STEM Lab 23_24 Round 3

We have had another awesome round in the STEM lab. From storytelling with robots to miniature museums, the students have created outstanding projects. 

Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Our youngest Superstars returned to computer programming this round. This time however, there were no screens involved in their coding. Rather, the students wrote programs for a pair of robots; the perennial favorite, Robo-Mouse, and exciting newcomer, Bee-Bot. Students built mazes of increasing complexity for Robo-Mouse to navigate. With the Bee-Bots, students creates sets and costumes and programmed the robot to act out the main events of a story. 

There is a saying of uncertain origin among computer programmers that goes something like this: the good news about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to do, the bad news about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to do. Of all the coding activities I do with students, none evokes the spirit of this aphorism more than this robotics unit. The number of times I have heard some variation of the phrase, "I programmed it right, but it's not working" from the students during robot week is beyond reckoning. However, I do not think any unit in the whole of the STEM Lab curriculum I have created more completely drives home for students the importance of clear, orderly commands when coding than this one. 

2nd Grade

One of the best things about being the STEM lab teacher is the mandate to create learning opportunities that allow students to discover the connections between the different content areas. The Math Stories unit is a favorite of mine for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that thing I miss about being in a regular classroom is getting to teach books on a regular basis. Another one of the reasons is chance to let students play with and explore math concepts which is sadly not a regular part of the standard issue math curriculum. The books I chose for this year's 2nd grade math stories unit were: A Remainder of One, One Hundred Hungry Ants, Grandfather Tang's Story, and Perfect Square. The first 2 titles explore ideas related to multiplication and division while the other two are an opportunity to play with geometry. 

3rd Grade

Third grade also returned to computer programming this round. This was the first half of a two part project that will combine both digital and physical elements. Inspired by my National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship this past summer, students researched an arctic animal, taking notes on its habitat, behaviors, and the challenges it faces. They created a Scratch project to share what they learned from their research using pictures from Britannica and National Geographic to illustrate the facts they included. 

This is the first project that I have the students do in which they use Scratch to create a product with a specific purpose. It is when I teach them to add pictures to their Scratch programs and when they learn about key press events. In the next round they will create a poster about their selected topic and wire it to a Makey Makey that will allow users to control the Scratch project by touching different parts of the poster. When everything is complete they will share their projects with a visiting class and administrators. 

The Scratch projects are in studio that can be viewed here. Please note that some of these are works in progress.

4th Grade

The fourth grade classes wrapped up their biography projects this round and presented their work to visiting 2nd grade classes. Previously the students researched the life and contributions of a chosen historical figure. They had a variety of choices ranging form artists and composers to inventors and scientists. In this round the students put the finishing touches on the Scratch projects they created last time in the lab and built a model of their subject using a plastic bottle, cardboard, and construction paper. At the end of the week they connected their models to their Scratch projects with our old friend Makey Makey and presented their finished products. Not only was I proud of the amazing job the 4th graders did explaining their work to our visitors, but I was so impressed with how the 2nd graders grilled their hosts with questions about the historical figure, the working of the Scratch project, and how the model was constructed. 

5th Grade

The 5th grade also completed the second half of a larger project this round and presented their learning. This project too was inspired by my Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship expedition. Students researched the arctic ecosystem and the issues facing the natural and human communities of the region in the previous round and programmed a digital museum room using Scratch to share what they had learned. In this round they constructed a miniaturized physical version of their digital museum exhibit. The door to this model was wired to a Makey Makey so that opening it triggered the Scratch project to begin narrating the contents of the museum. At the end of the week the students shared their work with visiting first graders and administrators. 

STEM Lab 23_24 Round 2

I have been so busy being amazed by the incredible work the students are doing this round, I just realized that I had yet to write the blog post about it!

Kindergarten & First Grade

This round is one of my personal favorites, Math Stories. In this unit, each day starts with a picture book that centers on some kind of math concept. Some of the books tell stories, while others are more like counting books or math puzzles. Each grade level's books feature a variety of math topics including number sense, geometry, measurement, multiplication, and general problem solving. After the day's reading, students complete a hands-on activity related to the math concept covered in the book. Sometimes the activity is a bit like an art project, other times it is practice employing a particular tools or strategy. What I love about this unit is the chance to pair two subjects (math and literature) that students too often think of as related. 

