Winding Down This Most Peculiar Year

My best intentions for keeping a schedule of posting have come to naught under the weight of other digital responsibilities. That is not to say however that we have been idle in the STEM Lab. Quite the contrary, we have been designing, programming, and building up a storm. 

So here is the short version of what the various grade levels have been up to these last couple of months. 

Kindergarten & 1st grade

We spent several weeks exploring the nature to be found on campus. Students used their senses (not taste) to make and record observations about the living and non-living natural things they saw. We walked around campus noting the different types of trees, the birds, and even visited the habitat to see the pond. One of the most exciting things was getting to monitor the progress of a robin nest in a crepe myrtle outside one of the kindergarten classrooms. We made leaf rubbings and created pictures using natural materials as well.

The next unit was a return to computer programming. However, the focus this time was on creative computing rather than solving puzzles as we do in Code.org. We used the language Scratch Jr. for its ease of use. Each class began with a guided lesson followed by an independent practice challenge. Once students had completed the challenge they were invited to create their own programs with self designed characters and backgrounds. One of my main goals for the lab is that students see computer programming as a tool for self expression and sharing their learning. I start teaching them that lesson early and I am endlessly impressed with their creativity.

2nd grade

One of my favorite things to do with my second graders is to introduce them the "real" Scratch. Most of them have been using Scratch Jr. since kindergarten and stepping up to the full version make them feel like they are now the big kids. This was a 2 part unit (on account of the fact that I only have one week with the class rather than two. The first week was guided practice using the various commands and relating them to the Scratch Jr platform that they are familiar with. The second week involved planning and then programming an "All About Me" project in which clicking each letter of their name shared something about them.

Second grade's final unit of the year is, like their introduction to Scratch, about preparing for next year's STEM Lab projects. This one aims to develop the students' cardboard engineering skills. In the lab, our primary building material is cardboard. It is plentiful, easy to work with, and sturdy enough to build large structures. The students practiced constructing models using L-braces, flanges, and slotted pieces before combining these methods into a stabile. I have discovered that most students do not know how to effectively use liquid glue, so that is another one of the goals of this unit.

3rd Grade

The third graders also experienced a 2 part unit, this one involving the BBC Micro:bit device. This is a microcontroller that students program using a block-based language called MakeCode. The first week was spent becoming familiar with the various inputs and outputs found in the Micro:bit. The primary inputs students learned to use are buttons, the accelerometer (tilt sensor), and the I/O pins. They used these inputs to trigger outputs to the 5x5 LED screen and sound effects played through an add-on speaker board. The next time they visited the lab, students built a model animal with cardboard and construction paper and incorporated a Micro:bit running a program of their own creation to make their animal interactive.

The last 3rd grade STEM Lab unit was an introduction to the concept of "broadcasts" in Scratch. A broadcast sends messages between different elements of a program allowing the students to coordinate their these elements to create projects of greater complexity. Here are a couple examples.

4th grade

Our 4th graders spent a few extra units on Scratch this year. We were involved in piloting lessons and activities put together by the Creative Computing Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. These projects seek to develop students' coding skills while also developing their creative confidence. One of my overarching goals in the lab has always been to make students comfortable with open-ended tasks with many possible solutions. The general emphasis on standardized test results tends education toward standardized answers. Students display this training by point at whatever they are working on and asking, "Like this?".  A collection of the projects they created for these units can be found here: When Clicked, Broadcasts, Ask & Answer. 

After so much computer programming we took a break to do some purely physical making. This was the "biography bottles" research project. Students researched an important figure from the sciences. They then built a model of that person with plastic bottles, cardboard, and construction paper. They completed their display with a timeline of significant dates in that person's life and a notecard detailing their contributions and accomplishments.

The 4th grade is finishing the year setting up a project for next year when they are in 5th grade. My wife is also an elementary STEM lab teacher (at another school of course) and in 2020 we were awarded a summer study grant from Fund for Teachers, an organization that funds self designed professional development experiences for teachers. Our grant will help us visit the Galapagos Islands to create a model GeoInquiry project based on the framework created by National Geographic. This type of project engages students in geographic thinking and encourages them to take action to improve their communities. Students have been researching things to see and study in the Galapagos and will begin writing questions for us to ask the naturalists and guides we meet with on our expedition.

5th grade

My 5th grade students are often "asked" to be a beta testing group for new STEM lab units and this year is no different. Related to the aforementioned GeoInquiry project related to the Galapagos, I want to include GIS mapping next year when we review the data related to our expedition. Never having used this kind of technology with students, I wanted a test drive. I find 5th graders to be brutally honest about what works and what does not when given the chance (and when they trust the teacher enough to be honest with them). We worked with a number of resources including surveys and map explorations. I am extremely grateful for the feedback the students provided. Another part of this unit was a set of Skype-a-Scientist meetings. They facilitate connections between scientists in a variety of fields and classroom teachers. 

The 5th grade finished the year with a couple units based on art. In the first they used their skills in Scratch to "hack" a famous work of art. The result is a painting that one can interact with by clicking the different parts. Here are a couple examples: 

The other art-meets-programming project used Turtle Art, a language based on Logo that allowed students to draw with code. This drew (haha) not just on their knowledge of coding, but on their geometry skills as well. I was quite impressed with the things they were able to make.

