry-packed math adventure. King Arthur was a good ruler, but now he needs a good ruler. What would you do if the neighboring kingdom were threatening war? Naturally, you’d call your strongest and bravest knights together to come up with a solution. But when your conference table causes more problems than the threat of your enemy, you need expert help. Enter Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius. With the help of the carpenter, Geo of Metry, this sharp-minded team designs the perfect table conducive to discussing the perfect plan for peace (https://www.amazon.com/Cumference-First-Round-Table-Adventure/dp/1570911525).

Pi Kahoots

My students cheer when we do Kahoot quizzes. The Kahoot quizzes made and submitted by other teachers make it so easy to use. Here are the two Pi Kahoots I did with the students:

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/0210be57-ce68-489a-9054-d9165b8165ff

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/pi-day-trivia/a7605cd3-4c93-4c13-bc23-eec96da2a627

Digital Breakout EDU – Pi Day

Breakout EDU is an immersive learning games platform. Breakout EDU games consist of a combination of physical and digital puzzle elements that must be solved in a set amount of time. Players of all ages are challenged to open the locked Breakout EDU box using critical thinking, collaboration and creativity. (https://orrhslibrary.weebly.com/what-is-breakout-edu.html).

Here is the Pi Day Digital Breakout EDU game they did.

Can be accessed at https://platform.breakoutedu.com/game/play/pi-day-digital-breakout-4th-6th-grades-90608 .

Making and Decorating Pies

One of the activities students enjoy the most during Pi day is making pies. They were given ingredients and recipes for:

• Peanut Butter Pie – https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/12181/no-bake-peanut-butter-pie/ 
• Lemon Pie – https://littlespoonfarm.com/no-bake-lemon-icebox-pie-recipe/ 
• Strawberry – https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/pie/strawberry-icebox-pie.html 
• Graham cracker crust (for use in the Pi pan) – https://www.callmepmc.com/how-to-make-a-no-bake-graham-cracker-crust/ 
• Royal Icing (for decorating the pies) – https://www.chsugar.com/recipe/royal-icing-with-meringue-powder

They needed to follow the recipe which included figuring out the directions and using measurements. I even bought a Pi pan for them to use. After the pies were made, they decorated them with Pi symbols and characters.

Measuring for Pi

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With tape measures in hand, groups of students carefully measure the circumferences and diameters of various round objects.  The class makes a table of measured values and calculates the quotients.  When they see time and time again the same answer result from division, whether it be from big circular objects or small ones—eureka!—they will have unwittingly discovered π for themselves (http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-life-of-pi.html).

I created a competition to see which team could achieve Pi based on their measurements of diameters and circumferences of real world objects. I watched as they struggled with and learning about circumferences, diameters, and pi; about doing accurate measurement; about converting fractions into decimals to do their calculations; and about using the Pi formula.

Stations

Students could choose from the following stations to complete their Pi days.

Pi Fortune Teller

fortunetellerfindingthecircumferenceofacircle-1Download

Pi Graph Skyline

Directions for this activity can be found at https://carrotsareorange.com/pi-day-activities/.

Race to Pi Card Game

Directions can be found at https://mathgeekmama.com/pi-day-card-game/.

Cross-Curricular Lesson: Communicating with Parents

As someone who has been in teacher education for several decades, I often think about – teach about how to make curriculum engaging, fun, effective, authentic, and relevant for learners. I believe interdisciplinary or cross-curricular lessons have the potential to do so. I also add, when I am working with pre- and inservice teachers, that there is not enough time in a day to teach-learn everything that is desirable. Cross-curricular activities can help “create” more time as several content area standards can be addressed in one lesson.

Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary learning is a “whole” or “comprehensive” method that covers an idea, topic, or text by integrating multiple knowledge domains. It is a very powerful method of teaching that crosses the boundaries of a discipline or curriculum in order to enhance the scope and depth of learning. Each discipline sheds light on the topic like the facets of a gem.

I created the following graphic to show the benefits of interdisciplinary standards.

