Mr. Quentin's Center for Advanced Awesomeness
The official blog of the Sinclair Elementary STEM Lab
Thursday, February 27, 2025
STEM Lab 24_25 Round 5
Thursday, January 16, 2025
STEM Lab 24_25 Round 4
It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of Round 4 in the STEM Lab, but here we are. Things got a little scrambled in 2nd a 4th grades on account of my having to be out for a few days during the first week of this round. Not to worry though, because those classes did the round 5 project that week, and they will do the round 4 project during the first week of round 5. Now let's dive into the amazing work the students did...
Kindergarten & 1st Grade
In this round our Kinder and 1st graders went unplugged and learned to make several origami models. For most of the Kinder students, this was their first experience with origami. We discussed the origins of the art in Japan and looked at a map to see where Japan is in relation to Houston. In Japanese "origami" means "folded paper". We likened the steps of creating origami models to the steps we follow when writing computer programs.
Most of the first grade students did an origami unit with me when they were in kindergarten, and a great many of them remembered how to make the models we learned then. We reviewed the vocabulary for the unit and the different types of folds. The models I introduced them to this year were a bit more challenging, but with some practice everyone succeeded in completing them.
All of the paper we use for this unit is standard rectangular copier paper that I chop into squares with the paper cutter. This leaves me with hundreds of 2.5" by 8.5" strips of paper that I cannot bear to just throw away. So each year, the origami unit also includes a day of 2-frame animations. I love the origami part of this unit, but I love this part even more because of the outstandingly creative animations the students make. The highlight reel below is just a small sample.
2nd Grade
One of the many drawbacks of not teaching in my own room so far this year has been not having the full complement of tools that I am accustomed to using. We felt that lack pretty keenly during this 2nd grade project, creating an animated story retell in Scratch Jr. The 2nd grade Chromebooks do not have Scratch Jr and I am not able to cart enough devices out the 2nd grade buildings. It is not a huge problem, but I do not like having to force partnerships on creative projects if it can be avoided. Fortunately we managed without any major issues.
The project started with a story map on which students sketched out the beginning, middle, and end of their chosen story. They also planned how they would draw the settings and characters, and wrote out the dialogue. Most groups chose books they have read or had read to them, but some created original stories. This is the most involved project they have ever done in Scratch Jr, and the process of planning, coding, and debugging mirrors what they will be doing in their 3rd through 5th grade projects.
3rd Grade
We took a break from the science themed Scratch projects started in round 3 and explored some of the extensions available in Scratch this round. (We will return to the science projects in round 5.) Extensions are additional sets of command blocks with a particular function. In this round, students experimented with the pen and music extensions. The pen blocks turn sprites into drawing tools that make marks on the background as they move. The music blocks allow students to compose drum beats, rhythms, melodies in their projects. The first 2 days of the week students had a getting started guide for each extension and had some time to explore. The rest of the week had students creating an original project incorporating both extensions. There is so much amazing, all of which can be seen in the studio.
4th Grade
In the last round, the 4th grade researched the life and work of an important artist or scientist. They created a Scratch project to share what they learned.
In normal times, this round would have students constructing a 3D model of their chosen person that functions as an interactive display when combined with the Makey Makey. Alas, these are not normal times and I was forced to turn the building part of this project into an interactive poster. This annoys me because most of these students made an interactive poster in 3rd grade and I despise having to recycle projects.
Anyway... the posters looked great and the students did a wonderful job of presenting their work to visiting 1st grade classes and administrators. See below for a highlight reel.
5th Grade
This round was the first of a 2 part project. The students chose a research topic, took notes on their topic, and then created a virtual museum display to share what they learned. Students selected a few objects for their display that best help to illustrate to most important elements of the topic. The Scratch project was coded in such a way that the display has a digital narrator that explains each objects and shares information. The projects can be seen in the studio, but some are works in progress at this point thanks to short weeks, testing, absences, etc. We will return to these in round 6 to finish coding, build and interactive physical display, and to present to a visiting class. In the meantime, you can check out the works in progress in the studio.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
STEM Lab 24_25 Round 3
The mobile STEM Lab rolls on... Round 3 saw the primary grades build their creative coding skills by creating projects in Scratch Jr. Meanwhile, the middle grade worked on various research projects. Second grade's final product was physical, while 3rd and 4th made Scratch projects to share their learning. The fifth graders put their creative coding skills to the test using Scratch to make a still image interactive.
Kindergarten & First Grade
As you know, Kindergarten and 1st grade started the year with a unit of Code.org programming puzzles. Code.org is a great way to introduce students to computer programming concepts, but it is lacking in opportunities for creative self expression. Fortunately we have Scratch Jr which is a perfect creative complement to Code.org's structure.
