Changes for 2017-2018 School Year

Changes for this school year include adjusting the student menu I used in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, continuing research or robotics in the classroom, applying for new opportunities, and implementing new ideas such as BreakoutEDU lessons.

The student menus I used last year were comprehensive and designed to cover a year's worth of instruction. Students were required to complete the main dishes and choose from the different side dishes. The main dishes were projects that we had typically completed whole class in previous years. My goal was to allow students to choose the order in which to complete projects as well as choosing areas of interest. However, for 3rd grade students, I ran into challenges of not enough direct instruction time for the different technologies. Also, not all students completed all the main dishes, which were projects I wanted all students to complete. It was also difficult for me to assist all students since there were so many projects going at one time. Students could ask classmates for assistance since they were all working on different projects.  This year, I will have the opportunity to offer more direct instruction and we will complete all projects whole class. The menus will offer students an opportunity to work on additional projects when they complete the main project the class is working on. This will allow all students to work mastery still and complete projects at their own pace. Additional days can be offered as time permits to fie students additional class time to work on menu projects.

Last year, we had a large team of teachers and students who participated in NASA MgUE. I would like to look for more opportunities to involve the students in real-world projects. One opportunity is the Astrosat competition http://astrosat.ardusat.com/. Students submit one minute videos about what they would hope to learn from a science experiment in space for a chance to be selected to participate in the awesome project. I also look for new grant opportunities that bring new and engaging experiences my students. We received a FabSLAM grant through the Idaho STEM Action Center that provides training to two staff members on the 3D printing competition and helps them facilitate at team of students to participate in the local and possibly national competition. Please comment if  you have other opportunities that would be appropriate for K-5 students.

Finally, I tried my first BreakoutEDU https://www.breakoutedu.com/ lesson this year with students in 1-5 grades. I had a different lesson for the students in 1-3 and a more challenging lesson for students in 4-5. All the classes loved the challenge and look forward to completing another BreakoutEDU lesson. My biggest challenge was when I had a lock that I reset and managed to foul it up. I improvised and all wen well until I could cut the lock off. At times it was challenging switching between the two different lessons since I only had one class setup for the lesson. However, with time I was able to minimize the amount of time it took and became very adept at switching the codes for the various locks, except the one that had to be cut off.

There are of course other changes that I implement as needed and opportunities arise. I will try to keep up my blog this school year so that I can share successes and challenges. I would love to hear what others are doing as well.

Update on Student Choice Menus

Since I only see my students once a week, my third-fifth grade classes have only been working on their menus for four weeks.  The first day of use was the honeymoon.  It seemed like all the students understood how to use the menus and progress from project to project.  However, the honeymoon was short lived.  The second day of class it appeared some repetition of how the menu should be used was needed.  I will say that the older the grade level the easier it was to implement.  Fifth grade is doing the best by far.  Third grade needs the most reminders.  However, third grade students have not completed any similar projects as listed on the menu before.  Therefore, the result is actually realistic and makes perfect sense for the students' prior experiences.

I thought I would be required to do less talking, but more monitoring of student progress.  Nevertheless, I have discovered that I talk more to explain the next steps in some of the main dishes and to remind students how to prepare to have their projects checked on an individual basis.  It has been fun to see students able to move at their own pace through various projects and be able to pursue their interests to a certain degree.  A third grade student came up to hug me while I was on duty outside at recess.  She told me she loved the menus in engineering.  While I am making adjustments to improve the implementation and use of menus, I believe they are serving the reason I chose to use them.  I want students to engage and find their interests in the learning opportunities offered in the elementary engineering lab.

I am excited for upcoming years of use because I will only need to teach new students and incoming third grade students how to use the student choice menus.  I am working to balance talking whole class to students as compared to individual instructions.  The student choice menus in classes of 32 students makes it difficult to assist students as needed and monitor students who might be using their time ineffectively.  I am also trying to improve my ability to monitor student progress to be able to readily assist students who may be struggling with using their time wisely and efficiently.

Student Choice Menus in Engineering

Well, I did it.  I created my Menus for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade engineering.  I have been introducing them to the classes this past week.  It has gone remarkably well.  I go through the process of asking the students if they all run the mile at the same time in P.E.  Do they all finish their classwork at the same time?  Or, finish reading a book at the same time.  I explain to them that building is the same.  This seems to make perfect sense to the students.

Realistically, this is probably just the honeymoon of the new instructional practice, but I have high hopes for students to progress at their own pace and increase engagement with less down time listening to me explain what they will be doing each day.  I know I will have to continually monitor and check in with all the students, but I think this will take pressure off the less experienced builders while allowing the more experienced students to try builds that will challenge them.

I am including links to the menus I created for my class, as well as, project guidelines for some of the projects listed in the Main Dishes.

3rd Grade Menu
4th Grade Menu
5th Grade Menu

3rd Grade Rube Goldberg Project
4th and 5th Grade Explorer Robotics Project
5th Grade 3D Printing Project

Changes for the 2016-2017 School Year

Students started back for the new school year this past.  The past four years as the elementary engineering teacher has led to me seeking as much professional development as possible and changes each year in instructional practices.  I have also completed my Ed.D. in Educational Technology during these past four years and hope to publish more about the use of educational technology in the elementary engineering classroom.  With the "extra time" I know have after completing my coursework, I want to begin by publishing academic papers from my dissertation data and providing more resources for teachers who are interested through this blog.

During the past four years, instruction in the elementary engineering lab has focused on hands-on, problem-based learning.  Students work individually, with partners, and in small groups depending upon the project.  Projects include building working models with LEGOs, K'NEX, and Fischertechnik.  In addition, students complete 3D printing projects.  Students in first through fifth grade use robotics.  First and second grade students use the LEGO WeDo robots.  Third through fifth grade students use LEGO Mindstorms.  Fourth and fifth grade students complete a problem-based project with robotics that focuses on identifying a problem, designing a robotic solution, and building and testing the working solution.

As I mentioned to the students last week, sometimes when we try something new it doesn't work.  I told students we are going to try this and do our best to make it work. Updates on the progress of these new changes will be coming along with additional resources I am using in the classroom.

Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning Resources:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/science-inquiry-claim-evidence-reasoning-eric-brunsell
https://www.nsta.org/elementaryschool/connections/201104ClaimsEvidenceRubric.pdf
http://www.activatelearning.com/claim-evidence-reasoning/
http://bpssciencecer.weebly.com/examples-from-workshop.html

Student Menu Choices:
http://curry.virginia.edu/uploads/resourceLibrary/nagc_choice_menus.pdf

Bono's Six Thinking Hats Resources:
http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php
http://sisdtx.sharpschool.com/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=17274974