An Example: Communicating with Parents

This past week I asked my freshman seminar class to do a few activities related to communicating with their parents. The goal of this lesson was, obviously, to have to students develop some more effective communication strategies.

Social Emotional Learning and 21st Century Standards

This lesson, at its core, falls into the areas socio-emotional learning and 21st Century Competencies. Ohio established their own set of K-12 Social and Emotional Learning Standards and the following are related to the goals of this lesson.

• Actively engage in positive interactions to make connections with peers, adults and community to support and achieve common goals,
• Establish and actively participate in a healthy network of personal, school and community relationships.

The Framework for 21st Century also identified communication as an important skill with the following standards.

• Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts,
• Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions.

English Language Arts Standards

Because the learners were asked to do research and write a letter to their parents, English Language Arts standards were also addressed:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Communicating with Parents Poster

Learners were asked to review some online articles about communicating with parents and then make a poster that reflected strategies they believe to be important.

Letter to My Parents

Next, the learners were asked to write a letter to their parents that discussed:

1. What types of communications are going well,
2. What types of communications are not going well,
3. Suggested goals for improving communications.

They were told they were not required to share the letter with their parents. Some examples follow:

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Game Jam: Creating a Video Game

The Game Jam was developed for and offered through the Santa Fe Public Schools’ SAGE (Services for Advanced and Gifted Education) Program although any school or youth group could enter. The game categories were: Board, Card, Action, and Video games. The criteria used to judge the games:

The contest was conceived and developed by Steve Heil – Santa Fe Public Schools Gifted Program Support Specialist. For more information, contact him at sheil@sfps.k12.nm.us.

I encouraged my 5th and 6th grade gifted learners at one of my schools to enter the video game category. I scaffolded instruction (described below) but they created their story narratives, storyboards, and video games.

Introduction to Story Narratives

They were introduced to world and character through the following Pixar in a Box video.

Storyboarding with Storyboard That

Learners used Storyboard That to create the storyboards for their video games.

Storyboard That is a graphic organizer and storyboard creator . The program provides pre-made scenes, characters, text boxes, shapes, and other images to choose from,  Students are able to drag and drop these items into their chosen layout. Scenes are organized into locational and thematic categories (e.g. school). Characters are organized similarly and can be customized with hair color, eye color, and other edits. Text boxes allow the student to give voice to their characters. Shapes and additional images add props to the story. (https://www.edsurge.com/product-reviews/storyboard-that-product)

It was continually reinforced that their storyboards needed to include strong characters, settings, and plot.

Video Game Creation

Learners were given the option of two game creation platforms:-

1. Scratch – https://scratch.mit.edu/
2. Makecode Arcade – https://arcade.makecode.com/

To help them make their decision about which platform to use, they were asked to do tutorials offered by each of these platforms. Two of the teams selected MakeCode Arcade and one of the teams selected Scratch. The MakeCode teams were able to create their characters using the pixel image creation function, and the Scratch team created their characters using this platform’s drawing tool.

MakeCode Avatars

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Scratch Avatars

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Links to the Learner Created Games

• Llama Raised MakeCode Arcade Game – https://makecode.com/_Fj3fc8iJyWuy
• Forward to the Future/Future to the Past MakeCode Arcade Game – https://makecode.com/_hW8FXc5tpbMx
• Chunky Monkey Scratch Game – https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/305827741/

Video Overviews

As part of the game jam submission procedures, learners had to record a video overview. Here are their video overviews:

I Have a Dream: Authentic Learning

I wrote a post earlier this year entitled, Authentic Learning Experiences. Some of the characteristics of authentic learning I identified are summarized in this graphic:

The Task

Learners, 4th through 6th graders in my gifted education language arts class, were given the task of composing and then recording their own I Have a Dream speeches.

Writing Their Speeches

This authentic learning experience began by watching Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Interestingly and sadly, there were a few students who had never seen it.