Each lesson started with a guided coding activity allowing students to practice with the day's concept. In Kindergarten we covered different kinds of events and motions. We also used various control commands to change how fast our characters moved and to change from one scene to the next. The first graders reviewed some of the things they learned last year before moving on to events like "bump" and the messages. We also used loops to make our code more efficient. After the guided portion of the lesson, students were tasked with adding something to their project using the command or concept we had practiced. They were allowed to add whatever they wanted, so long as it included the requisite code. Once a student successfully demonstrated their code, they were allowed what we termed "creative time". During this portion of the lesson students were able to further explore and experiment in Scratch Jr. Each day I was impressed with the joyful creativity students put into their work. They drew their own characters and backgrounds and were playful engaged in creating personally meaningful projects with code.
Second Grade
In the STEM lab, 2nd grade is a year of transition. They move from lessons and projects that are geared towards practicing skills like programming and building to projects in which they have to apply those skills in the creation of a product that shares their learning or demonstrates an original application of those skills. This round's project for 2nd grade involved research on a few self-selected animals and the creation of a set of animal fact cards. The students used National Geographic Kids Animals as their main resource. They read about the animals and synthesized what they learned. For each animal they used an oversized notecard, writing facts on one side and drawing a picture of the animal on the other side.
Another activity from this round was Skype-a-Scientist. They match classrooms with scientists from a variety of disciplines for a live meeting. The students have to opportunity to ask questions not only about the scientist's field of study, but about what it is like being a scientist. Mr. Spencer's class spoke to an entomologist studying food webs. Ms. Foley's class got to talk to an ecologist working on kelp forest habitats in southern California. Ms. Muguerza's, Ms. Elder's, and Ms. Stano's classes got to talk to a researcher studying whale and seal evolution. Each talk was a bit different as students asked their own questions which guided the discussion, but in every case we had a great time and learned so much!
Third Grade
We returned to Scratch this round in third grade and made a start on a project that will have two parts. The first part has the students selecting a 3rd grade science topic from a curated list and doing some research. They used Brain Pop and Britannica School as their main resources and took notes about their chosen topic in their journals. Once their research was complete they created a Scratch project designed to share their learning with students from a lower grade. The students learned how to add pictures to their Scratch projects and used key press events to start different parts of the program running.
In the new year, the students will create a physical display to complement the Scratch project. This will be connected to the computer with an i/o board called Makey Makey. This makes the physical display a controller for the digital presentation. The Scratch projects can be viewed in this studio. (FYI, some of the projects are still works in progress.)
Fourth Grade
The 4th grade project for this round is similar to 3rd grade's. However, the theme is biographies rather than science. The students chose an important person from a given list of artists and scientists and researched both the "when and where" of that person's life, as well as the "what they did and why it is important" part. They used a variety of resources to inform their work and, aside from some basic requirements, had free rein over the design of the Scratch project. Like 3rd grade, in a later round they will create a physical display piece that will function as an interactive controller to run the Scratch project for a visiting class of lower grade students. The work in progress Scratch biographies can be found in this studio.
Fifth Grade
This round's 5th grade project is one of my favorites, Hacking Fine Art. Students use the image editing tools in Scratch to take a famous work of art and make it interactive. They had a Google folder with several paintings to choose from, including works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Leger, and others. The first step is to upload the painting into Scratch as the background of the project. After selecting which parts of the painting they want to make interactive, the students uploaded their chosen image, this time as a sprite, and erased all but the part intended to be clicked on. They positioned this sprite exactly over the corresponding part of the background image, hiding it in plain sight. Using the "when this sprite clicked" event, students created a wide ranging variety of highly creative effects. The full collection is in this studio. Some of the projects are from the week that 5th grade went to camp, so those are going to be a bit less complete than the other projects the studio.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
STEM Lab 24_25 Round 2
The limitations imposed by cart-based STEM Lab notwithstanding, a whole lot of great things got done in Round 2! In Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades it was time for math stories. Third grade got started with physical computing on the micro:bit. Meanwhile, 4th and 5th grades designed video games with MakeCode Arcade and presented their work to a visiting class and administrators.
Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grades
I am not sure how long I have been doing the math stories unit, but literature has been part of the STEM Lab since its inception. Mostly that is because I have always loved teaching books, but a part of that is a revolt against the isolation of subjects from one another that is lamentably common in schools these days. STEM is about teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a way that helps students discover the natural connections between these disciplines. In Sinclair's lab STEM is connected with subjects like literature, history, fine arts, and anything else I can think of.
During this unit, each class starts with a book in which some math concept or another is central to the story. I read the story pausing frequently to ask the students guiding questions and to have them discuss their wonderings and ideas about the book. When the story ends students complete an activity related to the math concept of the day. Sometimes this takes the form of a number puzzle, while at other times it looks more like an art project. There are also times when it is more of a guided exploration. In any case, the goal is for students to play with the math in question without worrying about finding one right answer, or the "right way" to get to an answer.
