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Category: Communication & Collaboration (Page 1 of 3)

Method27- Week 2

February 14, 2012 /

This is what learning is supposed to look like!

The third graders completed their first experiment during my time in Brittney Royal’s class last week.  The students completed a simple experiment that used the old school combination of vinegar and baking soda.  We followed the basic recipe found at eHow.com. However, we increased the amount of each ingredient to cause a larger and more dramatic reaction.

To make this simple experiment more “21st Century” we did the following:

  • The students worked with their teammates to record their hypothesis and conclusions using a GoogleDoc.
  • After the experiments were conducted the students had to use internet resources to research the reaction that they just witnessed.  The students had to enter their individual answers on to the Method27 blog.
  • The students were also challenged with an additional question.  The question would lead them to discover the teams endothermic and exothermic reactions.  Both of which are not covered in the current 3rd Grade curriculum.

 

The Scientific Method

February 1, 2012 /

Today was the beginning of a great extended project, Method27.  The entire project will be focused around matter.  At the conclusion of the project, it is our goal for the students to design experiments that will help others determine if they are dealing with solids, liquids, or gases.  I am working with Brittney Royal, 3rd Grade at Carver Elementary, over the next few weeks on building and modeling 21st Century Skills.  Throughout the lessons the students will be learning how to research, conduct experiments, design experiments, analyze data, and work collaboratively.

Review of Day 1 Activities:

  • Before visiting the classroom I built a website and a series of Google Docs that the students will use to enter the information they find during the research process.  While the groups were determined by the teacher, each group has a leader and the group determined the roles of each member.
  • The students met as a group to come up with a team name and record the members of the group on the GoogleDoc.
  • The students used their group’s GoogleDoc and a set of links [1. Links were given to them to help expedited the initial research period.] to compose the definitions of solids, liquids, and gases.  GoogleDocs allow multiple users to enter information on the same document at the same time.  Google Docs are great for online communication and collaboration.

Next week’s goals:

We will complete our first experiment next week.  We are going to work on making hypotheses and conclusions.  After the experiment is complete, the students will be researching the science behind what took place during the experiment.

Jamestown

January 9, 2012 /

This lesson was done in Cheryl Ives’s 4th grade class at Glen Allen Elementary.  The lesson has been submitted to Henrico 21 for the 2011-2012 school year.  In my opinion, this project is a great example on how to integrate multiple subjects and technology into a lesson.

Summary from Cheryl Ives’s Henrico 21 Lesson Plan:

After completing our studies of Jamestown (VS3a-g), the students were challenged with creating video segments that would cover the topics that were studied in our unit.  The segments covered topics that included John Smith, Christopher Newport’s fleet, and Tobacco.  The students created scripts, that were written in first-person, based on the study materials provided to them and facts that they have discovered while doing their own research.  The students had to find and create props and costumes that will help the audience recognize the topic they were speaking about.  The filming and editing of the final video product was organized and completed by the students in the classroom.  This project allowed the kids be creative and show their personalities in their work while expanding their knowledge of Jamestown.

Click here to download the full lesson plan and the scoring rubric.

Final Video Product:

 

 

Any Questions?- Ethernet Cord

December 15, 2011 /

When I came to Longdale Elementary last week and sat down I found that the ethernet cord that I use was placed in an interesting way. This raised some questions with me, mostly out of curiosity. I brought my Flip camera with me today, and made the following video. Any questions?

Street Art = Hallway Art

December 14, 2011 /

The art teacher at Harvie Elementary, Jordan Flower, has transformed the hallways into a street art exhibit.  The students in multiple grade levels have been learning about Street Art.  Street Art is usually viewed as destructive and “underground”.  However, if you look closely at the work that street artists create, and not so much where it is created, it’s clear that it is art. At last years Oscars, a street artist named Banksy was receiving a lot of attention because of his role in the nominated film Exit Through the Gift Shop.  The film took you on secretive missions to create works on nontraditional canvases around the world.[1. I have watched it 3 times from start to finish.] The students at Harvie are all familiar with street art and graffiti in their communities.  Jordan led them through discussions about art vs. vandalism and the effects, both positive and negative, that can come from street art.

The students at Harvie learned about a couple of different artists and styles, this was a unit studied in Kindergarten through 5th grade.  The 4th graders learned about the art of Kenny Random.  The 4th graders planned and executed a collaborative art piece, based on the work of Kenny Random, that can be found covering the walls of the school. Other pieces of art include arrows based on the work of Above, and a display of graffiti style “tags” of the student’s names.  Below are some images of the pieces around the school as well as Jordan’s lesson plan for the Henrico21 Kenny Random project with 4th grade.

Download the Henrico 21 Lesson Plan

[nggallery id=8]

 

 

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