They then wrote and published their I Have a Dream speeches on Kidblog. These were projected as each learner read her speech. Their peers offered feedback about both the content and the mechanics of grammar and spelling with changes made accordingly. Here are some of the edited examples:

Recording Their Speeches

An authentic learning experience offers learners choice and voice. In this case, students were offered a choice of recording their speeches as part of a video in front of a green screen or by just making an audio recording. Half chose the green screen and the other half chose the audio recording. The videos were recorded using my iphone, the audio recordings via Quicktime on a Mac. Their recordings were uploaded to iMovie. All students were asked to add photos to their recordings. They added images found at Unsplash, over 850,000 free (do-whatever-you-want) high-resolution photos by the world’s most generous community of photographers (my favorite online tool for finding and using images). Learners took turns editing their speeches and their final video follows. Note their different styles and as mentioned earlier, reinforces student voice and choice.

Pi Day: An Example of an Interdisciplinary, Engaging Lesson

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students for multiple years. At my one school, I have them in class for a full day each week, and each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days and I love watching how 100% are fully engaged for the entire time.

I’ve blogged about the value of interdisciplinary units before – All Lessons Should Be Interdisciplinary https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/all-lessons-should-be-interdisciplinary/

Pi Day Activities

The day consisted of the following activities:

• Digital Breakout
• Making and Decorating Pies
• Book: Sir Cumference
• Measuring for Pi
• Kahoot Pi Games

Standards Addressed

Common Core Math Standards:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.B.4
  Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1
  Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
  Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10
  By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

ISTE Standards for Students:

• Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
• Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

21st Partnership for 21st Century Skills:

• Collaborate with others
• Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
• Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
• Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

Digital Breakout EDU – Pi Day

So what is this about Digital Breakout EDU games?  Simply put, it’s taking the same concept, but turning it all digital.  Participants are given a one-page site that includes text, images and links to clues, some of which may be misleading.  There is a Google Form embedded on the page where you submit your answers to a series of “lock” questions and each lock will immediately tell you if you’re successful (http://wordpress.barrow.k12.ga.us/21stcenturytips/?p=6989).

To start off our Pi day activities, students did a Pi Day Digital Breakout EDU game.

Can be accessed at https://platform.breakoutedu.com/game/play/pi-day-digital-breakout-4th-6th-grades-90608 .

Making and Decorating Pies

One of the activities students enjoy the most during Pi day is making pies. They were given ingredients and recipes for:

• Apple Pie – https://www.thespruceeats.com/easy-apple-pie-recipe-for-kids-2097625
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie – https://happyhourprojects.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-pies/
• Royal Icing (for decorating the pies) – https://www.chsugar.com/recipe/royal-icing-with-meringue-powder

They needed to follow the recipe which included figuring out the directions and using measurements. After the pies were made, they decorated them with Pi symbols.

Sir Cumference

The students then were shown a reading of Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) by Cindy Neuschwander:

Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this geometry-packed math adventure. King Arthur was a good ruler, but now he needs a good ruler. What would you do if the neighboring kingdom were threatening war? Naturally, you’d call your strongest and bravest knights together to come up with a solution. But when your conference table causes more problems than the threat of your enemy, you need expert help. Enter Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius. With the help of the carpenter, Geo of Metry, this sharp-minded team designs the perfect table conducive to discussing the perfect plan for peace (https://www.amazon.com/Cumference-First-Round-Table-Adventure/dp/1570911525).

Measuring for Pi

With tape measures in hand, groups of students carefully measure the circumferences and diameters of various round objects.  The class makes a table of measured values and calculates the quotients.  When they see time and time again the same answer result from division, whether it be from big circular objects or small ones—eureka!—they will have unwittingly discovered π for themselves (http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-life-of-pi.html).

Pi Kahoots

Using Kahoot wasn’t planned for the day but the students asked for it. I love that they ask for learning tasks. The Kahoot quizzes made and submitted by other teachers make it so easy to use them spontaneously. Here are the two Pi Kahoots I did with the students:

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/pi-day/877d64ee-3003-4a30-9d82-f1cd81721749

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/pi-day-trivia/a7605cd3-4c93-4c13-bc23-eec96da2a627

Scratch and Makey Makey Across the Curriculum

I love bringing physical computing into my classrooms:

Physical computing means building interactive physical systems by the use of software and hardware that can sense and respond to the analog world. Physical computing is a creative framework for understanding human beings’ relationship to the digital world. In practical use, the term most often describes handmade art, design or DIY hobby projects that use sensors and microcontrollers to translate analog input to a software system, and/or control electro-mechanical devices such as motors, servos, lighting or other hardware (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing).

