1st Grade Pixel Exploration (January - March)

This year's 1st Grade has been very passionate about the game Minecraft. During Technology class we followed the students' curiosity of what makes Minecraft characters "look like blocks".  Below you can read about our exploration journey.

Come and see the 1st Grade Minecraft Pixel Portraits at the Lower School in the Lehner Center (1st floor)!

What Are Pixels?

Introduction:
While using a drawing software called Kid Pix, 1st grade students were very interested in talking about why the stamps in the program looked like they belonged in Minecraft. The first graders began to make observations about the different stamps.

Why do the stamps in Kid Pix look like they belong in Minecraft?

“They can’t be from Minecraft because there are something [objects] that don’t exist in Minecraft” – Hakan

“Only some of the things look like they are in Minecraft. The things that look like they have blocks in them could be in Minecraft” – Skylar

“Some stamps have square edges and some stamps of smooth edges. The smooth edges [stamps] can’t be in Minecraft.” - Salar

“I know that the squares are called pixels” – Jonathan

Pixel Play
“What is a pixel?” – Skylar

“They are apart of pictures and scenes.” – Jonathan

“When you write letters or notes you can find a lot of teeny tiny pixels in them.” – Alex

Research:

Students create pictures on Kid Pix only using stamps. A few students experiment with the “Edit” button. The class visits each other’s computers and shares what they have learned.

Student Quotes:

“I found how to edit a stamp. You go to the pencil button and click on it. Then you can change the stamp however you want. “ – Salar

“If you click on the eraser tool the whole stamp will erase [the stamp]!” – Ryan

“You can make your own stamp if you erase the stamp that was there” - Danny

“You have to move the mouse slowly or the squares don’t line up.” – Ben F.

Pixel Play Part 2

Research:

Graph Paper Sketch

Students create a picture on large graph paper. Each box represents a pixel. First graders then recreate their image in the editor screen on Kid Pix. Students can then create a picture using their stamp as many times as they would like.

Pixel This!

Research:
Students play an online game on the NASA website called Pixel This. After playing the game we learn, “each square is called a "picture element," or "pixel." The more pixels there are, the more details we see. This is how digital cameras work.” 

Student Quotes:
“[Looking at the screen] The “O” looks like its circle because it is smooth, but I think they are square pixels” – Chloe

“A pixel is a square” - Finely

“You can make things out of them. Like the picture on the computer.” – Carl

“Pixels are really small but they can be big” – Emma

“Pixels are made out of even tinier squares that form something” - Ben F.

Are Pixels Important?

Summary:
Students watch a short clip of how pixels are used in TV screens (color and black and white). The class discusses where else they might find pixels.

“They make up everything we see on the computer or iPad or TV.” - Sofia

“The [projector] screen uses pixels! You can see the pixels in each letter!” - Alex

“Pixels can be different colors” – Chloe

“It [pixels] can be any color” – Riley

“You can draw with pixels to make a character.” -Ryan

Pixel Portraits 

Project:

Students create pixel self-portrait (Minecraft character) with a photograph, graph paper, and Kid Pix stamp editor. Before starting their self-portrait the class discussed what symmetry means and how symmetry can be used in our pixel drawings.

*In Math students have been learning about symmetry.

Step 1: Take a photo of each student.

Step 2: Draw an outline of head, arms, body, legs, and feet on graph paper. Check that both sides of portrait are symmetrical with the other.

Step 3: Add facial features and hair to the portrait. Students do not need to make these features symmetrical.

Pixel Portraits: Coloring 

Step 1: Students start with coloring their hair color. 

Step 2: Students then add color to their face and then work their way down their portrait. 

Pixel Portrait Feedback

Summary:
Students have been talking about giving feedback to their peers in homeroom. In technology, the students continue to discuss how to give or get feedback and how it can help improve their work. After coloring their pixel portraits students take a museum walk and give one person in the room feedback about their work.

“I notice that you colored outside of the line. It might look neater if you color in the lines.”

“I like how you made a flower on your shirt.”

“I notice that you made it [the portrait] really small.”

