Information Technology Education

A few weeks ago I introduced genius hour into my class.  Here's a quick introduction: My rationale for bringing this into my classroom is really founded on my beliefs that students come to me with ideas and questions.   They come with ideas for solutions to problems that they face in their lives and I wanted to give them the opportunity to explore these.  They started with describing a problem that they want to solve or a question they want to investigate.  Following this, they brainstormed possible solutions by sketching, writing, and doodling.  It was amazing to see their ideas take form and to hear about topics that matter to them.  One wants to come up with a jacket that makes you feel warm as soon as you put it on.  Several want to investigate ways to tackle Ebola.  Another set off exploring ways to package waffles and syrup on the go.  Yet another researched thorium as a new source of energy. The next step was for them to investigate wh...

Now that my students have had some great experiences with Scratch through debugging, creating debug-its and games, I thought it was time for them to have some authentic experiences connected to what computer programmers may do in the 'real-world.'  I immediately thought of how in any design field, be it architecture or software, the designer must create with the client's needs in mind.  These are the constraints, so to speak.  In other words, a house in the Philippines will have different features than a house in Seattle, Washington even though similar tools may be used to build and design both homes.  The same thing with programming.  The finished product will be very different, depending on the what the client or use wants and needs.  I had my students design something for a kindergarten teacher in my district.  She requested that they create an animation of a popular children's book in time for Halloween (note: real-world = timeframes and real deadl...

I was searching for resources to teach computer science just over a month ago and came across this site - Google CSFirst.  Not really knowing what it was, I went ahead and registered my school and myself...as an advocate, volunteer and guru...all at the same time.  All I know is that I will do anything to inspire my students to grow and learn in all areas, but in particular, those with a STEM focus.  It turns out that Google CSFirst, with its club framework as a way to introduce 4th -8th grade students to coding and computer science, is a fantastic way to do just this. I then go ahead and order a loaner set of headphones along with the peripheral materials offered on the site.  Within a week or two, my materials arrived and I was so impressed!  The support that Google CSFirst has provided along the way to implementation has been tremendous. There were student passports, sticker-badges, detailed scripted directions, certificates of completion and even post-it not...

This school year has brought new and interesting experiences.  I have been piloting new initiatives such as Google CS-First and ASU's STEAM Machines Club, both made possible due to generous support and a grant.  More on the STEAM Machines Club later. As a recent assignment, I asked my middle school students to work on a debug-it challenge: Scratch Debug-it Checklist: ___/3_ I have completed at least 3 Scratch Debug-its from 'Scratch,' ‘Superwhy’ and/or ‘Mak’s Debuggers’ studios. ___/1__  I have created one debug-it challenge. ____/1_  At least one other student has solved my debug-it. _____  I have posted my debug-it challenge to ‘Mak’s Debuggers.’ ____/10_ I have completed a reflection on my Scratch debugging experience that includes: -what was challenging about debugging -what was interesting about debugging -lessons you learned about debugging -how debugging relates to coding -any additional ideas or inspiration What made this experience interesting...

With a new school year comes new students who have not had a chance to meet one another, much less work together.  In order to build a community of learners who are ready to communicate, collaborate and work together productively to solve problems, it is critical to provide them with opportunities to do so.  This is where the marshmallow challenge comes in.  Learn more about it here: So, I had my students take the challenge.  I started by creating the 'challenge brief' in the form of a short video with a 007 theme, created using Powtoon: The emphasis was really on applying the engineering-design process which my classes explored last week to this hands-on challenge.  It was great to see the conversations and iterations as well as teams not content for their tower to stand at 45 cm and work to increase the height of it.  Pictures are here from the plan to build phases.

Click here  to learn more about Google CS First, an amazing opportunity for students in grades 4-8 to learn and do computer science.  All the information is provided to be successful is included and they are even networking and connecting volunteers in the community to help out with the student computer science clubs.  Just signed up for my school.  Excited to see where this will go!

Article is up on ISTE's hub - 3D printing in the elementary classroom http://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=115