. . . but as with all use of educational technologies, I believe that it should be used intentionally to assist learners in developing and expanding their content knowledge and life skills.

Best Practices for Physical Computing

• Hands-on/Minds-On: “When students are fully engaged in a task, they are actively doing and actively thinking. While hands are engaged, minds should be questioning, sorting through sensory input, and making connections” (Actively Engage Students Using Hands-on & Minds-on Instruction).
• Development of Learning and Innovation as Well as Career and Life Skills: Physical computing activities should be designed to help learners develop skills as identified as by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.

Learning and innovation skills are what separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world and those who are not. These skills include: Creativity and Innovation; and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.

Today’s students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and emotional competencies to navigate complex life and work environments. P21’s essential Life and Career Skills include: Flexibility and Adaptability; and Initiative and Self-Direction (Partnership for 21st Century Learning Framework and Resources).

• Cross Curricular Connections: Physical computing, at its best, enbraces content standards across the curriculum.

Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary learning is a “whole” or “comprehensive” method that covers an idea, topic, or text by integrating multiple knowledge domains. It is a very powerful method of teaching that crosses the boundaries of a discipline or curriculum in order to enhance the scope and depth of learning. Each discipline sheds light on the topic like the facets of a gem.  (A Cornucopia of Multidisciplinary Teaching).

• Relevant and Authentic Learning: Physical computing is often perceived by learners of all ages are relevant to their lives especially with the current push towards learning STEM and coding.

Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life. Students work towards production of discourse, products, and performances that have value or meaning beyond success in school; this is learning by doing approach (Authentic learning: what, why and how?)

• Learner-Centric – More of Them; Less of Us:At its heart, maker education and physical computing is about centering around the learner. Children and youth are natural learners—imaginative, curious, exploratory testers of theories and creators of solutions. When children and youth have educational experiences that allow them to fully occupy the educational space and are supported by adults who trust their innate abilities and contributions  and are given the guidance, they grow confident in their abilities (At its heart, maker education is always about centering the learner).

• Scaffolded Learning Leading to Learner Autonomy: In Scaffolding Maker Education Learning Experiences, I discussed the following:

Direct instruction is provided through structured and prescribed activities with the goal of learners then being able to eventually go into self-determined directions.  My contention is that learners often don’t know what they don’t know; and that giving them the basic skills frees them to then use their creativity and innovation to take these tools into self-determined directions

• Open-Ended Challenge: As stated above, learning is scaffolded but even with more structure projects as described in this post, they are still open-ended enough for learners to integrate their own talents, interests, and skills into the projects.

Note about using Makey Makey and Scratch 3.0

All of the following projects utilized Scratch 3.0 along with their extensions: Makey Makey and for some, Text to Speech.

Language Arts: Character Development

Standards Addressed:

Common Core State Standards – ELA

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

National Core Arts Standards

• Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

Learners engaged in a maker-enhanced writers’ workshop. I like having my learners begin by developing their characters. They did so by:

• Describing their character.
• Drawing a picture of their characters.
• Creating a more artistic version of their character using additional art materials.
• Posting a description and image of their character onto Kidblog.
• Using Scratch and Makey Makey to describe the main characteristics of their characters.
• More about the ​Maker-Enhanced Writing Workshop: Character Development can be found at https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/02/17/maker-enhanced-writing-workshop-character-development/

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Language Arts: The Monster Project

Standards Addressed:

Common Core State Standards – ELA

• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

National Core Arts Standards

• Students will generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

Directions for this project can be found at https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/monster-project-using-makey-makeys-and-scratch/.

