Using the Cricut Vinyl Cutter

Upper School art teacher Nicole Stone offered a workshop during ecobash to help students create vinyl stickers for their reusable water bottles. A lot of water bottles look alike, so she thought students might enjoy the chance to personalize them with a sticker.

Ms. Stone went to a workshop at MIT last fall that helped her learn how to use the vinyl cutter. This one is a "cricut" model, and can cut a variety of materials. The computer interface is very user-friendly.

US French Students Create Audio Gallery Using Vocaroo

When Upper School French teachers Cécile Roucher-Greenberg and Candie Sanderson began outlining plans for the museum gallery of French artists that their AP class puts together each year, they were hoping to find a twist to enhance the project.

"Candie was terrific and found 'Vocaroo,' a website that let students record their voice, save it on the internet, and use a QR code for others to listen to with any cell phone QR reader app," Roucher-Ggreenberg explains.

The result was an audio-guide to comment on the various French arts displayed in the two teachers' classrooms.

"Each student chose a piece of art, recorded a comment/analysis, printed the QR code and brought it to class along with a print/reproduction of the chosen art."

Students from all French levels enjoyed the experience, roaming the classroom "galerie," scanning the QR codes, and experiencing a peer-led exposition of the art via their phones or mobile devices. 

US Sophomores Create Podcasts in English Class

Ms. Bonsey's students created a new podcast on anchor.fm where they have posted a series of podcasts that discuss the books they've read.  You can see all the episodes here (to listen to it through a web browser), or you can download the free Anchor app to listen to it on your phone.

Here are a few of the episodes:

Show Notes: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G772hbcygO760SRTCM9nKnnCiiHCasT1P3LzX_tIfsw/edit?usp=sharing

US Film Students Draw With Light

Upper School students in Mr. Gaines film & video course recently produced a series of still images in which they used shutter speed effects and Adobe software to draw with light. These images are currently on display as large prints in the hallway adjacent to the theater...

Launch Grant: The Bible and Bookmaking Technology

Upper School teacher Zoe Balaconis did an interesting launch grant with her Sophomore English class:

In Sophomore year, students are required to read excerpts from The Hebrew Bible so that they gain a foundational understanding of a canonical text. While The Bible is exciting for literary and religious reasons, the language often fails to hook students' imaginations and they lose out on the historical weight of the document itself. I plan to use the Tech Launch Grant to create a unit exploring the ancient technology of our first books and compare it to modern technological advances. Not only would we be able to visit the Harvard Library's copy of the Gutenberg Bible, but we'd compare that printing technology to other cultures' oldest texts. Furthermore, we'd be able to use laser-cutting technology to create letterpress blocks to print our own original texts. It is my hope that this more experiential exploration of the physical nature of books will give students more of an appreciation of the trajectory—both from the past and forward in time—of the written word.

 In addition to reading The Hebrew Bible, the Sophomores delved into the history of printing, translating, and disseminating the text—but didn't stop at a survey of its historical timeline. With the expert guidance of Ms. Tangusso and Dr. Patel, groups of students chose passages they wanted to try their hand at mass producing, and, using a variety of printing methods, set about to putting them on paper. Some experimented with letterpress while others made stamps while others researched digital font design. At the end of our unit we had a more interdisciplinary understanding not only of the text's significance, but also the significance of the technology it galvanized. The way that we consume media continues to evolve, and it was eye-opening to examine and attempt to recreate a moment of that story.

Launch Grant: Peer Feedback in Upper School Biology Class

Upper School science teacher Amanda Borking did a launch grant this year to explore the use of peer feedback through the PowerSchool class website. Students used the wiki-pages feature of PowerSchool to post content. They uploaded work there (such as this drawing of a chemistry example) and then used discussion boards to discuss their work. They also recorded and uploaded videos to add a more personal means of communication asynchronously.

In this example, students made a cartoon strip to illustrate chemical bonding.  

A few examples of peer feedback comments posted to the discussion board:

"When looking at their fairytale I really like how they represented the loss and gain of electrons by using shoes, I thought that was a really smart way to show this action. One part that was a little unclear was which atoms were bonding was which ones, I didn't figure it out until the end when you drew the final solution/equation. So in the future I would just write which atoms each ones are just to clarify. Secondly, another way to improve your fairytale might be to use more of the scientific words we learned such as ionic bond, valance electrons, intramolecular bonds, etc to relate your fairytale more to what we have been learning in class."

