On a Roll!

This week's energy lesson was actually a ton of fun (forgive the pun)!  I really liked starting the lesson with an explanation of how we might calculate and what assumptions might be made. It helped confirm that, while our team seriously lacked experience, we were on the on the right track...oh boy, and another pun. Seriously, they're just rollin' out.../facepalm. Unintentional!!

This week, I started in the roller coaster building group and have to say, being talked through the sign-in and design was great. Once we got rolling, we quickly realized the audio on the game was creating an overlap with our talk, so headphones were quickly plugged in and we were off. I did manage to modify my coaster to achieve a very high score...but I did not manage to stop before crashing through the barrier killing everyone onboard. /sigh I had reports of no survivors and demands for redesign, but was denied opportunity.


Just about the time I've got it down, we got morphed into Colin's Minecraft group and quickly discovered how great a full on belly-laugh sounds when we failed to stop, crashed through the barrier and went down in flames. Literally! hahaha!! I had such a great time problem solving where to start the tracks and someone else, I think Nicole?, just jumped right in and started creating new starting points, conjuring cars, and going for thrill rides in search of a view. Colin's teaser was to stop, just at the top of the platform, so we could enjoy the view...we managed, although we were teetering. Felt a bit like being tipsy on the boardwalk in Mexico? Wait, did I just say that?!

The final group I worked with was Chip's.  His teaser of course was to challenge us all to be able to land on the house top...which we were totally not supposed to do! So, once he got us UNdistracted from the not-challenge, we started learning about the different tools. It's really bizarre to feel so UNsmart in this class. I am the go-to person at my school when it comes to pretty much anything tech...and yet in this class, most of the time I feel like I am lost and stumbling

I will admit...I totally got sucked in to getting that roller coaster to work...so I did go back and finish it. I think I can live with a score of 2,502 where no one crashes and burns!

If STEM wasn't so important, and you guys weren't all so patient and supportive, I would be hopeless in this! In the meantime, I'm having a blast learning about the tools and resources out there and attempting to feel less overwhelmed and shift gears back into being productive. Ok, back to work. I have STEM lessons to write!
 

Reflection

I really enjoyed riding down the roller coaster.  When I began building my own, I discovered that my slope was not adequate to keep me rolling downward.  That will be something that I will have to tinker with.  First, I have to build my monster lobe and totally complete it.

Reflection on Class 3/31

Last night was lots of fun!  After our discussion and followup from last week, I started in the group for building the roller coaster.  The design process was very fun!  I had a little difficulty hearing Megan and the Brain Pop Roller Coaster lesson at the same time.  Still, I was able to create a roller coaster.  Of course, I was very disappointed when I came to the end and crashed through the barrier.  Then I did not have time to fix my roller coaster before I was put into Minecraft with Colin's group.

In Colin's group I was a little lost at first.  I think I was at the wrong roller coaster.  Once Colin moved me I was fine.  I was able to find the height at the base of the roller coaster.  Colin helped me figure this one out.  I get frustrated when I feel like I am not playing an active role in the group so I was glad that Colin was able to help me get involved. Thanks!  Just when I feel like I am getting better at Minecraft I find out I have so much to learn!

The next group I worked with was Chip's group.  This group was also fun.  I liked that the graph allowed the user to see the way energy was exchanged.  Very cool!  We also had a fun dicussion in Chip's group.  I still think it was fun to crash the skateboarder into the house.

After class was over I went back and worked a bit more on my roller coaster because I just couldn't sign off for the evening without achieving success.  My daughter walked over and pointed to where I needed to change my roller coaster and sure enough she was right!  This was after me trying to fix it for about 10 minutes.  In all fairness my daugher built a roller coaster for her 4th grade class a few years ago; I think she had an unfair advantage. :) Either way, I had a great time in class last night.

Potential Energy, Roller Coasters, Flames - Heather D

Class was a blast.  It was great to explore in groups the different gadgets.  These are definitely things I will do with my own children.  In fact, they wanted to play last night instead of myself.

 My first task was to create a roller coaster.  I quickly gave myself 10 cars - (or whatever was the most you could have).  My first try was ok, but I did crash at the end.  I changed things around, and this was my final try for the session.