Example Scratch Code: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/793092586/editor/

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Science: Brain Science

Standards Addressed:

Next Generation Science Standards

• Develop a model to describe phenomena.
• Use a model to test interactions concerning the functioning of a natural system.
• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

• This was part of a larger unit whereby the students were taught about brain science. See https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/teaching-elementary-level-learners-about-the-brain/.
• I adapted the directions for their brain operation game from https://iamclaudius.com/makey-makey-operation-game/. I gave them an outline of the brain with lobes outlined for them to color and rubber cement onto a pizza box (see video below). For their brain parts, I gave them air drying clay. They were asked to create parts that represent the functions of the individual lobes, e.g., eye for occipital lobe, mouth for temporal lobe, a ball for the cerebellum, etc.
• They were then asked to code their games using Scratch. Here is the example I used to get them started: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/283935140/editor/. I instructed them to include, for each lobe, its name and some kind of pun about its function.
• Finally, they hooked up the Makey Makey using the directions found at https://iamclaudius.com/makey-makey-operation-game/.

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Music: Piano

Standards Addressed:

Music Education

• The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work emerge from a variety of sources.
• Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

These project used the directions from Scratch Cards, Music Cards, for the Microbit found at https://microbit.org/scratch/.  Instead of a microbit, a Makey Makey was used. See the video below.

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Engineering: Marble Mazes

Standards Addressed:

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

ISTE Standards for Students

• Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
• Students develop, test and refine prototype  as part of a cyclical design process.
• Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Directions:

• This project was adapted from @gravescolleen Makey Makey Marble Maze and 5th grade https://colleengraves.org/2018/05/04/makey-makey-marble-maze-and-5th-grade/.

Sample Scratch Code: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/714923121/editor/

Video Game Design with Elementary Learners

In order to support interest and passion driven learning (all – I mean all – of my students play video games) as well as address cross-curricular content area integration of language arts, science, and technology standards, I had my gifted elementary learners, grades 2 through 6, do a semester long project on video game design.

Standards Addressed

English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

• Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
• Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• Reference – http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system and includes several criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.
• Reference – https://www.nextgenscience.org/

ISTE NETS for Students

• 4a – Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
• 4b – Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.
• 4c – Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process
• 4d – Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Reference – https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students

Unit Overview

The overview for this unit:

• Introduction to Storytelling
• Storyboarding with Storyboad That
• Storyboard Presentations, Feedback, and Revisions
• Create a Video
• Design a Logo

Introduction to Storytelling

The following video and articles were reviewed with the learners:

• How To Write A Good Game Story – http://www.paladinstudios.com/2012/08/06/how-to-write-a-good-game-story-and-get-filthy-rich/

• How To Write A Compelling Game Story In Three Steps https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-write-a-compelling-game-story-in-three-steps/

Storyboarding with Storyboard That

Learners used Storyboard That to create the storyboards for their video games.

Storyboard That is a graphic organizer and storyboard creator . The program provides pre-made scenes, characters, text boxes, shapes, and other images to choose from,  Students are able to drag and drop these items into their chosen layout. Scenes are organized into locational and thematic categories (e.g. school). Characters are organized similarly and can be customized with hair color, eye color, and other edits. Text boxes allow the student to give voice to their characters. Shapes and additional images add props to the story. (https://www.edsurge.com/product-reviews/storyboard-that-product)

It was continually reinforced that their storyboards needed to include strong characters, settings, and plot.

Feedback

Learners presented their storyboards to their classmates. Their classmates asked questions and gave feedback using the questions from How To Write A Good Game Story http://www.paladinstudios.com/2012/08/06/how-to-write-a-good-game-story-and-get-filthy-rich/

They made revisions and additions based on the feedback they received.

Create a Video Game

Learners were then given the choice to create their video games using one of the following platforms:

• Sploder
• Bloxels
• CoSpaces

Create a Logo for the Game

Finally, learners were asked to design a logo for their games. To add another element of fun, learners decorated sugar cookies with their game logo.

