Reflection #7 - Lexie

First, I am sorry this is so late!  Things are super busy and I feel like I am just trying to stay a float, which I'm sure others are feeling like too).

Timeline for Project

Monday, March 9^th

• Science Class:  Students (in groups of 2 to 3) will make a model using cut-outs and a paper plate of their plant cell.  The different pieces of their model will be colored and labeled.
• Math Class:  Students will use their model made in science class to make a blueprint for the cell they will be creating in Minecraft.  They will make their blueprint on graph paper.  Once they have their blueprint created, labeled and colored, it will be approved by the teacher.  After being approved, students will calculate the area of each part of the cell.  Once the areas have been calculated, students will create a plan for how they will build their model in Minecraft, including who will do what, what blocks will be used for each part of the cell, and how will they check their work.

Tuesday, March 10^th

•  Science & Math Classes (2 periods – 150 minutes):  Students will go into Minecraft and build their plant cells.

Wednesday, March 11^th

• Science & Math Classes (2 periods – 150 minutes):  students will finish up their cells in Minecraft and prepare for their presentation. The last 30 minutes of class will be used for each group to present their plant cells and describe their process and areas.

Reflection of Class

I enjoyed this week’s class (as always).  I thought it was very helpful to talk with others about our projects and provide each other feedback.  I also really liked the interactive graphs.  I am teaching that topic in Algebra I now, so I enjoyed how they provided good visuals and manipulation tools to help you understand what is actually happening to the functions.

Timeline for 2nd grade Monster Lobe

My timeline is very sketchy at this point.  I guess I have to my advantage and disadvantage that I will not be working on it at the school with students and taking out class time.

So, here is my basic timeline.  The dates are the weeks of that date.

Start this week and talk about the problem.  Why is it a problem?  What issues might this have for the people using the highway?  The pipeline?  What about the rest of us living in AK?

March 14th - Brainstorm ideas and solutions

March 17-20 - Finalize the solution.  What do the boys want to do to solve this problem?

March 27 - talk about materials that are needed for the solution and how much? (if building a wall - how high would it need to be?  How long?  How thick?)  Look up info on building dams.

After that - let them work on building that in Minecraft.  Helping them along the way.

The week of April 21st - work on presentation.  They will present their project to their class at school as well.  Their teacher thinks this will be wonderful.

The math lessons that will come along the way will depend on what they come up with as a solution.

As for class, I love distance, rate, time, velocity, acceleration problems.  I love physics, and that is what this is.  I had a lot of fun playing with the gizmos. 

I am excited to be able to mine each other's ore deposits, however, North told me he's not sure he put enough diamond in his when he saw the image of Chip's Lapis Lazuli deposit.    The game idea seems fun.  It makes me want to create a few ore deposits in a server and have the boys  - and even my older girls - see if they can make money mining.  We like to watch Gold Rush as a family and watch how hard they work for the little amount that they may make.  It would be a good thing to talk about.

I also really enjoyed talking with the others about their projects.  There are some great projects out there, and I look forward to seeing the presentations.  I think the idea of discussion boards to help each other out is a really great idea.  That way we can pose each other questions and help each other instead of just e-mailing you - the teachers.

Harry Potter Timeline

Timeline for Harry Potter World Minecraft Project

  Mar. 7-   Money and Estimation- Finish building Dumbledore and Harry's house.  Estimate cost and number of blocks needed to build the house for your character.  Explain what features each house needs and why.  Build house and compare to your original estimate.

  Mar. 14 - Fraction Fun- building Hogwart's Academy Playground/Tower/Parkour (sp?) play area.  Create a playground/parkour area and describe it using fractions like 1/2, 1/4, 1/10.  Kate will use equivalent fractions to describe her creations

  Mar. 21-  Multiplication for Ben and d=rt for Kate  Minecart Roller coasters.  Create a Minecart Coaster and explore the idea of distance rate and time.  Kate

  April 4 Perimeter, Area and Volume-Kids Choice Building Day just to catch up, work on or finish anything we haven't yet  OR if current, research something you've always wanted to build for Harry on Minecraft wiki or Youtube.com  and figure out the perimeter and area of whatever you created.  Begin YouTube Video for presentation

  April  11- Spells/Potions and Enchanting still fleshing this one out so we can work in some basic chemistry and writing.  More fractions and recipe writing.  Ongoing YouTube Video work

  April 17-  Wrap up all projects Work on YouTube Video

  April. 21- Turn in YouTube Video of Ben and Kate's Hogwart's World.  