Digital Pixel Portraits

Summary: Students build their pixel portrait in the stamp editor on Kid Pix. They use the feedback they receive from their peers to make improvements to their digital pixel portrait.

How Are Pixels Used?

Research:
The class watches a fast forward video of a digital art designer using pixels to create animated characters like Wreck- It- Ralph and Fix-It-Felix.

“You can make video games out of pixels.” – Alec

“A pixel allows you to make characters.” – Giselle

“I was playing a computer game at home and I drew my character using pixels.” – Elizabeth

“My computer game doesn’t use pixels, it looks more real.” – Salar

[In response to Salar] “ The pixels might be teeny tiny and you couldn’t see them.” Jonathan

Knightly News YouTube Channel

Upper School students publish periodic videos to YouTube highlighting recent events. Check out their YouTube channel, and here is one example:

Middle School Science Club Builds Sleds

3/2/15

SET in the City!

The seventh annual SET in the City- A Day of Career Exploration in Science, Engineering & Technology for High School Girls will take place on *Saturday, March 28th, 2015*. Students begin the day at Boston University, travel to area venues including Harvard, Emmanuel/Merck, Simmons, Northeastern, and Biogen for lunch and laboratory activities, and end the day with a keynote and college student panel at Google Cambridge.

The program will begin at 9:00 am and conclude at 5:00 pm. Participating students will take part in hands-on activities, hear from and interact with students and professionals in SET fields, learn about cutting edge research that will change the world, and find out how to prepare for careers in Science, Engineering, and Technology. Interested students may find out more information and pre-register for the event online at http://www.bostongirlsstem.org/setinthecity/.

 The registration fee is $20.00 which includes lunch and all transportation. Students who are eligible for a free lunch program may attend for a reduced fee of $5.00. Please note, we are not able to host large groups from any one school and reserve the right to limit registration to ten students per school. This event is sponsored by the Boston Area Girls STEM Collaborative, which includes representatives from the following organizations and institutions: Boston University, Emmanuel College, Harvard University, M.I.T., Northeastern University, Science Club for Girls, Simmons College, UMass Boston, and WGBH.

Family Science Saturday Is a Maker Extravaganza!

[Reposted from http://www.bbns.org/page.cfm?p=782&newsid=214]

The winter Family Science Saturday held last week centered around inventing and tinkering in order to solve problems, learn how things work, and create.

Beginners through sixth grade students were able to visit seven stations and try various challenges. The stations were staffed by the Lower School science and technology department, as well as by four Upper School students – Sophia Scanlan '18, Tali Sorets '16, Claudia Inglessis '18, and Ethan O’Reilly '16. Parents were asked to let their children take the lead, rather than jumping in to make the project work or work better.

The Lower School students had a chance to useMakeyMakeys to type by touching fruits and vegetables or play a keyboard by touching play dough. They also created structures with marshmallows and spaghetti, and one structure was even strong enough to support a block! Other great activities included building cardboard structures, electric greeting cards, wind-up cars, and bristle bots.

BB&N Teachers attend STEM forum at Harvard

Last Wednesday, February 18, a few BB&N educators were able to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Askwith Forum "A Space of Their Own?  Girls, Women, and STEM."  In attendance were Lower School Academic Technology Specialist RM Pellant and Upper School math teachers Mark Fidler, Chip Rollinson, and Mike Bernstein.  HGSE advertised the event as follows, "Girls and women are significantly underrepresented in many areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and STEM professions. In this group conversation, we will discuss what factors contribute to female underrepresentation in STEM, why female underrepresentation is problematic, and how to support broader participation."  The event was moderated by Karen Brennan, Assistant Professor of Education, HGSE, and the panelists were:

• Kimberly Bryant, Founder, Black Girls CODE
• Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College
• Jane Margolis, Ed.M.'88, Ed.D.'90, Senior Researcher, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
• Stephanie Wilson, Astronaut, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

At the Askwith Forum, panelists discussed what factors contribute to female underrepresentation in STEM.  Watch their discussion here.

