Strand: Digital Technologies processes and production skills
Sub Strand: Collect, access and present different types of data using simple software to create information and solve problems (ACTDIP009)
A WebQuest is an inquiry-based lesson format using information that comes from the web. These can be created using various programs, like PowerPoint or a simple word processing document that includes links to websites.
Students can make their own WebQuests using algorithms and simple programming skills. This has such a wide cross-curricular possibility. The aim could be History and the students can work in groups to program and design a digital WebQuest researching the History topics, all the while implementing valuable technology skills in creating these WebQuests. These can then be exchanged to other groups to explore.
Students will use the following skills:
Researching
Referencing
Digital Technologies
Design and Technologies
Along with an in depth understanding of the unit they are doing the WebQuest in, e.g. History or Geography
You can of course, let the students make a WebQuest (as mentioned above) in a PowerPoint with hyperlinks taking you straight to research material from the web. They can add diary notes and quizzes and even puzzles. This is a fun interactive way to learn 2 strands of the curriculum at the same time.
Sub strand: Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills
Link to the resource: https://www.plickers.com/
Cross curriculum priority & General Capabilities:
Information and communication technology capability
Critical and creative thinking
Numeracy
English
Links to other learning areas: This resource can be used in any learning area.
Content Descriptors: This resource can be linked to any content descriptors in the curriculum.
Overview of Resource: Plickers in an online assessment tool that teachers can use to quickly and efficiently gather information on students knowledge on a topic. The teacher creates a quiz on the plickers website and then uses an iPad or mobile phone to gather the information from students. This is done by distributing flash cards to each students that have a QR code on them. Students turn the R code to represent the letter they wish to use to answer the question on the quiz.
Using the Plickers app, the teacher scans the classroom and the app will scan the students answers and record them online. After completing the question the teacher can show students a poll of the answer and can ask questions to clarify why people may have answered incorrectly.
Results can be saved as a PDF and printed off for future reference and to assist in planning for future lessons.
How to use resource in the classroom:
This resource can be used to check students understanding of any topic in the classroom.
Quickly and efficiently gather assessment record to inform future teaching.
Dash and Dot are introducing young students to robotics and coding. Schools around the world and here in Western Australia are using these cute little critters to revolutionise learning with a focus on STEM. Five free Apps are available for use on iPads and Android devices, with more Apps on the way! This fun and engaging curriculum would make a great investment for any school with students from Kindergarten to Year 5 able to use Dash and Dot with ease.
Today, we will be looking at Dash who has been described as a child’s first real robot friend. In this digital world, Dash is helping students to understand more about coding, to think creatively and critically, as well as to explore and learn for themselves how things around them work.
Using the ‘Path’ App, students can plan, program and execute awesome adventures for Dash drawing on concepts fundamental to computational and systems thinking (“Path”, n.d.). Students learn:
Algorithm design
Command sequences
Control flow
Sensors and Events
Problem solving
Subject:Digital Technologies
Year Level: Year 5
Strand: Processes and production skills
Sub strand: Digital Implementation
Content Descriptor: Design, follow and represent diagrammatically, a simple sequence of steps (algorithm), involving branching (decisions) and iteration (repetition) (ACTDIP019)
Cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities: Literacy (LIT), Numeracy (NUM), Critical and creative thinking (CCT), Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Links to other learning areas: Maths
A classroom activity using this resource: Using Dash, students will design and sequence algorithms that include lights, sounds and moves. They will plan and consider the different locations that Dash will visit using a coordinate grid. Students will then problem solve the distances and movements required by Dash – forward and backwards, left to right – to travel successfully on the coordinate grid. They will also use systems thinking to find solutions to any problems they can not solve. (Eckstein, n.d.)
This resource can be integrated successfully in several learning areas including the Arts, Science, Geography, Literacy and Numeracy. For example:
Students can use their imagainations to write about the adventures of Dash and Dot.
Students, Dash and Dot can also discover the countries of the world.
Students can teach Dash and Dot to dance and make music.
Other considerations:
Whole school approach to coding which can be used in all year levels from K-5
A wide range of accessories to support different ages of students and their abilities
Five free Apps with more on the way
Teachers can access ready made and trailed lesson plans
Teachers share their lesson plans with others in the teacher portal
Strong links to STEM
Opportunities for students to move beyond substitution, augmentation and modification
Redefine student learning with access to the student portal in which students can participate in clubs, challenges and contribute their own work
References:
School Curriculum and Standards Authority [ACARA]. (2016) Digital Technologies. Retrieved from http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/p-10-curriculum/curriculum-browser/technologies/digital-technologies2
Eckstein, M. (n.d). Coordinate Moves with Dash. Retrieved from https://teachers.makewonder.com/lessons/coordinate-moves-with-dash
Path. (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.makewonder.com/apps/path
TTPM Toy Reviews. (2015, June 9). Path App from Wonder Workshop [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ZrxtjsHKk
Minecraft has been described as “first person Lego.” Within this digital world you can create almost anything. I have linked this review with the SCASA digital technologies curriculum for Western Australia 2015.