Moose Trap Outline

The goal is to start this lesson next week with my students and work on it daily during science time and it will also cover writing and math standards that would normally be at another time of the day. Students will work together as partners creating and constructing the trap, but other components like the writing component will be done individually. 

Introduce the topic and parents

• I would like to involve parents with this project as well, since they are more of an expert on moose hunting and camping than I am.

Research ammunition vs. traps

• cost of ammunition in the villages, average costs
• What  is the benefits of using a trap?
• What are other traps we use or other cultures use?
• Pros and cons of both ammunition and traps

Research what types of materials we could use

• what types of materials could we use to create the trap
• how large would the trap need to be
• what would we do to keep other animals way from the trap

Create and Construct Moose Trap

• create a miniature size version of the trap
• figure out the cost, size, and weight of the moose trap they create

Persuasive Writing Project

• convince somebody their trap is will be the most cost efficient
• or that traps would be a better way to catch a moose than ammunition 

Create a Presentation 

• what materials would be used
• cost, weight, size
• answering important questions that come up along the way (for example how to keep other animals from getting a moose that may be caught in the trap)
• key parts from the persuasive paper

I am enjoying this class a lot more than I originally thought I would.  Science has not always been my strong area and engineering is not usually a component in the classroom.  This class is allowing me to think outside the box and create activities that is not only beneficial to my students learning but allows them to be creative.  I am proud of the way my students have taken to the activities and began being more inquisitive. The sessions have been great refreshers and I really enjoy that the lessons are one we actually have to teach and not just random one.  I was not originally a big fan of Minecraft, since I was never really a gamer, but I am seeing the possibilities with it.  My attempts at Minecraft provided fellow coworkers endless laughs as I try to figure out how to use it.  I am now the proud owner of a Minecraft book, so hopefully soon I will be come a pro at it. 

Getting Rid of the Monster Lobe.

Students will keep a log of their day-to-day adventures in Minecraft.

1.  Explore Minecraft and crafting in Minecraft  (1 ½ hours)

     References:  

·         Exploring http://www.minecraft101.net/reference/exploring.html

·         Crafting  http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Crafting#Complete_recipe_list

·         http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Digging

     Assignment:  

·         Explore Minecraft, collect items on your journey.  

·         Spend time digging downward in Minecraft.  Go down at least six blocks deep.

·         Build a 3 x 3 crafting table.

·         Craft at least two items with your 3 x 3 table.   

Log Prompt:  

·         What did you discover in your explorations in Minecraft?  

·         What did you find when you dug downward in Minecraft.

·         What did you collect during your explorations?  

·         What did you craft?  

·         What else would you like to know about Minecraft?  

     

2.  Learn about building materials available in Minecraft.  Build a house in Minecraft.  (1 ½ hours)

     Reference:  

·         http://www.minecraftopia.com/building_blocks

     Assignment:

·         Study the "real-life" properties of five of the building materials that are available in Minecraft.  

Log Prompt:

·         What are the five building materials that you chose? 

·         Briefly describe the “real-life” properties of each of these materials. 

      

3.  Build a house  (2 hours)

     Assignment: Build a house in Minecraft.

·         Draw a “blueprint” of your house.  Indicate measurements of each wall and roof.   When measuring surface area, each block is 1 meter x 1 meter. 

·         Build the house in Minecraft. 

·         Convert the measurement of your house from squared meters to squared feet using conversion fractions. 

Log Prompt: 

·         Place the “blueprint” of your house in the log.  Indicate the measurements on drawing. 

·         Show all the steps of your conversion from squared meters to squared feet using conversion fractions. 

·         What materials did you use to build your house?

·         Did you have to craft materials?  If so, what did you craft?  Write the materials that you needed for crafting those items. 

·         Where did you build your house?  Was there a special reason you choose this site?

4.  The Monster Lobe  (1 ½ hour)

      Assignment:  Read at least two articles regarding the Monster Lobe.