Below are some of the takeaways from Mark Fidler:

"A major focus of the "Girls and STEM" panel discussion at the Harvard Ed School was on girls and computer programming. Discussion touched upon the impediments to girls entering the field at all levels - elementary school, middle school, high school. college, and in industry. There was discussion of racial and economic factors, too. Mike Bernstein, Chip Rollinson, and I attended. Mike and I felt that the most important suggestion for us was to make introductory programming experiences fun, not scary, and social. This week, the EPC approved an Upper School programming course designed to be all three of those. At BB&N, we have a much higher female percentage of AP Comp Sci students than at most schools. Mike and I are committed to improving that with our goal being 50%."

Lastly, below are a couple of related resources shared by Chip Rollinson:

• http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/20/jerry-lawson-game-pioneer/
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/upshot/how-elementary-school-teachers-biases-can-discourage-girls-from-math-and-science.html?ref=topics&_r=0

A few more resources related to the event:

Harvard Gazette: Code Like a Girl

Black Girls Code

Black Girls Code Founder Kimberly Bryant on Inspiring Students to Pursue STEM

Tech Spotlight: Kimberly Bryant, Founder of Black Girls Code

-Megan

Art on Display at the Upper School

The Art Department is at it again! The Gallery Talks last Thursday evening were a huge success and a lovely way to hear from student artists about the process of creating their pieces. Congrats to the Art Department on creating such a lovely evening and for putting up the Winter Student Art Show! And, a special thank you to Lanie for acting as the emcee for this event! The students that spoke about their art work included: Alex Evenchik (Ceramics), Ezra Burstein (Ceramics), Callie Costello (Advanced Painting and Drawing), Julie Peng (Introduction to Painting and Drawing), Peter Mankiw (Introduction to Painting and Drawing), Marin Lang (Advanced Photography), Emma Rashes (Introduction to Photography), Alex Fecteau (Design and Architecture), Kofi Yankey (Woodworking), and David Nazemi (Woodworking).
-from Katrina Fuller's Thursday Announcements and Reminders

Thanks to Andrew Warren, we now have a video playing on a loop in the faculty lounge as well as on the TV screen outside of the theater.  We have five videos of students talking about their art work at the winter student art show followed by three student-made music videos, produced for Warren's year-long"film and video" course.

Video Tutorials in the Upper School Spanish Classroom

To follow-up on Katrina's articles regarding sceencasting in the classroom on Nov 13th and 23rd, below is an update with a little more information from Rosario.

I use tutorial videos in my classes in order to maximize Spanish language use by my students during class time so they don’t have to be quiet listening to me in class but rather busy talking, collaborating, asking questions. This way class time is centered on the students and I can give instructions on the expectations for a Project, on what to do if I am going to be absent in class, on a grammar review or on how to prepare for the Final exam through a video tutorial that is more engaging. Students are still going to hear me say it in Spanish but they will listen to me at their own pace, as many times as they need to and will have to take responsibility figuring out what is expected of them. Having a class website makes it really easy to post everything for everyone.

Here are samples of all different technologies I’m using to make them: 
Camtasia (Tareas del Proyecto)
Powtoon (Gramática y Vocabulario básico)
Screencast-o-matic (Como preparar para el examen final)
Videoscribe (Práctica de audio)
and Explain Everything (Tarea para el bloque C). 

-Rosario 

Green Screens at the Upper School

This is a very exciting and busy week at the Upper School with students wrapping up final projects and preparing for exams.  I just spent this last A block in two classrooms, one Spanish and one French, working with students making movies using green screens.  Students in Spanish with Gaby Gonzenbach and Caroline Meliones are using the World Languages department iPads to make movie trailers using the Green Screen by Do Ink app, while students in Brigitte Tournier's French class used the classroom flipcam to film scenes in front of a green screen.  The footage was then imported into iMovie and combined with a photograph of a beautiful hotel lobby to create a stunning scene.  What fun projects!