Yay!  I did not crash at the end, and I got a great score of 2,164.  My goal is to get a better one.  I will have to play around with it some more.

Next, I got to go into Minecraft and work on the roller coaster.  I soon found myself plummeting into a pit of lava.  Try as I might, I could not fly out.  Luckily for me, our fearless leader, Colin, said at the same time I was trying to get out, to use Left-Shift to get out of the cart.  I had not thought that I would still be in the cart while burning to death.  We got our cart to stop on the second try.  I was nervous I would plummet to my burning not death again, but I teetered right there on the edge.  Yay for our group.

Lastly, I got to play with the skateboarder.  Chip mentioned that the goal was to launch the skateboarder off so that he landed on the house.  WHALAH!     

PLUS - I had a super cool bulldog skate boarding for me.  

 In all seriousness,  it was a fun night reminding myself about Potential Energy and dissipated energy and heat energy.  These are all great activities to do with my own children and students.  I am a little nervous about doing the PE of the monster lobe, but also realize that maybe I should have used my older two children for my project, because these assignments are perfect stepping stones for the Monster Lobe project.  I imagine it was planned that way, and I hope that others who are doing the Monster Lobe with students are using these assignments with them.

Reflection on class 3/31:

Wow!  This was so much fun.  Sorry Colin, I chopped down a piece of the checkered flag.  I am so clueless with Minecraft!  I have to say that I am often feeling way out of my league in this class because I just finish teaching first grade all day and I have to turn on parts of my brain that have been left to their own devices!  It takes a bit of work.  But, I love math, I love to teach it, to learn it, and to practice it.  I love how it makes me put together all the things that I have learned and to sometimes approach the problem from a different angle. 

I appreciate all the effort the instructors put forth each week, their enthusiasm, and their support too.  The other members of class are also super patient and helpful without taking over, how great is that! 

My project with my students.  Well, they loved hearing from a local farmer in the Mat-Su Valley who wrote us an e-mail letting us know that we could raise three pigs on all the food that our school throws away.  He also gave us some resources for determining how to build a structure that is humane and would offer the best use of space for pigs.  Did you know pigs are social animals and they love the company of other pigs?  But, pigs need a lot more space than you may imagine.  The students then made a model of the structure out of unifix cubes.  They decided one cube equals one foot in each direction (they don't know about cubic feet).  So, they came up with different ways to equal the 900 square feet of space needed.  It was great! 

We still have to make the structures out of cardboard, paper, or some other materials.  I wish we could use Minecraft. 
Enjoy your week everybody.  We are doing our S.B.A.'s this week so it is quiet, quiet, quiet and no pull outs. Poor kids! 
Debbie

Reflection 10

That was super fun tonight!  I wish we had more time at each activity.  I really enjoyed making the roller coaster, and am planning on creating one in Minecraft later.  I will probably have my students do that for a STEM lesson next.  It was great to go over potential, kinetic, and dissipated energy.  I feel like I truly understand it now.  After class I had to go back to the build your own roller coaster site.  I was so frustrated that I couldn’t get it to work.  I added several loops and found that it helped.  It only took me a couple of minutes and I was able to successfully build a track that works. 

As for the assignment, I feel like you guys are really pushing us.  Every week I start out really worried that I am going to do it all wrong.  But when I finish the activity I feel like I really accomplished something that was a challenge.  It sure makes me feel good.  I am, again, skeptical about our task this week.  But I am excited to work on it.

An update on my project.  I am getting together with the two boys this Thursday to see what they have come up with for research on building a ship.  Then we will discuss and possibly just move onto the next step, which is calculating how much material we will need to create this ship on Minecraft.

March 31st Class Reflection

I am far below the novice level in physics but I really enjoy learning its principles. I liked the brain pop skateboard ramp. I'm a graph reader and the variety of graphs on the site helped me better understand the physics of the skateboarder as the ramp changed elevation. I couldn't get Minecraft loaded soon enough to participate in Megan's group but I got in just in time for Colin to take me on a roller coaster ride. If I was a kid, I would so be in to Minecraft just for that!