·         http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AlaskaScienceForum/article/flowing-tongues-rock-ice-and-dirt

·         http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/12/1521/2012/nhess-12-1521-2012.pdf

·         http://ine.uaf.edu/autc/projects/monitoring-and-analysis-of-frozen-debris-lobes-phase-i/

·         http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784412978.014

·         http://www.rita.dot.gov/utc/publications/spotlight/spotlight_2013_08

·         http://www.adn.com/2012/12/01/2710503/frozen-landslide-threatens-to.html

·         http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130813/only-alaska-creeping-frozen-landslide-threatens-critical-highway-and-pipeline

·         http://www.examiner.com/article/60-ft-tall-mass-of-frozen-debris-slowly-landsliding-toward-major-alaska-highway

Log Prompt:

·         Which articles did you choose?  Briefly summarize the information from these articles.

·         Look up one item mentioned from one of the article and find more information on this item.  List the citation for this item. 

·         State the problem that the Monster Lobe is potentially going to cause? 

·         How might you solve the Monster Lobe problem?

5.  Brainstorming  (2 hours)

     Assignment: 

·         In Minecraft, find the Monster Lobe. 

·         In a group, be sure everyone has found the Monster Lobe.

·         Draw a map of where the Monster Lobe is in relationship to your house. 

·         With a group, come up with some ideas as to how solve the Monster Lobe problem.  Come up with at least three ideas, these ideas will destroy, redirect, or some other solution. 

     Log Prompt: 

·         Draw a map of where the Monster Lobe is in relationship to your house.

·         List your three ideas.  Briefly describe how you might implement these ideas.

6.  Planning (1 ½ hours)

     Assignment:

·         With your group, decide which plan you will pursue. 

·         Make an outline/timeline for your project. 

·         Decide which materials you will need to complete your project. 

      Log Prompt:

·         Describe the plan you are going to use. 

·         Write down your outline/timeline.

·         What materials are you planning to use?   Why are you using these materials? 

7.  Execute plans  (1 ½ hour)

     Assignment: 

·         In a group, using Minecraft, implement your plan. 

     Log Prompt: 

·         Describe how your plan went?  Did you execute the plan the way that you had planned?  Did anything change from your original plan?  What changed? 

8.  Analyze/Extension  (1 hour)

     Assignment/Log Prompt: 

·         Do you think your plan would work in “real-life.” 

·         Consider the following, what if the a “debris flow,” similar to the Monster Lobe, was heading towards Palmer.  Pretend that the “debris flow” has appeared on Lazy Mountain and is working its way down the mountain towards the Matanuska River.   Given this course, the “debris flow” continue traveling into the Palmer.  Would your solution to the Monster Lobe work in this situation? What might work and what might not work? 

I finally got the learning exploration website to work.  I followed the suggestions from others and downloaded shockwave.  I opened the site before class, and made sure that I could accomplish this task.  I did not try to open a “gizmo”. 

I love this class.  I enjoy it so much and am excited about it.  I am learning new things and revisiting old concepts.  Tonight was no different.  I learned about ores and revisited distance/rate/time problems.  Great class. 

Reflection on March 3 Class

Distance, Acceleration and velocity are really the least developed strengths in my repertoire but that Gizmo is a great tool!  I'd love to find an application for it in the library because you can never be exposed to too many cool tools. I've got to find a great book to hook that too and then teach it in the Universe in One Room.
 This may be an esoteric or unreasonable thing to think about this wonderful STEM class, but I've often wished that classes that had great hands-on applications like this would be offered in the fall so that the unholy hairball of testing didn't get in the way of doing great projects.  I think teachers are more willing to take risks with their classes because the Test is not imminent and everyone has the full semester to implement a project without having to consider the bloody testing schedule and work around that. We're all fresh and creative and the horizon is clear before us in the Fall.
Spring Break is real buzz kill for projects too.  We also don't have a week in the middle of Fall term to boink things up.  Spring term has Parent Conferences, Spring Break and Testing that really dilute the learning experience.  I'm at the tail end of my program and have also mentored student teachers and practicum students.  Spring term is counter-intuitive to giving people who are practicing the craft a time to implement hands-on learning. Spring is not the greatest time for teacher-learners to implement hand-on stuff.  Testing is not a hands-on activity and that's not going to improve if we are going to start linking teacher evaluation to student performance on those Spring tests. Just thoughts and you may have no control over it but it really struck me the other night listening to people mention losing a week for Break and then having to focus on the test and then the whole testing schedule.....  Just barking in the wind tonight!  Think I'll go spawn me a wolf to keep me company!