Robotics Team wraps up their competition

Congrats to the Upper School Robotics Team for their outstanding finish at BB&N’s first VEX robotics competition! The team competed on Saturday, November 22 at North Andover High School, coming in fourth place out of 22 teams in the qualifying rounds. The day ended with a paired alliance playoff round, and our team ultimately earned runner-up status! For a first year team, this is truly an outstanding finish! Congrats to Mike B for all of his hard work, and to students Kofi, Sam, Jack, Vishnu, and Josh!
-Katrina Fuller

BB&N Robotics Team Update

A big congratulations to the BB&N Robotics team, who competed yesterday at North Andover High School against 21 other teams. Our Knights made it all the way to the finals and were runners up! This is the first year of the team and they did such a wonderful job!!! 
-Katrina Fuller

Need to Explain Everything? Part II

Last week’s news update shared examples of the videos that Kelsey and Christine created using Explain Everything (if you haven’t checked out their videos yet, then you should do that!). Since the last news update, I’ve heard from several other teachers about the technology that they are using in their classrooms, specifically in regards to creating instructional videos. This seems to be a hot topic right now and something that many people are interested in experimenting with. Mariah has been using instructional videos with a flipped classroom model for three years, pairing videos from other sources with her own videos. Students in her classes are used to watching instructional videos; she assigns the video and follow-up questions for homework at least once per month. Mariah has experience using the (free!) screencast-o-matic software and she’s also exploring using Camtasia (BB&N purchases a license for this software). Currently, Mariah is working on creating a library of videos (on Google sites) that the math department can utilize and share with each other, seen here in its early stages.

Rosario also uses Explain Everything, as well as Camtasia, Screecast-o-matic, and Powtoon to create instructional videos for her classes, something she has been doing since last year and loves. The videos that Rosario creates often explain a grammar point, give instruction on homework, provide an explanation of a group project, or explain how to use a particular tool. She posts all of her instructional videos to the class Haiku page and has found it to be very helpful for giving instructions. Feel free to check out Rosario’s Haiku pages, found here and here, but also available through your own Haiku page. She has posted tutorials that she created using Camtasia, Powtoon, Screecast-o-matic, and Explain Everything, so you are easily able to compare these technologies. Seriously, check out some of this- you get the gist of it, even if you don’t understand Spanish. Here are some YouTube videos: here and here and here

If you are also using any of these technologies and would like to share your experiences, let me know! If you are looking to bounce some ideas around and talk to an expert, feel free to see Mariah, Rosario, Kelsey, Christine, or Megan! Megan also wants to remind everyone that she’s here to help you with the technology you use or would like to try in your classroom. One of her favorite parts of her job is being able to connect the dots and help teachers connect with one another about how they are using technology. She always wants to hear about these wonderful ways of using technology to enhance the student experience, then help teachers connect with one another to further their own learning. To see what’s going on across all campuses in regards to technology, continue to check out this tech blog.

Speaking about cool uses of technology in the classroom, have you heard about Poll Everywhere? Al uses this technology on a regular basis in his classroom as a tool for quick formative assessments. Al started using this software a few years ago and has found it to be incredibly helpful in quickly assessing the learning within the classroom, allowing him to decide whether or not he needs to re-teach a topic or can move on to the next topic. If you are looking for a quick way to get an immediate and anonymous answer from every student in the class, ask Al about his experiences with Poll Everywhere!

-Katrina Fuller

Upper School Student Robotics Club

Three cheers for the new team on campus this year- the Robotics Team! Mike Bernstein kindly offered to coach the team this year and has been spending many hours working with our students getting ready for the upcoming competition. Students are excited to try out their new robot at their first VEX Robotics competition at North Andover HS on Saturday, November 22. For more information about the VEX Robotics Program or to check out a brief description of this year's Skyrise game, go to the Web site here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/wiki/Skyrise or watch the brief video describing the game's objectives at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ-5H3JVtPs#t=47

Seriously, you should watch this video... the game involves alliances, autonomous periods, driver-controlled periods, building skyrises, blocking opponents, taking out enemy robots, strategizing, and lots of things that only the robotics students will understand!

-Katrina Fuller

Need to Explain Everything? Part I

Need to Explain Everything? The math department is exploring ways to create a flipped classroom and is quickly becoming experts in making their own tutorial videos. Kelsey created her first videos (using Explain Everything) last year and used them as part of her final exam review days, though she’s now beginning to use them more frequently with her classes. Here is one of her final exam review videos... warning, this is a long one!