Second Grade

This past summer I was fortunate to be able to travel with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow to the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard. (You can read more about the particulars of that experience here and here.) This is the first project inspired and informed by my fellowship experience. I have done other iterations of this project before, but this time it was fully centered on the arctic. We started with a photo highlights tour of my time in the arctic. Then students chose one of the arctic animals from a list and researched it using the National Geographic Kids website. Part of the note taking process included drawing the animal and its habitat. Those drawings served as practice for the elements that were included in a Scratch Jr project about the selected animal. Students drew their animal's habitat and several versions of the animal. These drawings were photographed into a Scratch Jr project and coded to share information that students gathered from their research. This is one of the first projects students in the STEM lab complete that combines physical and digital elements and the results were amazing.

Third Grade

A perennial favorite in the lab is cardboard arcade, and this round saw 3rd grade get their chance with this project. Many of the current 3rd graders remember getting to visit the lab in 1st or 2nd grade to play cardboard arcade games and there were cheers from several students in each class when I announced the project for the week. We start by watching the short film Caine's Arcade for inspiration and discussion. Then students begin brainstorming and planning their games in their STEM lab journals. The middle of the week is spent building, testing, and making necessary adjustments to the design. At the end of the week finished products are presented to a visiting group of students from 1st grade along with administrators. These presentations are an important part of the design process in the lab. Sharing their work with an authentic audience gives the students a chance to practice talking about what they have created and what they have learned from the building process. The presentations also serve to inspire the younger students when they see the kinds of projects they will get to do as they progress through the STEM lab curriculum.

Fourth Grade

For the 4th graders, this round was the first half of a 2 part project. The end result will be an interactive biography programmed in Scratch and controlled with a physical display. Part 1 involves researching the life and important contributions of a well known artist or scientist. They had their choice of 11 different people as well as the choice of whether to work alone or with a partner. Once they had completed their research, students moved on to the Scratch project. The programs are run with key press events which will allow them to be controlled in part 2 with the Makey Makey and the physical display. Students had to find 3 relevant images and at least one map to include with their program. We had some great discussions about using images to illustrate the information being shared in the program. In round 2 the students will share their completed projects with a visiting class and administrators. 

The Scratch biographies can be found in this studio. (Some are still works in progress.)

Fifth Grade

Like 4th grade, the 5th graders started work on a two part project. This one is called Tiny Museum. The students conduct research on a chosen topic and use Scratch to create a virtual museum room with artifacts and images that share what they have learned. The project includes a narrator that serves as a digital tour guide to the exhibit they have put together. The topic choices I gave them were inspired by my aforementioned National Geographic fellowship. I wanted them to focus not just on the basic information about the topic, but also the impacts human activities are having on the arctic ecosystem. The second part of their project will have them building a physical model of their museum room and wiring a switch to the door that triggers the tour guide to start start speaking upon the door opening. 

Here is the studio of virtual museum rooms. (The projects at the top of the studio are very much works in progress because our 5th graders went to camp the last week of the round, so they only had 2 days to work on their programs.)

What We Have Been Up To In the STEM Lab

 What a year it has been thus far in the STEM Lab. Despite my best intentions to keep up with this blog, the fast pace brought on by 1 week rotations (rather than 2 week), and the challenges of teaching both in person and virtual students simultaneously, defeated me.

We have been busy as usual in the lab (which is to say on a cart that I have been pushing around the school since October). Here's the short version of what has been going on with the STEM Lab.

Computer programming

As always, developing computer programming skills is an important element of our practice. Coding helps build critical problem solving and algorithmic thinking strategies. My approach in the lab places equal emphasis on instilling a sense of creative confidence in the students. I want them to thinking of programming not as an activity, but as a tool they can employ to share their learning and express their ideas. 

Kindergarten, first, and second grades have been using Code.org and Scrach Jr while the third through fifth graders have been using Scratch. 

