Defined Learning

We used a portion of the Forensic project for a Forensic unit we had already designed. The activity compared the ratio of height to stride. This allowed math teachers to address ration and proportion, which is a large part of middle school math,

I have been working through the UX Design project with an introductory coding course.  While the course is typically a primer to those learning python, the process of wireframing, mock-up, and prototyping is valuable to anyone learning coding.  We are nearly done with this project, as far as I can take it without altering the nature of the course by supplying additional learning about app builders.  Our focus is applications in Python, so taking too much instructional time to learn other applications for the project would be detrimental to other course goals.  Next step will be to learn the evaluation process through the platform starting next week sometime.

Stars-- The pros so far are that it has given another opportunity for group work. It has helped students to structure their brainstorming and planning process for building other code. That offers us a common language and techniques to brainstorm, wireframe, and plan our python code before we get started on those projects.  It opens the students up to methods of prototyping that encourage them to organize their creative process and the process of building the application.

Stairs-- As I am implementing this in an intro coding course focused on Python and a first exposure to coding we did not pre-teach how to use applications like Wix, or the various app buliders (Code.org/MIT) so it shifts the focus of the products with more weight on the wireframe, mock-up, and lessens the focus on the development of a working prototype and applying actual code to the skeltons they create.

It might make sense to enrich some of this with a more organized introduction to the applications listed as resources.  Direct linking to tutorials on specific skills needed in MIT app builder for example that focus in on a limited number of skills directly linked to the rubric would allow enough scaffolding that students who chose that route could access and use them in courses that don't directly focus on use of that application. Having the products landing pages branch out by having studentgs select an app to use, then walking through links to tutorials on how to use them would make this a fully coherent project with all resources embeded for them.

 additional general suggestion regarding the use of the platform:

 Having students review other groups projects, and their own, and use the rubric to evaluate them, would help students take a far deeper look at what they were supposed to walk away with for skills/knowledge. That process of self/peer evaluation, revisions, and resubmission is really vaulable and a very easy thing to build in to a platform like this one.

The rostering process is cumbersome. Having students generate accounts, and use join codes to access platforms is far less work for everyone. Since we are not syncing this platform with official grades, or other personal information, I don't see a need to have districts and teachers utilzing school IDs etc. and making for a more laborious process of adding the kids to the classroom.

We used the prosthetics unit and the students did the research as well as researching animals and prostheitcs. They then built a model prostetic hand using straws, cardstock and string. The students then developed a prostetic for an animal and designed it. The followed their plan, edited and carried out the plan and used stuffed animals to test for size etc. The teacher i worked with tied this into her STEMpathy unit all about empathy. It was a great unti to connect to and the students really enjoyed this task. We did take out the website due to time left in the quarter.