After seeing how successful these videos can be, Christine created her first video last week for her Algebra II class. If you also use Explain Everything, please let me know, as I'd love to see how other people are using this technology with their classes. If you have questions, see Kelsey or Christine for a quick tutorial!

-Katrina Fuller

iPads in the Forensics Classroom

At BB&N, juniors and seniors are able to take Forensics, a lab-based course that stresses the importance of applying scientific principles to law. Students learn the methodology needed to evaluate a crime scene, the proper lab mechanics needed to evaluate evidence, and how to compare samples that are both known and unknown. Procedures in collecting and interpreting criminal evidence are examined and modeled. The students gain a basic understanding of forensic science and how it is used in criminal cases. Forensic experiments include drug analysis, blood typing, hair and fiber analysis, gunshot residue tests, and fingerprint identification.

The Forensics teacher Lisa Conway was awarded a launch grant which allows her to explore the use of iPads in the science classroom.  She is developing curriculum and lesson plans that will allow students to fully integrate iPads into her Forensics and Principles of Chemistry classes.  This week students in Ms. Conway's Forensics class are completing their first crime scene assessment, using the iPads to create accompanying diagrams.   They are using the Magic CSI app to sketch the crime scene.

5th Grade Technology- 'Out of Eden Learn' Footstep #2

Below are the activities students participated in for Footstep #2: Create a Neighborhood Map

Part 1- Engage with Paul's Journey
     First students explored where Paul has walked so far since January 2013 by looking at the map room on the National Geographic Out of Eden Walk website.
     Next they explored 3 different Milestones of their choice from the Out of Eden Walk website.

Part 2- Create a Neighborhood Map
     Students were invited to think about their own relationship to a place and were given a chance to share more about themselves with other participants by sketching a map of their neighborhood as they see it their their eyes.
     They then wrote a true story to go with their map. Their story could have involved:

• The whole map or one special place that was featured on their map. 
• A memory of something that happened to them when they were younger in one of the places on their map. 
• A typical day in their life that featured places marked on their map. 
• A story about their neighborhood that they had heard from someone else – it could be a story that happened before they were born. 
• How their neighborhood had changed over time.

Part 3- Interact with Your Walking Partners
     They browsed through other people's maps and stories.

     They chose one person who was not from their class, looked at his/her map carefully and thought about: What catches your eye and makes you want to learn more? What is interesting or thought provoking about the map and its story? Then they wrote a response that involved "snipping"  that is, copying a phrase, sentence or section of what the person wrote that caught their attention and pasting it into the comment box. Then they asked a question about what they chose to snip, or said what they found interesting or important about it, making their comment as detailed as possible.
     Lastly, they returned to their own map and previous posts, responding to anyone who left a message for them last week, trying to carry on the conversation.

New MS POP Initiative~ Positive Online Presence

Collaboration with Sandra Cortesi, Director of the Youth & Media Center from Harvard's Berkman Center, and our soon-to-be MS Leadership Council

Sandra and her Team represent a fabulous local resource!  The new MS POP Initiative is an exciting follow up from her visit with the Middle School Tech Team last year and this collaboration opportunity provides a remarkable "focus" for this year's Leadership Council.  

Why we are so excited?

1. Opportunity to collaborate with the Berkman Center and participate in their innovative work and contribute to the center’s ongoing research
2. Means to stay up-to-date on current ways that young people interact with digital media such as the Internet, cell phones, and video games, harness associated opportunities and address media challenges
3. Opportunity for the Middle School students to develop as leaders
• Shape MS technology policies (rules/norms)
• Design and develop two units for the 7th and two units for the 8th grades and facilitate the instruction.
• Student-driven teaching is the most effective. Students teach each other what is most important to them (with adult framing of the conversation). A sample of student-driven topics of interest we envision:
• Privacy, reputation, and social media;
• Safety; Online relationships;
• Creativity and strategies to make student’s work more visible;
• How to use the Internet as a tool for empowerment - how the Internet can teach students anything they want to know more about;

