It has been challenging to try to understand what a STEM lesson entails and to identify all the elements since they often interconnect but I think I'm getting it.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Reflection on Lesson 1
I spent the first week stressing over Minecraft. I could never get it to work on my laptop. I haven't given up. I'm going to try using a mouse. I also have a couple of Minecrafter students who are going to join me next week.
After I found out our first lesson did not have to be Minecraft related I went with the survival on Round Island project. All in all I thought the first lesson went well. Last week was a short week at our school. We had only 3 instructional days with one of those being a testing day. So I had 2 1/2 days to prepare and implement a lesson. Students made a prioritized list of survival steps and then made models of one of their survival tools. Most went with a dwelling but one team went with a bow and arrow. I had several video interviews of students explaining their projects but none would load to YouTube or to this blog. All of the students had plans that were quite resourceful. They used material that simulated skin, sinew, salvaged wood, and other material they might find on the island. They all really enjoyed the lesson! If I'd had more time, I would have included more applied mathematics such as building models to scale or discussing trajectory with the bow and arrow team.
It has been challenging to try to understand what a STEM lesson entails and to identify all the elements since they often interconnect but I think I'm getting it.
It has been challenging to try to understand what a STEM lesson entails and to identify all the elements since they often interconnect but I think I'm getting it.
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This looks like a really great lesson. It looks like you and your students enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe bow and arrow + trajectory concept is cool. I think it'd be super fun to have a spring scale used to pull back on the string w/ the arrow notched in, a trajectory set in (maybe a miniature crossbow affixed to a board would be better?) and see how far the arrow flies. Adjust spring tension, another arrow! Plot it out and determine the relationship.
ReplyDeleteAnother exercise could be determining how accurate the system is, and using that plus the size of the target (a much smaller subset of the cross section of the walrus itself) should give you the maximum distance you can be standing in order to be reasonably sure you'll eat dinner that night.