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Showing posts from September, 2021

8: Digital Maker Spaces

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 Experience  Today, our class looked at maker education. The website Maker ED aims to utilize the potential of creativity and creations to transform teaching and learning. The website does so by providing users with an organized website that includes information about Maker ED, professional learning opportunities, resources, ways to get involved, and material to assist at-home learners. The main takeaway of Digital Maker Spaces is that their approach is student-centered with a focus on educators, educational institutions, and community involvement.   In the Classroom  After viewing some information in regard to Digital Maker Spaces, I formulated a simple lesson utilizing a game for students to play on their mobile devices. The game is a coding game from CODE.org . Simply put, individuals create their own coding sequence to protect ocean life by cleaning up the beach. I have attached the code below for users to scan, so they can play the game. In the classroom, students would open the

7: iCreate Lab

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 Experience  LINK  to see photos of the iCreate Lab Today our class got to explore the iCreate lab. Click on the link located " Inside the iCreate Lab"  so you too can view what the iCreate lab has to offer and examples of items that can be made using the machinery in the lab. There truly is something for everybody! From a teaching and student viewpoint, the diversity within the lab allows for multiple ISTE computational thinking standards to be addressed.  The following machines can be found in the lab :)  3D printing  Cricut  Laser cutter & engraver  Sewing & embroidery machines  Large format printer & vinyl cutter  Old printing press machine  CNC router   ISTE CT Standards  1e) Recognize how computing and society interact to create opportunities, inequities, responsibilities, and threats for individuals and organizations 2d) Assess and manage classroom culture to drive equitable student participation, address exclusionary dynamics, and counter implicit bias

6: Portfolio 3 - MT Notes

Below, you will find more information about CT and CS concepts. We were tasked with creating notes on two computational concepts provided for us. Once you read the notes, there will be a video and Kahoot link to view. The video is the youtube video I watched to form these notes. The Kahoot is the game/information I created for teachers and students.   Computational Thinking  Something people do because computational thinking includes the ability to do the following.  think logically and algorithmically  recognize problems   break problems apart  Four concepts of computational thinking decomposition  pattern recognition  abstraction  algorithms  Decomposition: breaking apart problems or a big idea into smaller pieces or steps  baking/cooking math problems  puzzle  Pattern Recognition: finding similarities between things pairing socks while folding laundry  purchasing a new car  school subjects  Abstraction: to capture the importance of a system, idea, or structure while generalizing tre

5: Drone Coding Lab

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 Experience  LINK  to Tello Drone in Action  In today’s lab, we operated the Tello Drone by utilizing the DroneBlocks app to code the device. The experience was enjoyable but had complications that were not expected. Although instructions were followed, the Tello Drone did take a minute to connect with the DroneBlocks app. One tip I would give users is to match the Wi-Fi name with the connection in the app. For example, our drone’s Wi-Fi name was jellyfish, so in the DroneBlocks app when you see Tello-XXXXXX we had to type in jellyfish for the device to connect. Once the drone was up and running, it performed interesting maneuvers. I have attached a video to showcase the drone in action. Some coding script items used were takeoff, spin, loop, and land. Unfortunately, our group and classmates encountered issues with the drone. The takeoff button would turn gray, the drone would no longer correctly follow the code, and for some, their drone would not land automatically. I found that this

4: Introductory DroneBlocks Curriculum

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 Launching Tello DroneBlocks  1.     Open DroneBlocks app 2.     Select “Tello Blocks” by clicking the hamburger icon (blue icon with three blue lines) 3.     Begin creating mission by dragging coding blocks        Takeoff o    Represents the start of the mission o    First coding command         Navigation o    Fly commands (fly & yaw) located in this tab o    Fly: forward, right, backward, and left the desired number of units o    Yaw: rotate right or left the desired number of degrees Flip o    Commands Tello to perform a flip forward, backward, left, or right Loops o    Repeat a sequence of instructions until a condition is met o    Loop command is known as the “repeat” block because it commands Tello to repeat an action a desired amount of times o    Useful way to simplify a code and ensure a proper sequence is being executed    Logic o    Adds intelligence to the code by using if, else if, else logic o    If/else block (if-do-else) Variables o    Allow inputs to flexibly chan

3: Lego WeDo Kit Lesson Activity

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  LINK to Lego Lab Blog Post  Name: Aleksandra Johnson                                       Date: 11 September 2021 Subject: Science                                                           Grade Levels: 3 rd - 4 th  Topic Lesson    Animal Expression Lego Activity Animal Expression (lego.com)  Learning Objective  The students will discover and demonstrate the various methods of animal communication by modeling a lego representation using the WeDo 2.0 lego set and coding software.  Materials Needed  Inspiration Whiteboards (1 per student)  Dry Erase Markers (1 per student) Animal Communication Anchor Chart Ideation LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 Core Set  Student Building Worksheet Example Sheet  Brainstorm Sheet  Implementation  WeDo 2.0 Programming App (Ipads)   WeDo 2.0 | Software Download | LEGO® Education   Popsicle Stick Name Tags  Educational Standards  3-LS4-2: Use evidence to construct an e

2: Lego Lab

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 Experience  In today's lab, we were tasked with creating a moving object by utilizing the WeDo 2.0 Lego Kits. However, in order for the object to move, I had to sync my motor box with the WeDo 2.0 app and put the proper code in. The item I chose to build from the website was the cooling fan. The actual process of the build was fairly easy. If an elementary student were to be tasked with building the fan, they would simply follow the instructions pictures. The harder part was figuring out how to get the fan to work. After some searching around, the class figured out that you must download the WeDo 2.0 app. The downside is the app is only compatible with Windows applications and Ipads. Overall, the lab was extremely fun! I think from an educator's standpoint, the best part is that the lab can be manipulated so that every age group and grade can participate.   Step by Step Process  Step 1 - Click the link . Once on the website, click 'Go to product page'. Scroll down unt