Math Stories and Math Art Challenges

Kindergarten and first grade recently finished up an unit on math stories. Each day we read a book that combined literature and a math concept. Following the book students completed a an activity related to the book's theme. 

Earlier in the year, all of the students in Kindergarten through fifth grade enjoyed a unit of math art challenges. This unit was a playful exploration of the connections between mathematics and art. We looked at elements of geometry and probability along with patterns. Most of the math art challenges were adapted from a project maintained by Annie Perkins on her website: #MathArtChallenge. Many of these are geared towards middle and high school math students, but there are several that work for elementary students.

Skype-a-Scientist and Research Projects

One of my favorite additions to the STEM lab over the last couple of years is Skype-a-Scientist. This organization matches K-12 educators with scientists working in a variety of fields. This gives students the opportunity to have a conversation with (as many say) "a real live scientist". They learn about the diversity of careers paths in the sciences and see that science is open to people of all backgrounds. Over the years we have spoken with ecologists, biologists, paleontologists, speleologists, and more. We have met people from the USA, UK, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, and Brazil. 

I incorporate Skype-a-Scientist meetings as part of projects that have students researching and sharing their learning. This year so far all of second (learning about food webs) and third grade (coral reef ecology) have had scientist meetings. By the time spring break gets hear, fifth grade (cartography) will be part of that list as well. Going forward, fourth and first will have their turns.

Building

One activity that has fallen by the wayside during the pandemic is physical building and making. The projects cannot involve materials that are not common household items and for the in person students, they have to be simple enough that students can complete them independently. Then there was the issue of being on a cart and necessity that the materials be easy to move between classes.

Second grade is currently completing a project in which they are building 3D models of animals by combining 2D slotted cardboard pieces. The last day of the project has them mix up their pieces to create fantasy animals that they name and describe for science.

This has certainly been the strangest of school years. I am excited nonetheless about the projects I have planned for the rest of the year. Check back soon to see what we work on next.

I, Robo-Mouse

It's a new year and the beginning of a new rotation in the STEM Lab. The third grading cycle finds our Kindergarten and first grade students discovering the joys of programming robots with our old friend, Robo-Mouse.

This is Kindergarten's first robotics experience in the lab. It builds on the introduction they had earlier in the year to computer programming via Code.org and Scratch Jr. The first day involves an overview of the proper care and handling of the robots. The Robo-Mouse is quite affordable, but it is not terribly robust and the axles can be stripped a little too easily if students are too rough. Over the years I glad to say we have only lost a few robots to this kind of abuse. Following a brief introduction, students break into groups of 2 or 3 and build mazes and practice programming.

After an exploration day, the students spend a day working with the challenge cards. These two-sided card have a drawing of a maze showing the position of the mouse and the cheese as well as the walls and tunnels. Part of the challenge for students is cooperatively building the maze according to the picture on the card. Once the maze is assembled, the teams work on the programming. The biggest stumbling block I have found in the transition from the Code.org puzzles to Robo-Mouse is that with the robot a turn and a move requires two commands. In the Code.org puzzles, at the Kindergarten and 1st grade levels, students only program movements. Turns as separate commands are not introduced until the 2nd grade.

Once students are comfortable with programming the Robo-Mouse, I introduce them to the algorithm cards. These cards have arrows corresponding to the buttons on the robot that are used for writing programs. Continuing to use the challenge cards, students have the added task of creating their algorithm using the those cards and then programming it into the robot. This helps the teams debug their programs as them can follow along step-by-step and identify where they went wrong.

For 1st grade, the unit begins in a similar fashion, with an introduction to the proper handling and a review of the programming. This is partly because it has been about a year since most of the students used Robo-Mouse, and partly because there are inevitably a few students in each class who are new to Sinclair and have no prior experience with robotics.

They too get a few days to explore and then to practice with the more complex challenge cards. First grade also reviews the use of the algorithm cards. As the students become more comfortable with programming the robot, they seem to become less interested in using the algorithm cards to show their work. I keep on them about it though as it forces them to check and recheck their programs. Otherwise their programming successes look more like trial and error rather than a result of deliberate choices.