This class is mentally exhausting. I always leave feeling very lost but by the time I have a couple of days for the information to settle in, it starts to make sense. I am hoping it will be so this week.

Reflection of 3/31 Class

Class was a blast tonight!  Just like any other kid, I really appreciate time to play with new tools and ideas and this was a perfect time to do it!  These are going to be just the kind of things I can do with kids in the computer lab this week during their library time after testing.  Academic but fun!  We'll be learning stuff without even realizing we're learning it!
  We can have a roller coaster score contest as well as Phet Lab fun!  I discovered that thermal energy really rises when you launch your skater off the ramp and land on a house. I wonder if that's what "crash and burn" means?
 It wasn't as dramatic as being dumped into the lava bath at the end of Colin's Minecraft Coaster to Hell and catching on fire,  but what my cherubs don't know won't disappoint them.  There's something really satisfying as a teacher or a student to setting something on fire, crashing it, burning it, or otherwise  wrecking it during testing week!  These are the perfect tools for this time of year.  If only we could get into Minecraft and have a Mrs. Stegall TNT Festival and put some STEM ideas into practice there!
Yes, I know this is sarcastic and hostile but seriously, I've been part of the testing thing for 15 years and it's a miracle I haven't put one of my own eyes out yet watching colleagues and children enter this arena like they were heading into shark zone without a cage. Grrrr..........
 I will be posting my rollercoaster score to see who can beat me this week during library time!  Might be a fuzzy pencil reward in here somewhere!  Still wishing we had Minecraft because truly Minecraft is it's own reward! Just being able to set yourself on fire eliminates the need for rewards like fuzzy pencils. In the meantime, we'll see who can beat my rollercoaster score!

Energy Lesson

My favorite of the three energy stations was the brain pop roller coaster creator.  It took me a while (first my coaster was getting stuck, then it was crashing), but I kept making minor trial-and-error adjustments until it stopped just right.  I am curious to know how my coaster was similar/different to others in my group.  It would've been great to have more time to screen share or something!

Once I got it just right, I felt so proud, I showed my husband!  He wants to play on the site now too.

I looked at the brain pop app on my school iPad, but it does not include the games.  I am hoping to let students experiment with this site--they will just have to take turns on the class computers.  Brain pop also has mini videos that could help students get some background knowledge before they start the coaster game.

Thank you for sharing this site!  I've had the app on my iPad since the beginning of the year.  Now I want to explore it to see what we've been missing! :)

Reflection of 3/24 Class

Class
I'm pretty sure I audibly groaned when we were introduced to the lobe problem. Teaching Kindergarten for 10 years doesn't give you a lot of opportunity to keep your higher math skills honed. Thank goodness I taught a sprinkling of 4th and 5th grade over the years as well! Still, I want to be honest and share that solving problems every class is not what I enjoy. I know our instructors are working to make our classes interactive and share learning experiences to help us "feel" the lesson possibilities instead of just being talking heads. And they're doing a great job. If we don't experience some discomfort, how can we relate to our students, right?

Having said that, I will admit that the hour we spent working the lobe problem (attempting to solve for density, mass and volume with little to no concrete information) went quickly. The slides included some information, a grid map (that totally threw one of our team members off), a "slice" of mass composition, and a page to record assumptions and calculations. We quickly agreed on certain roles for efficiency of fact gathering (one person grabbed formulas for particulates included in the mass, I started noting the data that was provided in the summary of the lobe and roughing out calculations/assumptions, another worked on bringing meaning to the grid, etc.), and then we came back together to collectively think through the assumptions and calculations we made. It was a great group to work with and we ended up coming up some some logical assumptions, working through the math, and towards the end, rapid selection of percentages of the lobe material composition. I think that was the most fun part because we were out of time and just had to pick!

Project
We are busy building! The section of the map that we needed to include the area where the river changed course has proved to be very challenging! My students, after much "deliberation" (that sounded a bit like arguing) decided to start at sea level because they just couldn't figure out how to manipulate the landscape without. Lots of comments like, "that is totally in the wrong place", "there's not hill there, that's river bed", "well, the road needs to go there according to the map, so that mountain is totally not right". So, they got really quiet and very intent once they had a clear map and each decided which area they could work in without getting in each others' way.