In creative mode you can build 3D structures, you can even build replicas of famous buildings and create art galleries just to name a few options:
Students can collaborate in a multiplayer world that they can design themselves, the teacher can set tasks based in Mathematics or physics for example. There is the ability for importing and exporting of data so that the teacher can control what is going on in the game.
MinecraftEdu (https://minecraftedu.com) was created for use in schools. Below is a YouTube clip that gives a fast paced overview of the school-ready version of the original game.
The sky really is the limit with this technology. The only boundary is how far the teachers are able and willing to go to fully utilise the learning and fun that is to be had from MinecraftEdu.
Sub-Strand: Present data of any kind using a variety of digital tools (ACTDIP003)
Elaboration: Exploring and creating graphs to represent classroom data, for example collecting data on the country of birth of each student and presenting the results as a picture graph.
Where to locate the resource: App store
General Capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, Information and Communication Technology Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking
Links to other learning areas: Literacy, Numeracy, The Arts, Science, Geography, History
Resource Description:
Educreations can be used on devices such as an iPad or Interactive Whiteboard. It is simple and fun to use for a variety of age groups. You are able to; annotate, animate and narrate an idea or concept. Teachers are able to create instructional videos to share with students and vice versa. Students may use Educreations to show their teacher what they know about a subject or simply to teach a friend how to do something. This will enable teachers to use this app as an assessment tool in various subjects and then keep a record of it on their own online Educreations account which will be available at all times. The Educreations can then be shared via link, email or even embedded in your classroom blog. It is a great resource for classroom teachers.
Arduino (or Genuino if located outside of the USA) is an open-source prototyping computer platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It consists of a company, project and user community that designs and creates kits in the form of Arduino boards, for building digital devices that can sense and control items in the physical world. Arduino boards can read inputs, such as a light on a sensor or a Twitter message, and transform it into an output, such as turning on an LED or publishing something online.
Students can control what their board does by sending instructions to the board’s microcontroller in Arduino programming language on the Arduino’s software. Arduino has been the catalyst for thousands of projects, shared on the Arduino’s worldwide interactive community as additional learning tools.
The company was started in 2005 at the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy, as a simple tool for students without a background in electronics and programming. Over time the tool has gradually become more open-source (be built independently/adapted for differing needs) and less expensive (pre-assembled modules cost less than $50). It runs on computers and is easy-to-use for beginners but flexible for more advanced users.
Arduino step-by-step tutorials and procedures can be used by teachers and students to “build low cost scientific instruments, to prove chemistry and physics principles, or to get started with programming and robotics”.
Subject: Technologies
Year Level: 5+
Strand: Digital Technologies
Knowledge and Understanding
Processes and Production
Sub Strands:
Digital Systems
Representation of Data
Digital Implementation
Creating Solutions by: Investigating and Defining, Designing, Producing and Implementing, Evaluating, Collaborating and Managing
Cross Curriculum Priorities and General Capabilities:
Literacy (specific coding and programming language); Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability (understanding digital systems, procedures and computational thinking); Critical and Creative Thinking (problem solving, innovating and designing); Personal and Social Capability (project management, collaboration); Ethical Understanding (understanding safe procedures, complex issues associated with technology and consider possibilities); Sustainability (recycling, use of resources).
Links to Other Learning Areas:
Science, Technologies (Design), English, Maths, The Arts.
Arduino can simply be applied to any primary school learning area as the Ardunino boards act as a creative tool that allows students to use technology to manipulate the real world in a range of contexts – from robotics, to models, to experiments.
How to use this Resource:
Read an introduction to Arduino
Read the necessary guides related to the program: e.g. What is the Arduino Software and how to change the default language; Using and installing Arduino Libraries; How to install and manage Cores; etc…
Install the Arduino Software onto your computer (Windeows, Mac OS X, Linux.
Prior to this lesson students have completed web quests based on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal. The students have been introduced to the these briefly and models were used as a way to build interest/queries. Students were able to pull apart the models and look at the structure and design of these. Students completed these tasks in pairs/small groups.
Lesson two:
Continuing on from the end of lesson one students have come up with five questions per group based on the information collected through the web quests.
A class discussion is used as a debrief to recap the previous lesson and check for understanding. Students share question examples and analyse what makes a good question and wether they fit in the criteria.
Students are explicitly taught step by step how to create a Google form online.
In pairs students create Google forms then using prior knowledge/skills they are required to share their form online via the class blog
For students who work at a faster pace than others allow some time to explore Google forms and change the design/layout or add more questions.