The 1st grade only spends a couple of days on the challenge cards. Their real project for this unit is to use the Robo-Mouse as part of a story retell. Students create a story map of a tale of a familiar tale. They then illustrate the important points in the story and place these along a path that they build for the robot. The robot gets programmed to move along the path and as it passes each illustration, the students recount that moment in the story. I model every part of this process using a book that I read to them at the beginning of this phase of the unit. This year I have been using I Want My Hat Back by John Klassen. The story the students have been retelling this year is The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. In most things I give the students choices about this kind of thing, but I have found that for this kind of project, with 1st graders, a choice of stories leads to overly ambitious choices and students do not have enough time to complete the story they want to tell.

So far this rotation, the best thing I have overheard is a couple of first graders struggling with a particularly complex maze of their own design. The student whose turn it was to program groaned, "Ugh! This is so hard!". Their partner agreed, "Yeah, it is," and then added, "but it's fun too." The first student replied, "Yeah, I know" and then they both went back to work debugging their program.

Once Upon a Time... Math

One of the many things I love about teaching in the STEM Lab is helping students make connections across the curriculum. STEM, STEAM, STREAM, whichever acronym you prefer, are all, at their core, about breaking down the walls of the "knowledge zoo" that school sometimes feels like. That is the mindset, unfortunately increasingly prevalent the higher up one goes in the elementary grade levels, that these 90 minutes are for math, not literature, not writing, not science. The next 90 minutes are for another subject in isolation, and so is the next 90, and so on. It is not a realistic model of how anyone uses their learning for an actual purpose. Just about everything everyone does, cooking, assembling furniture, planning a day trip, etc. draws on knowledge from across disciplines that are made for the most part to inhabit lonely cages in a school setting. The STEM Lab is the Serengeti where learning from all subjects roams free.

This rotation in the lab, kindergarten and first grade are being introduced to various math concepts through literature. I have done similar units in years past, but each time the books change, sometimes even from one class to the next. I do my best to avoid the types of contrived stories written by textbook companies. Children can tell the stories are phony and they generally are painfully dull.

I will not launch into a detailed description of each book involved in this unit. I will however share a few of my favorites.

Inch by Inch by Leo Leoni. This one is about a clever inchworm who uses his ability to measure and his wits to avoid being eaten by birds. After reading, the students practice measuring classroom objects with inch tiles and record their data on a table. What I especially love about reading this is that the book also illustrates a number of bird adaptations. We discuss why a flamingo has a long neck and a bill like a shovel and why a hummingbird has such a long and pointy bill.

The King's Commissioners by Aileen Friedman and Susan Guevara. In this book, a king decides that he ought to know how many royal commissioners he has appointed. With some help from the Royal Advisors and the Princess, each employing a different method of skip counting, the total number of commissioners is found. The students are already familiar with the concept of skip counting and know that it is a way of arriving at a total more quickly. What I like about this story is that it illustrates how one handles skip counting when there are "left over" items that are not enough to make another group. When we finish reading, students practice making different sized groups with inch tiles, counting them by the group size, and then adding in the left overs to get the total number.

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns. This is the story of a triangle who gets tired of doing the "same old things" that a triangle does, namely being roofs for houses, sails for sailboats, supports for bridges, and so on. The triangle decides to visit the Shapeshifter and asks for another side and another angle to make his life "more interesting". The request is granted and, now a quadrilateral, the shape enjoys being books, movie screens, floor tiles, and much more. Eventually though, the shape becomes bored being a quadrilateral, and returns to the Shapeshifter for another side and angle. The pattern continues, the shape is happy for a while as a pentagon, then a hexagon, and on and on, but always goes back to the Shapeshifter for another side and angle, and another, and another. Fortunately, the shape realizes that more sides and angles is not the answer to its dissatisfaction. This book is a great way to introduce students to the concept of shapes being named by the number of sides and angles they have, not by what they look like. The sooner students learn that there is no such shape as a diamond or a house, the better. Following the story, students use pattern blocks to create colorful pictures like those from the book.

I'll stop there, but I really could go on and on. I love this unit so much because of all the math, science, literature, and art that fit so naturally within it.