For some quick background on the Berkman Center:

http://youthandmedia.org/

http://youthandmedia.org/about/

https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/scortesi

6th Grade Technology- September in Review

6th graders have gotten quite a bit done so far this year in technology class.  They have read the "Technology Use Policy" and read and signed the "iPad Rules and Consequences" document.  They have completed their iPad 101 training and set up their iPads for the year, creating a folder for all of their google apps and setting up their BB&N Gmail accounts.  They have also set up a folder for each subject in google drive to organize their 6th grade work.  They have created two private blogs- one for Language Arts, which they have shared with Mrs. Huff, and one for technology, which they have shared with me.  Their technology blog will be used for reflecting on their experiences using the scratch programming environment this year.  Lastly, they have explored the scratch website, created a scratch account, and read the scratch community guidelines.  6th graders will spend the next several weeks learning more about Scratch programming.

5th Grade Technology- September in Review

5th graders have had a very busy year so far in technology.  They have accomplished so much already!  They have read the "Technology Use Policy" and read and signed the "iPad Rules and Consequences" document.  They have completed their iPad 101 training and set up their iPads for the year, creating a folder for all of their google apps and setting up their BB&N Gmail accounts.  The students have also spent some time in the technology lab setting up google drive folders for all their subjects to organize their 5th grade work.  Lastly, they have begun their journey with the "Out of Eden Learn" project.

4th Grade Technology- September in Review

4th graders are off to a great start!  So far they have read and discussed the Technology Use Policy, started using their brand new Google Drive accounts, and logged into their new QwertyTown touch-typing accounts.  In Google Drive, the students have created a technology folder that they shared with me, typed up their hopes and dreams for the year in a google doc, collaborated on a shared google slides presentation to let me know more about them, and some of them have started using google sheets to enter data for creating graphs.  This is a big week for 4th grade technology- touch-typing homework begins and the Lehner Center computer lab will be open for optional early morning touch-typing practice.

5th Grade Technology- 'Out of Eden Learn' Footstep #1

5th grade students have embarked on their "Out of Eden Learn" journey!
     5C are partnered with schools in: Listowel, Ontario, Canada; Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA; Richmond, Virginia, USA; and Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
     5M is partnered with schools in: Listowel, Ontario, Canada; Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA; Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA; Seattle, Washington, USA.

Below are the activities students participated in for footstep #1:

Footstep #1: Setting Off

Part 1- Engage with Paul’s Journey
     listened to a welcome message from Paul, recorded in Turkey in August, 2014.
     watched a video in which Paul explains why he is taking a 7-year walk around the world
     read an article, called a dispatch, by Paul on the National Geographic Out of Eden Walk website: Sole Brothers
     and responded to a quick survey, answering What caught your attention or interested you about Paul's article?  What questions or wonders do you now have?

Part 2- Setting Off
     picked an avatar
     and wrote a few sentences about themselves: Write a few lines about yourself and describe three things that you enjoy doing.  What's the story behind your choice of avatar?  What do you find most interesting or exciting about Paul's walk from what you have learned about it so far?  Is there anything in particular you would like Paul to look out for or pay attention to as he walks?

Part 3- Interact with your walking partners
     read others' posts
     left detailed comments and questions for three students who were not in their class
     responded to any comments or questions other students left for them

Summer Inspiration from HGSE

I took part in two learning opportunities at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this past summer that I would like to share with the BB&N community:

1) I was asked by a professor at the Ed School to help edit their updated Scratch "Creative Computing" Curriculum Guide, a design-based introduction to computational thinking.  Working closely with the Scratch curriculum guide gave me a new perspective on MIT's scratch programming language, particularly the value of reflection in the classroom.  Because of this experience, I have decided to modify my Scratch unit slightly and have my 6th grade students create a scratch design journal this year as well as make it a priority to give them more time in the classroom to think about and talk about their projects with one another.

