Creating Coding Lessons – Grade 6-8: Part 2

Any time I try something new I get some unexpected results. Often I learn something new. Usually I tweak something. Sometimes I find a connection to something else. My students find the lesson easier or harder than I expected. I’ve even discovered that some of my basic assumptions were faulty before. This time is no different. This coding lessons reflection will be of dubious use to you without having read this post. Don’t let me dissuade you though, read away. What follows is an outline, and reflection on what I have done for the coding lesson I am working on so far.

I tend towards jumping right in, and being flexible as I go with new lesson ideas. I know that others prefer to have every moment planned out in advance (and there’s nothing wrong with that), but I am more comfortable winging it a bit. That isn’t to say I don’t have a plan, it’s more to say that my plans are fluid. I trust my research and experience to guide me as I go. This post is a bit different than usual as well. There are a lot of moving pieces to this lesson, and I’m writing to focus my own thinking in addition to documenting what I’m doing for others.

Refined Overview

I am working towards several goals in this lesson. First, I want to provide a solid foundation in computer science to my grade 8 students. Second, I want to introduce my students to some basic web design. Third, I want to give them an outlet for their desire to create. Fourth, I want my students to be less dependent on me for the knowledge they require, and finally I am exploring how to differentiate a performance based lesson across students of varying needs.

Students learn different subjects in different ways. Some students require more scaffolding than others in order to benefit from a lesson, other students learn best with more independence, and still others require something in between. I have always been of the opinion that it is not a given student’s responsibility to learn how I teach. Rather, it is my responsibility to teach how they learn. In the immortal words of Mr. Miyagi: “Teacher say, student do”. My hope here is that I can create a lesson for all students.

Assignments Thus Far

As mentioned here, I started of with a simple tutorial for the Talk to Me App in App Inventor 2. Additionally, I assigned the students to create a google site, populate it with an About Me page, a Links page, a Classwork page, and a Portfolio page. We did the tutorial, and the web site assignments together during class. They were also given a question to answer about computers in general.

Students are required to create a project page for each app, and to fill it with documentation and reflections on each project. After the first assignment they have been given several more in rapid succession. They were assigned the second part of the Talk to me App, the Ball Bounce App, and were tasked with making unique improvements for each app as well. All of the apps up to this point are part of App Inventor’s Hour of Code. As part of these apps we have discussed the concept of abstraction in computer science. Additional App assignments will be designed to cover other topics mentioned in my last post. As an assessment for this first, basic section I asked students to work through the set of tutorials under the Paint Pot App. This assignment is different as I am not giving students class time to complete it.

Coding Lessons Reflection

All assignments are given in the google classroom, and students are encouraged to ask any questions in the google classroom as well. They are also encouraged to answer each others questions.  The first App assignment, and the first web assignments are the only ones we do together in class. The rest will simply be assignments. Students are given class time to work on their assignments. I also expect them to answer many of their own questions through internet research.

There was some push back on these ideas at first, but students are really beginning to embrace this style. This manner of having video tutorials, and performance tasks is allowing me the time to help those students that need it while allowing other students to work at a more accelerated pace. I don’t know yet how the assessment will pan out. My goal is to have students doing work outside of class which will foster greater levels of collaboration on their sites, and in the classroom. My main concern with this is that some students may be unable to work from home because they lack a computer with internet. We’ll see.

I’ve mapped out the app assignments for the rest of the quarter already. I am however, still trying to fit in the concepts & practices I discussed in the first article. That portion is a moving target that I will revisit periodically. Certainly, the app assignments will have most of these ideas built in. My challenge will be to pull out these specific concepts & practices to shine a light on them. A lot of this will come into greater focus as student move away from tutorials, and into building their own unique ideas, but I need to keep them at the top of my mind.

Differentiation in Coding Lessons Reflection

One of the pleasant surprises I’ve come up with is that assigning work in this manner is exceptionally easy to differentiate. In my current class I have several students who are incredibly comfortable with the subject matter, several who are moderately comfortable, and several who need significant scaffolding in order to be successful. By taking myself out of the initial distribution of knowledge to my students, I allow myself to be available to scaffold where needed.

Additionally, by forcing my students to add unique features to their apps I have allowed my students the opportunity to dictate their own level of challenge. Improvements to an app can run the gamut from changing the color of the screen, to translating typed text into another language before “speaking” it. What I’m left with is a room full of engaged students who are given the exact amount of support they require. This has allowed me to view all of my lessons differently, and will change how I teach moving forward.