Here are the books we read this week, by grade level:
Kindergarten: Rooster's Off To See the World, Two of Everything, Inch By Inch, Circle.
1st grade: The Greedy Triangle, How Big is a Foot?, One Gorilla, Math-terpieces.
2nd grade: Remainder of One, 100 Hungry Ants, The King's Commissioners, Perfect Square.
3rd Grade
In this round the 3rd graders were introduced to physical computing with a microcontroller called micro:bit. The students learned the difference between an input and an output. The micro:bit's inputs include buttons, an accelerometer, and sensors for light, temperature and sound. The outputs include a 5x5 LED array that can show images and scroll text, and a tiny speaker that can play sounds. It also has a set of input/output pins that allow the micro:bit to connect to other hardware. The first part of the week had short daily code-alongs followed by time for students to explore the micro:bit's capabilities and tinker with their code. At the end of the week students made a 2D model animal of their choosing and wrote a micro:bit program to make their creation interactive. We called the project "Micro:pet". When the STEM Lab was a room rather than a state of mind, this project involved a lot more cardboard, construction paper, and glue and the animals were far more elaborate. However, we adapted and the students made some wonderful things.
4th and 5th Grades
In round 1 this year the 4th and 5th graders created games that could be played on the micro:bit using the Microsoft MakeCode language. In this unit the students built upon the skills they learned last time and used the MakeCode Arcade platform to create games of greater complexity with vastly superior graphics. Students started by choosing an introductory skillmap (collection of tutorials aimed at creating a single project) to complete. As they worked through the steps they learned how to add characters of different kinds, how to make them move, how to animate them, and used conditionals to code how they behave when they overlap with other objects on screen. The students were encouraged to tinker with the code to personalize the project and to add elements they thought would improve the game.
With their first project complete, the students chose another skillmap to form the basis of their final product. Students were allowed to work independently or in teams of two. They worked through their chosen project guide and adapted the elements as they went. Some groups created original themes for their games or composed background music and sound effects. Most of the games ended up with a variety of power ups or more challenging enemies. I was really impressed with the creativity on display and the perseverance students showed when faced with challenges. At the end of the week the students presented their work to a visiting class and they all did a wonderful job talking about what they made. (During the 3 day week students shared their work with their peers in class.)
Sunday, September 8, 2024
STEM Lab 24_25 Round 1
Alas... this is not how I had hoped the year would start. The STEM Lab has been relegated to a cart for the foreseeable future. That puts some serious constraints on the kinds of projects we are able to do. However, we will not let the cart life keep us ,down and the year is off to a fantastic start with lots of creative coding projects across the grade levels.
Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grades
As usual, the primary grades started with Code.org activities this year. I have found that this is an excellent way to refresh the memories of returning students, and the best introduction to computer programming for students who are new to Sinclair. Over the course of the week students work on various coding puzzles in the online courses, as well as complete some unplugged activities, to develop their algorithmic thinking skills. In normal times Friday is usually reserved for a building challenge, but as that would require moving a whole bunch of stuff, I have changed that to a Scratch Jr coding challenge for the time being. I read the students a book and then presented them with an open-ended prompt. While Code.org serves to teach the students particular programming skills, Scratch Jr allows them to explore the creative possibilities of computer coding.
3rd Grade
At the end of 2nd grade I begin to transition the students from Scratch Jr, which is designed for emerging readers, to the full version of Scratch. At that time they worked in the offline version so that I could be certain that they stayed focused on the tasks at hand rather than getting lost in the wonderland that is the Scratch online community. At the start of third grade the students are introduced to the online version of Scratch. They log into their accounts, learn how to share projects with appropriate documentation, and they practice giving meaningful project feedback to their peers. The week's project centers on the concept of "parallelism" which is when multiple things are happening at the same time in a program. It is a simple prompt that is completely open-ended so students have a chance to be highly creative. You can check out the project studio here.
4th and 5th Grades
This past June I attended an online workshop hosted by Chris Lovell, a brilliant computer science teacher in the UK. Mr. Lovell's specialty is creating retro games and student guides for the BBC micro:bit microcontroller. In the workshop we were guided through the process of coding these games and playing them on the micro:bit. I was honestly a bit shocked to see how easily such games could be created and knew that I wanted to try these with the students this year. I introduce our students to the micro:bit in 3rd grade, so the majority of this year's 4th and 5th graders are familiar with it.
As expected, the students were super excited about this unit. The student coding guides Mr. Lovell has created are so accessible that even students who are new to Sinclair, and have little to no prior coding experience, have had no trouble getting started. First we made a game together, code-a-long style. When that was complete according to the game guide, I challenged the students to customize their game. They came up with with several amazing additions: increased difficulty , more obstacles, faster enemies, sound effects, game over music, and more. For the last part of the week students chose another game to create and customize from among the other guides. I really loved seeing them all start from the same place and end up with such different final products.
The guides so generously shared by Mr. Lovell can be found here.