2) I was extremely fortunate to be able to attend Project Zero's "Future of Learning" conference and while there became aware of their recent "Out of Eden Learn" project to accompany Paul Salopek's travels around the globe.  Learning about the "Out of Eden Learn" project was such an exciting end to my summer, as it brings together a number of experiences that I think are so important for our students in this day and age- students involved in the project are using technology to connect with people around the world, and they are communicating in meaningful ways.  For those of you who are not yet familiar with the "Out of Eden Learn" project, it is a platform created by Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero.  They partner schools with 4-6 other schools throughout the world in what are called "walking parties."  Every two weeks the waking parties take part in "walking steps," together completing six steps.  Along the journey, schools learn about Paul's experiences around the globe as he travels on his "Out of Eden Walk."  Stay tuned to hear more about the walking steps our 5th grade students take this year...

Launch Recipients for the 2014-2015 Year

Maria Elena Derrien Carol Fine	LS	Makey Makey Science Exploration
Aaron Kellner	LS	Digital Media in the Second Grade Classroom
Rachel Stevens	LS	math subscriptions
Leila Huff and Louisa Pitt	LS	Grammar Site
Rachel Jamison	MS	Evernote
Wendy Svatek	MS	Tinkering
Stephanie Moon	MS	Circuit Sticker Drawings
Mariah Napenas	US	Developing Instructional Videos
Allison Kornet	US	Flipped Classroom for Vanguard trainees
Gabriela Gonzenbach	US	Google Expertise with Haiku influence
Lisa Conway	US	iPad Integration
Amani AbuShakra	US	Blogging site

Web software used by Upper School math

Upper School math teacher Chip Rollinson uses a variety of web-based tools with his students including the Desmos graphing calculator. This free website allows anyone to create and manipulate mathematical functions that are also displayed in a corresponding graph. For example, here is the equation and its result for an ellipse:

Doing this kind of work used to require expensive software or a graphing calculator. Now it is accessible online for free. Anyone with a web browser can get to it. Tools like this are a great example of why students should have ubiquitous access to computers and the internet.

Here is a link to Mr. Rollinson's presentation on this tool that he put together for a summer workshop of mathematics educators.

Exploring the "Makey Makey" in the Upper School Faculty Lounge (Part 2)

This is the second post in a series about the use of the Makey Makey for faculty professional development in technology, design, and creativity. The first post is accessible: here.

As I described in my last post, the first incarnation of my Makey Makey project, was a relatively inelegant "instrument" I hacked together using some fruit, kitchen utensils, and a Google Coder project. I left the project out in our faculty lounge for a few days, in the hopes of garnering some interest in attending our first "play day" coming up next month. The project seemed somewhat of a success, since I observed several instances of tones, laughter, and what I interpreted as "contemplative silence" emanating from the lounge while the project was up. A few folks even emailed me either thanks or excited exclamations of "that's cool!" Thus, at least in terms of garnering attention from my colleagues, the Makey Makey project was turning some heads, and encouraging some play. The project seemed also to inspire a little bit curiosity with regards to electrical circuitry, mostly around how people did not get "shocked" when holding the electrical leads. Some people also began experimenting with different conductive materials, swapping out spoons to pencils or other fruit.

For Phase 2, I decided to up the sophistication of the project, creating a conductive "board" to replace the dangling fruit and wires, and rather than using simple tones on the C major scale, to embed some free loops from GarageBand. The browser I'd be using to display the project is Google Chrome, which can read and play .mp3 files. This created a minor obstacle, because GarageBand loops come in a completely different file format. To work around this, I added each loop to a separate GarageBand project, and then exported each project in .mp3 format. Problem solved. I then found some copyright-free images online (thanks Wikipedia!) to match the GarageBand loops I used. After a couple of more tweaks to the user interface, I had a web page that looked like this:

For the board, I used the underside of a printer paper box, aluminum foil, scotch tape, and an exacto knife to carve out and affix some conductive "pads." For each of the five pads, I used a wide strip of foil, stretching from the bottom of each pad to the top of the "board," where I could easily attach the leads from the Makey Makey. For the ground lead, I made an aluminum foil strip at the bottom of the board.

I then uploaded the site to the computer in the faculty lounge, and left a little flier of instructions, with a small plug for our "play day" in June. Fingers crossed that this iteration will pick up where the last one left off...