Next Steps

This Coding Lessons Reflection would be of reduced value without a discussion of where I plan to go next. The rest of the course will continue to be focused on App Tutorials, and web design. In order, the apps I will assign are:

• Magic 8 Ball
• Persisting Photos
• Android Mash
• Logo (App Template Here)
• Student Designed App Number 1
• Presidents Quiz
• No Text While Busy
• Socially Aware App
• Student Designed App Number 2 (Final)

 

As time goes on the tutorials begin to focus on specific features without repeating information. Many deal with some pretty advanced programming concepts so, I’ll have to pay close attention to how my students are doing. There’s a good deal of work left to do on this unit, and I expect to make revisions as I go. I will continue posting about what is going on with the apps individually, as well as what’s happening in my classroom. The really interesting items will be what the kids come up with for individual apps.

Conclusion

Though I am essentially 20% through this first iteration of my coding lessons curriculum there are still a huge number of questions that need answering. I feel like it is going well, and I am excited to see how everything pans out in the end.

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STEM Drop-In Friday: Iteration With Paper Helicopters

One of the things I like to do in my classroom is what I like call STEM Drop-In lessons. Periodically I come up with a mini project for the kids to do that will teach an engineering concept in a single class period while spending little to no money. The STEM Drop-In uses inexpensive materials, and allows my students a great deal of exploration in their learning.  I also try to pick projects that are expandable, and easy to customize so I can possibly back up what they happen to be working on in their other classes. In this particular case I am looking for my students to work on three separate concepts. First, they are exploring the engineering design concept of iteration. Second, this STEM Drop-In has them experientially research the science & technology of flight. Third, this project has them working with data. This quick and cheap lesson not only hits every STEM subject, but also fulfills three of four adolescent needs with fun, competency, and autonomy. Here we go!

Materials Needed:

• This picture.
• Paperclips.
• Scissors.
• Stop Watches (Optional).
• Paper, Pencils, and Masking Tape.

 

What to Teach:

With this lesson you are leveraging the engineering concept of Iteration to teach science content in the form of flight science, and math content in the use of data. A quick aside: For those of you who have been following my posts on rockets or robots, you will note that I try to fit data into everything I do in the classroom. I do so because we all live in a world that is absolutely awash in data. Every move you make, every click you take, every post you write, and every status update you “like” generates data. In the work place of the future the ability to use, and analyze data will be a skill in high demand. Let’s all work give our students as many future advantages as possible. They deserve it!

How to Teach this STEM Drop-In:

You will start by following the link above, and printing out enough copies of the picture to give your students each 2 sheets. Two sheets will give them templates enough for 6 Helicopters. You may also want to pass out a couple of sheets of blank copy paper, in case students wish to iterate with complete autonomy.

The first iteration is your control, or baseline prototype. You will have the students cut along the solid lines, and fold along the dotted ones. They will then place a paper clip on the bottom, hold the helicopter at shoulder level, and drop it. If you are using stop watches they should time how long it takes for the helicopter to hit the floor, and write that number down. Have the students compare each others times, and have a quick discussion about whether it is a fair test.

It certainly isn’t a fair test because students are different heights, and drop the helicopters differently. You now have the opportunity to introduce another engineering concept, which is the idea of what makes a fair test. If you are already teaching a robotics problem solving unit, or want to in the future this is a good opportunity to introduce a helicopter dropping robot challenge to your curriculum.

To expand the lesson discuss how data is measured and used, and talk about the baseline you’ve established with the first Helicopter. Be sure to have your students do at least three drops per iteration in order to get an average sample. You will want to make certain to stress that they will be presenting their findings to the class, and need to have data to back up what they discover.

The Experiment:

Now for the Autonomous Iteration. Have your students choose from the options below, and redesign their helicopter with that in mind. This is the appropriate time to talk about drag, lift, and aerodynamics with the students.

• Can they make it fall slower?
• How about make it fall faster?
• Maybe, make it spin more?
• Possibly, make it spin less?
• What about make it behave unexpectedly?
• Come up with an iteration concept or two on your own. Feel free to explore!

 

You can give them as few, or as many iterations on this concept as you would like. After you have allowed sufficient time for some good exploration, have your students present their findings to the group. They should have data to show that proves their results. That’s it. Just a quick little STEM drop in for when your students need a break from their normal classwork.

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