Mouse Maze Project Timeline

STEM Project Timeline – Mouse Maze

Below is a rough outline of my STEM project proposal.  Each session will be 45-60 minutes long. 

Thursday, March 6, 12:10-12:55

Introduce the project and discuss collecting materials over spring break (cardboard boxes, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, etc.).  Put students into their groups and allow them to start brainstorming ideas and/or assigning specific student jobs (leader, collector, drawer, builder, writer, etc.).  Discuss objectives (collect materials, build a maze to stimulate the mouse), how they will be met, and assessment/rubric. 

Extra Planning Lesson, if possible

Monday, March 17 or 24, 9:10-9:55

Allow students to research mazes via the Internet in their groups and continue with their plans for building. 

*May have to skip this lesson, depending on SBA practice testing.  If so, students may choose to do research at home and share ideas with their group during the next lesson.

Thursday, March 27, 12:10-12:55

All materials are due.  Groups who need more will be provided materials by me.  Although all groups will have different materials, the amount and types of materials should be similar. 

Students will begin building their mouse mazes in their groups.

Tuesday, April 1, 1-2

Students will continue building their mazes in groups. 

Thursday, April 3, 12:10-12:55

Students should be completing their mazes and begin preparing for class presentations.  One of their assignments will be to calculate and present the shortest and longest route possible, as well as predictions regarding which route the mouse will take as well as the estimated time from beginning to end.

Wednesday, April 9, 2:45-3:30

Students will share their mazes with the rest of the class and answer any questions about materials, design, etc.  Each presentation will be about 10 minutes. 

Friday, April 11, 2-2:45

Testing day!  The mouse will go through each maze while students make observations and time the mouse from beginning to end. 

Extension, if possible:

Monday, April 14, 9:10-9:55

Students can use PowerPoint or prezi to create a culminating presentation of their project from beginning (collecting materials and planning) to end (watching the mouse go through).  This can include pictures and video from throughout the process (taken by me).  Students should also include a self-assessment describing how well the group feels they met the objectives and what they would do differently next time.

Wednesday, April 16, 2:45-3:30

Student technology presentations (described above), each lasting about ten minutes

Class Reflection

I really like the interactive graph.  I think this would be a great tool for upper elementary students to explore.  Primary students would probably need a little more support, but they could get practice by having a teacher show them the site on an interactive board. 

I also liked the geology refresher.  Even though I teach rocks and minerals every other year in fourth grade, I always need to be one step ahead of the kids.  Sometimes they ask me questions that I can’t answer confidently off the top of my head, so it’s good to see some of the higher-level stuff.  At least that way I know a LITTLE more than they do. 

Minecraft Playground Project Outline

Stem Project Outline-Playground

(This is a rough outline.  Feel free to offer any suggestions).

 

Week 1: March 10

I.                 Introduce Project-Research images of Moose Run Golf Course; Take a field trip to Moose Run Golf Course and determine a good placement for the playground.

II.               Draw a picture while we are there of the placement to load into Minecraft

Week 2: March 17

I.                 Design Minecraft scene for Moose Run Golf Course.

II.               Teacher: Begin creating budget for students, determine cost of blocks, and supplies.  Give students budget.

III.              Students: Begin researching playground designs on the internet (Keep in mind safety, cost, time constraints, etc.)

Week 3: March 24

I.                  Students begin drawing model of playground to create in Minecraft (due March 31^st).

II.               Teacher: Support students as they draw models, provide help as needed.

Week 4: March 31

I.                  Drawing of playground is due March 31^st.

II.               Students begin creating model in Minecraft, keeping budget in mind. 

Week 5: April 7

I.                 Continue working on Minecraft Model of playground (Due April 14)

Week 6: April 14

I.                 Begin working on Prezi Presentation to present project (students take pictures/video along the way to include in Prezi).

II.               Playground model in Minecraft is due April 14.

Week 7: April 21

I.                 Finish Prezi presentations this week (Final project due April 28)

Class: I enjoyed the discussions about iron ore tonight.  I will be honest and tell you that I had to do some research to learn more about iron ore before we built the deposit, and I am still not certain I really understand where to find iron ore.  

The math portion of class was fun this evening.  I enjoyed looking at the different graphs and how we could manipulate them by changing the number of points on the graph or the runners starting or ending point.  Fun!   Finally, I cannot wait to see how to ride a pig or horse!  Good class.