So there you have it, everything we have been up to the last few months. It is certainly been a strange and taxing roller coaster of a year and I certainly hope that the 2021-2022 school year will be a bit more normal. 

Check here for updates on the Galapagos expedition.

Have a wonderful summer!

Digital Dioramas and Skype-a-Scientist

This rotation in the STEM lab has the second grade taking their first steps into combining physical elements with digital ones to create projects. In my almost entirely self-designed curriculum, this kind of fusion is the ultimate goal for the students I work with. 

The students began by selecting an animal to research using the National Geographic Kids page about different species of animals. I let them explore an bit before choosing and starting to take notes in their journals. They also selected partners for this project. I provided the students with a list of facts that they needed to read for and record in their notes, but also encouraged them to include any information that they found especially interesting. Required information included what their animal eats, where it is found, and what threats it faces. We discussed how threats may be natural (predators) or human-caused (habitat loss/ poaching). Finally, they drew a picture of their chosen animal and its habitat in their journals.

Next, the teams worked together to create detailed drawings of their subject animal, its food, and its habitats. They cut out their pictures and practiced animating how they would move around in a Scratch Jr. project. Students used the camera function to photograph the pictures they drew of the habitats as backgrounds. They also added photos of their animal drawings as well as drawings of what it eats and the threats it faces.

Finally, the students programmed their hand-drawn characters to move around and to share facts they gathered through their research. This process was a great opportunity for me to teach the students about a number of different computer science concepts. They are already familiar with the primary event block in the Scratch Jr language, the Green Flag. This event is a general purpose "go" to all of the characters students have added to their programs. However, most of the teams discovered that the Green Flag event has its limitations because it makes everything move at once. When they wanted different characters to move and speak at different times I showed them the messaging events. When they wanted a prey animal to disappear after being eaten, I was able to show them the uses of the "when characters touch" event which is the beginning of understanding conditionals. 

We finished the unit by having each student team share their work on the SMART Board so they could practice providing each other feedback.

Another element of this unit that I personally find super exciting is our video chat with a scientist. This is facilitated by Skype-a-Scientist, a program that matches classrooms with scientists working in a variety of fields. Skype-a-Scientist connects teachers and scientists and they coordinate the scheduling of a video call. This program lets students see and engage with "actual living scientists" who were once sitting in a classroom as they are now. Each class gets to speak to a different scientist with a different area of study, so each conversation is unique. The first group spoke with a conservation biologist in Seattle, and the second group will be speaking with a geologist from the UK. Skype-a-Scientist is a non-profit run by Dr. Sarah McAnulty. I am proud to support this program with a monthly donation, and I would encourage our Sinclair Elementary families, and anyone else who cares about supporting science education to do the same at patreon.com. 

Programming Art

I have wanted to do a unit focused on programming and the arts for a while now, and the redesign of Scratch unveiled earlier this year gave me the perfect opportunity. Since this is the first rotation of the year, we started with a day of exploration in Scratch as many students have not used the platform since last school year. While students reacquainted themselves with Scratch, I made sure that everyone had their login information in their journals.

Over the next two days, students used two different tutorials that I designed to introduce them to the Pen and Music extensions in Scratch. If you would like to look them over, here they are: Pen and Music. These begin with how to add the extension blocks and an overview of how they work. There are a few starter scripts followed by suggestions for tinkering with the code. Each tutorial ends with a couple of reflection questions which students respond to in their journals. It was wonderful to hear the students' excitement as they discovered new visual and sonic effects during their explorations.

An important element of the Scratch online community it the ability for students to "remix" projects created by others. They are able to, in effect, look under the hood of a program and take it apart to see how it works. They can experiment with making changes to the code and determine the effects of those changes. I directed the students to a Scratch studio (link below) called "Interactive Music and Drawing" and specifically to a pair of projects that I created using the two extensions. They were instructed to try both projects, then to choose one to remix. I loved seeing the creative variations students created. Some students invented new rhythms, others added more characters that draw different shapes or patterns. I may be projecting a little bit, but I feel like this group's willingness to go their own directions and to follow their own interests is a consequence of having started visiting the lab in kindergarten. That's 4 years of being instilled with the idea that in this space their creativity is encouraged, valued, and celebrated.

The final project for this unit was a challenge to create an original Scratch project (as opposed to a remix) that uses both the pen and the music extensions. The only additional parameters were that they needed to include several key press events that allow the user to control some elements of the program. This could be changing the tempo or the instrument playing. It could be changing the color of the pen or the direction of the sprites. Students with a more musical bent were free to follow that interest, while the visual artists went that way. I encouraged them to return to the tutorials if they needed inspiration or to be reminded of how to create a certain effect. Some students chose to work with a partner and some worked independently. I have been impressed with how well the teams have divided the labor between themselves.

After a few days to work, students shared their projects and added them to the studio. They reflected in their journals on their work thinking about what they are proudest of, and what they think they could improve. Finally, students explored the studio trying each other's projects as well as projects created by students from the classes who have already been through the lab this grading cycle. This gave them the chance to see the ideas of others and to practice good digital citizenship skills by leaving helpful comments for each other.

Here is the link to the studio where students have been sharing their artistic wonders. The last rotation ends the 3rd week of October, so more projects will be added as new classes complete their work. Check back to see what they have made!