"I really liked their representation of how the two Chlorine atoms get the one needed magnesium electron. I think that perhaps they could have used more vocabulary such as non-metals and metals, or ionic or other words to describe what kind of reaction is taking place. I think that they could have also added a more scientific picture of what the atoms would looks like when they had shared them. I'm  a visual learner and it would help me understand the movement of atoms a little more. However, this group did an excellent job and I truly loved what they put on their story board."

Creating Online Resources for US Chem Course

During the 2017-2018 school year Upper School chemistry teacher Jake Nagy used a launch grant to create supplemental informational resources "chemistry online notes" for his students. He wrote,

The concept of Chemistry Online Notes (CON) is inspired by the BACON program currently employed by Prof. Neil Garg of UCLA. Garg's BACON program is an interactive and digital program that assesses and reinforces the learning of students taking his introductory organic chemistry course. I would like to explore the creation and implementation of a similar program designed for the BB&N high school chemistry curriculum. Link to BACON website: https://learnbacon.com/

Mr. Nagy put together PowerPoint files and uploaded them to the class website for each unit. His goal was to create notes not just for use in class, but more so as a stand alone resource for students to access when they've missed class or if they would like to review topics discussed in class. He says the students have gotten used to using them as a supplement and they've really gotten a lot of use out of it. He includes some questions on the slides that allow them to test their understanding as they look through the slides. He plans to continue to refine and improve this new resource for students.

US STEM fair

Girls in Dr. Gatti's GAINS club put together a STEM fair for Upper School with many student exhibits. One exhibit used the school's VR system to let students experience VR apps like Google Earth and Tilt Brush.

US Students in "Advanced Topics in Computer Science" Code in Machine Language

Upper School students explore coding languages in their Advanced Topics in Computer Science course. Through collaboration and curiosity, they build on their skills to complete a variety of projects including the video game Pong.

Advanced Topics in Computer Science on vimeo.

US Spanish Class at Podcasting Studio

Podcasts have gained considerable popularity these days. As an instructional medium they are effective for language teaching because podcasts bring words into focus--how they are spoken and expressed. 

Professora Gabriela Gonzenbach has done impressive podcasts with her Spanish students for the past few years. The photo below shows a few of her Spanish students recording a podcast at the Podcast Garage, a community recording studio, an amazing facility in Cambridge. 

This project is a great example of instructional practice that builds on traditional technologies (theatre and radio) while incorporating digital technologies and connecting a classroom lesson with community resources.

US Rocket Club

Another student club offering this year... Rocketry!  Students meet in room 136 Thursday at X Block. Here is an example of the type of competition the club might enter this year...

US girls interested in engineering can visit MIT!

MIT’s Women in Aerospace is hosting an event on October 15th for high school girls interested in aerospace to come tour some labs at MIT, hear from a professor, and hear about what it's like to be an engineering student. It is a repeat of the event we did last year, but with different labs, lecture topics, and a different Professor speaking, so that people can repeat if they wish. There will also be lunch provided and a quick lesson on a fun topic in aerospace (basic rocket stability or simple airfoil principles or something along those lines). It should be a really fun day and a good way to get an idea of what opportunities there are in the aerospace field!
If you could please share this event with students you think would be interested, we would really appreciate it! If you have time to send it along to other teachers you know in the area also that would be awesome.

To register for the event, students should fill out this google form:
https://goo.gl/forms/rxcn14vFcHD9XOO02

The deadline for students to register is Oct 8th.

Student Ingenuity on Display at Upper School STEM Fair

When Lily Druker '18 and Ali Plump '18 assumed leadership roles in the Upper School GAINS club (Girls Advancing in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) they knew they would be overseeing a fascinating variety of innovative ideas. Impressed with the energy and commitment they witnessed, the two decided that the entire school needed to get involved.

"We just wanted to come up a fun way to share all of these great student ideas with the community, but we didn't want to make it a stressful thing," says Plump. "So we came up with an optional fair that anyone could get involved with and bring their projects or ideas to the table."

The result? Nearly 40 students volunteered to present. And on a Friday afternoon in later winter the Upper School community room was packed with students and faculty alike, eagerly checking out the myriad concepts on display.