Once the links have been shared on the blog instruct students to select another groups form and complete it. Students must screenshot their results and post them as a comment on the blog that the URL was found.
To conclude the lesson students should return to the smart board area and as a class go through two-three groups quizzes depending on time. Students are encouraged to discuss the answers to questions focussing on the design and impact of the renewable energy sources. This is also used as an opportunity to check for confusion and clear up any misconceptions. Students are also given a brief description of the upcoming tasks of completing Electrocity, an online program that allows you to design a sustainable and environmentally friendly city.
This is also used as an opportunity to check for the series of lessons I have planned not only link with science but they cover literacy, numeracy, ICT and design.
Safety and risk management are fairly minimal with the lesson sequences planned. As year six students they are aware of the online protocols and correct form of communication. Students are required to share information/ideas through a class blog online and create a Google form that is only visible to the class/people that have been invited to view.
To enhance critical thinking:
Students are involved throughout the entire process of the five series lesson and are rarely sitting around wasting time or not paying attention. To enhance students critical thinking it is important to pose questions in a way that requires students to analyse their knowledge. Asking questions such as how does the structure of a wind turbine affect its prices of converting energy rather than why do turbines have three blades? It is important to foster a student-centered environment where collaboration is encouraged. Students are able to work off of one another’s ideas and challenge/promote critical thinking
Alternative approaches to assessment:
Students are being assessed on their ability to design, create and share an online quiz to gather information regarding other students knowledge and communicate in safe environment that allows shared input. Another way to assess students understanding could include building their own renewable energy resource to replace the ones currently in place. Students could further this by evaluating and predicting the effect on the environment using the knowledge they have obtained from the web quest process.
Please find the link to task three below to find more information/lesson activities and assessment.
Cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities
Critical and creative thinking (CCT),Personal and social capability (PSC),Literacy (LIT), Intercultural Understanding (ICU), Sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
Links to other learning areas
English, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences
A classroom activity using this resource
Discuss catchments with the students- What are they? Why are they important? What do they look like? A brief video can be used to accompany this discussion. Students then plan and create their own model of a catchment using a variety of resources provided, ensuring to waterproof the catchments with varnish once complete. The catchment models can then be tested by pouring water through them and observing the pathway the water takes through the model.
Upon completion, students can reflect upon the task. Were their any complications? Can it be improved? How does the model help us to understand the effects of pollution? Students can also observe and critique the work of their peers.
How to use this resource
Upon visiting the Water Corporation of WA website, access can be gained to a number of teaching lesson plans and resources by clicking on the ‘Teachers’ Tab at the top, right hand side of the webpage. The plans include links to resources and support material necessary to conduct each lesson; specific learning outcomes; key vocabulary; and extension activities. Additionally, the lessons are linked to the Australian curriculum, in particular the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.
TeacherLED is a website dedicated to interactive whiteboard and tablet resources for teachers. The website has resources for measuring angles, addition games, thinking skills, fraction resources and many more. In each category there are multiple activities to use at the teachers’ discretion which are educational and maintain student attention. The website was created by a teacher in the UK.
Navigation:
From the homepage you select a topic e.g. time.
Now inside ‘time’ you have different topics.
Once you have selected a topic e.g. Time Digital to Analogue it has a description on how to use the resource.
Youtube for schools is an engaging way to assist students learning in multiple content areas. It also allows you, your class and your school to look at educational content, view the works of other school communities and upload and publish your own educational work which as a result, can help students in other schools.
Secondly, Youtube for schools is suitable for all age groups from K-12. It helps bring a lesson to life in the sense that it offers opportunities for engagement, stimulates discussion and higher order thinking, allows you to learn from other teachers and students, to educate safely via the internet and most importantly- it’s free!
Rather than watching videos via youtube for schools to assist in general learning, you can set projects for your class to make their own educational video that may help students and teachers from other schools learn about a particular topic, skill or theme.
This resource could be used for both digital or design and technology subject areas depending on what your lesson or project task was and your intended learning outcomes. Possible tasks using this resource have the ability to involve a range of skills such as ; collecting; analysing; representing data; designing; planning; creating; evaluating; reflecting; generate ideas; work collaboratively; and work independently. It also allows students to look at interactions and impacts things have; to investigate a topic or problem and explore a vast range of information safely; and to critique the work of another and consider solutions.
Curriculum links: You can use this resource for any age group ranging from years 1 to 7. For example:
Year 1: Technologies and society: People produce familiar products and services to meet personal and community needs (ACTDEK001) (Knowledge and understanding).
Year 2: Investigating and designing: Explore design to meet needs or opportunity (Process and production skills).
Year 5: Food specialisations: Food safety and hygiene practices (ACTDE022).
Year 7: Designing: design, develop, review and communicate design ideas, plans and process within a given context, using a range of techniques, appropriate technical terms and technology (Process and production skills).
Arduino