Examples

The Adventures of Jack by a 6th Grade Boy

His video game was created using Sploder:

His Game Logo:

Save Mother by a 4th Grade Girl

Her video game was created by Bloxels:

Her Game Logo:

Sam and the Dark Lord by a 2nd Grade Boy

His video game was created using Sploder:

His Game Logo:

Maker Education Meets the Writers’ Workshop

There is a current breath-of-fresh air movement (in my opinion) in some education circles that is known as Maker Education or the DIY Movement.  I wrote recent post on this topic, STEAM and Maker Education: Inclusive, Engaging, Self-Differentiating.

The hands-on, interdisciplinary, student-interest driven nature of Maker Education has always been a focus in my classroom environments.  Because of the current interest in Maker Education, I wanted to revisit and share a semester long Maker-Enhanced Writers’ Workshop project I did with a group of gifted elementary students a few years ago.

Students began by developing their characters and plot – I am used selected sections from the free downloadable Young Novelist Workbook – http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks to guide them in this process.

Character Development

Each learner developed a character using the Young Novelists Workbook to guide the character development.  Their characters were further developed through drawing them,

. . . making masks of them,

. . . and creating 3d characters out of junk materials, hot glued together.

An option for Character Development using a web tool is Scholastic’s Creature Creator – http://www.scholastic.com/underlandchronicles/creaturecreator.htm

Plot Development

Students were asked to group themselves by similarity of their characters.  They had to clearly be able to articulate the commonality among their characters. [Interestingly, many of them really attempted to group themselves by similar characters rather than working with their friends, which I expected.] Groups contained two to four writers.

The groups spent several weeks of the Writers’ Workshop developing their story plot using the activities from Young Novelist Workbook – http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks. I, as the teacher, acted as the sounding board and feedback giver.  Representatives from the different working groups would come to me to pitch their stories and would return to their groups to report on the feedback I provided.

3D Setting

In conjunction with their plot development, students created a 3D storyboard setting with “natural” objects. They then “wired” them with PicoCricket to have programmable movement, lights, and sounds.

PicoCricket is no longer available, but learners can do similar electronic upgrades to their setting using Makey Makey, Arduino, or Hummingbird Kits.

An online version of the story’s setting can be created using http://www.citycreator.com/ or Minecraft.

eBooks

Students made eBooks using their story line and plot from in the Young Novelist Workbook, scanned sketches and images of the characters, and the pictures of the 3D setting.

(Note: We used Tikatok. They changed their user agreement and we lost all of the books.)

Options for student eBooks include: Storyjumper, Mixbook, and Big Universe (plus others).

Theme Song

A theme song was written and recorded for their stories.  It was introduced as having them develop a song for their stories like a TV theme song. They used Songsmith http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/. UJAM http://www.ujam.com/ is another option for students to record their own story theme songs.

Here is an example from three 5th graders’ book the Three Islanders:

Readers’ Theater

Reader’s theater scripts were written in a scripting format using a Word program.  Students practiced reading their scripts and then created a podcast using a web tool such as http://vocaroo.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/.  See ReadWriteThink’s Readers Theatre about the logistics of creating one.

The Magic of the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

I have written about the power of Comic and Animation Technologies in the Classroom.  Because of the Academy Awards, I was introduced to the beautiful, animated The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore that has so much potential for classroom uses.  What follows is the 15 animation and a description of the iPad storytelling app that tells the interactive story.

As is my tendency, I tweeted and Facebooked my excitement for this animation and others responded.

Extension Activity with an Interactive Storytelling iPad App

Through the creators’ ingenuity, they developed an amazing iPad app to go along with the video.

There are lovely filmic perspectives on each page, hand drawn illustrations that fade to 3D digital animation and the interactivity makes you feel like you are part director of your own animated short (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a Game-Changing eBook App).

The app includes pages of the story with text and 3D animated illustrations with an option to have audio narration of text.

The text can be translated into various languages.

Each page also has a “secret” embedded interactive that the user needs to discover.  This one is a keyboard where the user can follow along and play Pop Goes the Weasel.

Further Reading

• An Ex-Pixar Designer Creates Astounding Kids’ Book On iPad
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a Game-Changing eBook App