Among the many exhibitions were homemade Van der Graaf generators (capable of creating a visible electrical charge), cathode ray tubes, models of energy efficient smart homes, space telescopes, chemically altered "healthy" caramel, software designed to cater course curriculums to specific student learning styles, and many more interesting projects.

Click here for a gallery of images from the STEM fair.

Algebra 2 Class Uses Online Tool to Visualize Equations

Upper School math students use old-school blue/red 3D glasses to see GeoGebra in 3D. GeoGebra is a dynamic mathematic manipulation application that allows students to visually explore geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics and calculus equations. Here's a photo of Christine Oulton's Algebra 2 class using the 3d glasses:

Podcasting Blog Post

Podcasts are becoming popular. From Sports to fashion there are podcasts on practically most topics. Students here are creating their podcasts. Here are the 3 main steps to creating a podcast.

​

--

Krina Patel

Upper School Technology Integration Mentor

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

80 Gerry's Landing Road

Cambridge, MA 02138

Laptops at Upper School

Upper School students using laptops in class...


BB&N's Upper School's approach to computer ownership is currently an optional "Bring Your Own Device" model; in other words, students may bring any type of computer or tablet to school and get on our WiFi. In this classroom it appears that most students use Mac laptops.

In September of 2016 BB&N's Middle School adopted a requirement for 7th grade students to own Mac laptops. As this ownership requirement reaches Upper School we expect to continue allowing any type of computer OS in Upper School (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.), so long as it can accomplish a baseline of capabilities to be defined by the Upper School faculty (e.g. run Microsoft Office, Google Apps, and a basic video editing program.)

US Math & Physics Opportunities

On 9/29/2016, Harvard will hold a placement exam for the Boston Physics Circle. All high school students from Massachusetts are eligible to participate. A group of 50 high school students will be selected, and continuously instructed throughout the year, preparing them for the first screening exam for the US Physics Olympiad team, known as the "F=ma" exam, to be held in January 2017. The mentoring will be done by undergraduate and graduate students, primarily from Harvard, starting in October and continuing through January. For more info visit http://amir.seas.harvard.edu/boston-physics-circle

Upper School also has a math team that any students can join. These "mathletes" prep and competed in the following competitions. Contact Mr. Rollinson for more information. (Note: you do not have to be a member of the after-school math team in order to compete for BB&N at any of these events.)

• NEML (New England Math League) - monthly 30-minute contests offered during X-blocks (middle of Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar).
• Mandelbrot Competition - monthly 40-minute contest offered during X-blocks (early Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar). 
• AMC 10/12 (American Mathematics Competition) - annual 70-min contest consisting of 25 multiple choice questions offered twice in February. 
• Massachusetts Mathematics Olympiad Competition - late October - 90 minute multiple choice competition.

Sophomores Welcome Freshmen

The "sophomore guides" group created this welcome video for freshmen!

US Robotics Team Wants You!

Do you like problem-solving or building cool stuff?  If you answered "yes" to either of the above, you should consider joining the Robotics Team!!  No prior experience is necessary!  The team meets every day after school in the fall to build a robot that will compete in the VEX robotics competition. If you want to learn more about VEX, check out this year's challenge:

We have an Instagram where you can see what the robots we build are like and what we do on the team! Check it out @bbn_robotics https://www.instagram.com/bbn_robotics/. Here's a photo of last year's team:

US Advancing Girls in STEM

This year, thanks to Dr. Long, BB&N's upper school has joined the GAINS network as a member school. GAINS is Girls Advancing In STEM, whose mission is to promote the inclusion of young women in STEM fields, including Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math, (which also incldues computer science, astronomy, robotics, health and medicine etc.) This provides young women at BB&N the opportunity to become part of this nationwide network and participate in their online platform, connecting us with other students as well as female mentors who have chosen to pursue STEM careers. At BB&N, this will be a new club/interest group that will meet every other week during Tuesday X block. 

At our meetings, we will get together, discuss topics related to STEM careers and host guest speakers, visit outside labs and develop a project of our own that we will do. Dr. Long will be recruiting both alumni and local mentors to join the network on behalf of BB&N and help students make connections with them for advice and the chance to get to know someone who has chosen a career in a STEM field. Contact Dr. Long for more info!

Here is a video from the GAINS website: