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I like that your activity is based on a local event that the children can identify with and possibly have knowledge of themselves or a trusted adult has knowledge of. I think it is age appropriate as the children in 5th and 6th class are learning more independently, choosing their own content and are also preparing for secondary school where researching topics will be a key part of their education. It is also an age where there may be beginning to follow sources of information and opinion online which may not be accurate or unbiased. One extension could be to task three groups with reporting a fictitious event from the perspective of three or four sources, an eyewitness, a trusted national broadcaster, AI and a social media influencer. The children might explore the motivations, rules, ethics and delivery of each.
I would use google maps to plan a journey as an AI literacy activity and discussion. I would start with a discussion on google maps and how they route it gives doesn’t always work out best. The third class SESE curriculum covers maps, directions and ariels views. The learning intentions I would have would be to critical assess the accuracy of AI predictions. I would use the questions.
Who created this output? / Who is giving you directions.
How did they gather this data? / Does AI actually live here.
How did they make this prediction? / How did AI predict the best route to your destination.
What might be missing?
What should a human decide? / Does the AI in Google maps know an area better than the humans living there.
The concept I would explore is how AI is meant to help us be needs human critical thinking, decisions and oversight and how not to be over reliant on AI, that it is meant to supplement knowledge and help rather than be the only source of information.The demo lesson I chose was Hour of Code : Inclusion
Two villages , The Villagers and The Illagers share the same space but don’t really interact with each other. You create code to bring the two villages together experiencing empathy and compassion, learn cooperation and inclusion and to embrace diversity.
The Villagers have three coding challenges, building a dock, befriending an Illager’s pet ravager and protecting a beet farm. The Illagers challenges are to prepare a field for farming, help kids get their ball and build a motorized railway. Each challenge provides an opportunity for the two villages to learn from each other and cooperate with each other.
The learning objectives are
Understand the importance and benefits of diversity, including the role of diversity and inclusion in a community
Understand bias and recognize how it may cause harm
Create coding solutions that include sequences, iteration, and loops
Decompose (break down) the steps needed to solve a problem into a precise sequence of instructions
Iterate on coding solutions to complete a task
There is a walk through and intro video as well as an answer key. The performance expectations guide you through discussion prompts about diversity and inclusion as well as a CALM method of problem solving. I think it would link perfectly with SPHE as well as SESE. There is a lot conflict in the world and although the children are young they do have exposure to this and it is important to provide opportunities to explore and discuss this. I would probably use the world as it is until I got more used to Minecraft and more comfortable with it.<span style=”color: #163c42;”><span style=”font-family: Arial, sans-serif;”><span style=”font-size: small;”>I looked at this demo lesson and the lesson plans and resources that go with it. This demo lesson could support students understanding of staying safe online. I think the following from the guiding ideas section is very important part of STEM learning. <span style=”color: #262423;”>Students will exercise critical thinking to make responsible and safe decisions on the Internet. As an instrumental part of this experience, trusted adults will be embedded into gameplay. Students should always feel confident to engage with trusted adults for help.</span> </span></span></span>
<span style=”color: #163c42;”><span style=”font-family: Arial, sans-serif;”><span style=”font-size: small;”>This lesson is an effective way of teaching children this. This lesson links very effectively with the 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> class Stay Safe program. The topics of staying safe online, sharing personal details and identifying details is explored in one of the lessons.</span></span></span>
Such a lovely idea and an effective catch and collect game. I wonder if there is a way to code to vary the flower colours or add different flower sprites falling down. If it was possible it might be a way to explore how not all flowers provide food for the bees. Perhaps some flowers might earn a point while others might lose a point. I had several bugs in my code but I didn’t manage to identify and fix some of them. I was completing several blocks of code at a time and not testing after each one. It seems that you were doing it the right way and testing each step at a time to identify bugs and debug.
Game type : Catch / Collect
Game Title : Module 3
Catch / Collect game link https://makecode.com/_Y5vPHF7azJi3
Curriculum Area and Objective : Use familiar Gaeilge vocabulary.
As a Gaelscoil it can be difficult at times to find material that is of interest to the children and relevant to their lives. Being able to incorporate language lessons into creating and coding a game would not only ensure interest and participation it would also give them useful everyday language and vocabulary and an opportunity to share a real world experience of playing a computer game as Gaeilge with their peers.Simple Story board
Location / Player / Game Elements: The game is located in space. There in an airplane/ spaceship named Flymo, an enemy supernova and fuel cannisters.
Goal: Flymo must reach the fuel cannister while avoiding being blown up by the supernova.
Computational Thinking – Debugging. The scoring was not correct and my sprite was leaving the screen as I had forgotten to add stay within screen. I haven’t managed to debug the scoring yet or the sounds.
The countdown is such a useful and versatile microbit code. It could be used as a countdown to a challenge in pairs or small groups eg how many names can you think of starting with the letter or skip counting. The code could be lengthened to add a second countdown after go indicating the amount of time you have to name as many as you can. This would involve some computational thinking as they would have to break down the steps between the original Go countdown and the finish countdown. Recognition and repetition of pattern in creating code would also be explored. Each child could design their own countdown to go with their challenge incorporating real life problems and creating real life games.
After completing the tutorials I chose to try the smile tutorial. The link is https://makecode.microbit.org/_bJe8F45vy2aD
I chose a small heart, surprise face, big heart, happy face on a loop with the string cheer up! at the end. I tried putting music with it. The music played with the blocks but not with the simulator so there is something I need to debug.I would use this as an exploration of feelings with the children. They could choose an icon and match a simple tune to go with it eg ducks make me happy and a happy tune. I have a younger class level so I think this would appeal to them.
I agree that the children can be distracted by the technology and and creativity of STEM lessons and that unplugged activities would be a great way of focusing their attention on acquiring and practicing specific skills. As I also teach a multiclass I really liked the idea of mixed class groups working together on a STEM activity. As well as the younger children learning from the older children it also requires the older children to explain their thinking and using their questioning and reflecting skills. Younger children can also be more confident in coming up with creative ideas to solve a problem without being too worried about if it will work or not. Older children who can be more focused on getting things right are more comfortable and open to failure around younger peers. Perhaps the older children could create quizzes or games to practice vocabulary for the younger children ( there are games where you can enter the focus vocabulary). It could be a form of buddy teaching using technology or create collaborative storybooks.
One strength in my current practice is my regular use of Ipads to facilitate learner experiences. I have a large mixed class of 1st and 2nd class. There are a lot of really great literacy and numeracy resources which allow the children to practice what we are working on in class independently and at their own pace. The math resources are particularly good for practicing math problems involving reasoning and practical math like time and money. In my experience these resources are far more effective than math books and copies for these areas. I have also used ICT resources to explore and create art and music.
Although I do use digital resources with puzzles and logic activities I have left the children work independently on them. I haven’t worked on them at a whole class level. Reading the breakdown of Computational Thinking skills and watching the Dreamspace tutorials I realised that I could work on some of these puzzles and challenges at a whole class level, promoting discussion and opportunities to use the new STEM vocabulary, explore problem solving attempts, strategies and predicting outcomes. As part of questioning and reflecting the children could work in pairs on a puzzle and then describe what actions they took, what worked or didn’t work and how they solved the puzzle. I feel that I could focus on the steps and vocabulary involved in computation thinking more.- <p align=”LEFT”><span style=”color: #163c42;”><span style=”font-family: Bahnschrift Light, sans-serif;”><span style=”font-size: medium;”>Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky? <i>For example: Look up President Michael D Higgins’ “Stardust”</i></span></span></span></p>
<span style=”font-family: Bahnschrift Light, sans-serif;”><span style=”font-size: medium;”>There were many great examples of night inspired songs, poems and art in the Forum. I thought I would look for some more unusual examples to add to these. Joseph O Connell an American sculptor has some beautiful kinetic sculptures inspired by the night sky, stars and planets. I found a website 9 Creations Inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night | Bromleys Art Supplies which has different interpretations of Vincent Van Goghs Starry Night. I think it would be good for the children to see a famous piece of art inspire and be interpreted in different ways. Of course there are Van Goghs other night time paintings like Cafe Terrace at Night and Starry Night over the Rhone. Not quite night inspired art but I came across pictures of cave paintings illuminated at night by torches which were quite evocative. I suppose it is artwork done at night time. The shadows and illumination really give a sense of living by the cycle of day and night and being enveloped in darkness at night with only moonlight and starlight. I looked up Aboriginal star art as suggested by one of the forum posters and came across this site. The Significance of Stars and the Sky in Aboriginal Art and Stories – Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery </span></span>
Such a lovely idea saying goodnight to the stars. I am often struck by the idea that people just like us have been looking up at the same night sky for tens of thousands of years.
It would be lovely to give the children an opportunity to show and share their work with their peers. It would help create a sense of school ownership and community. It might also lead to a school practice with younger classes taking on the role of biodiversity coordinators when their turn comes.
You could also upload pictures of the children’s work and suggestions on the schools social media page or contact a local paper.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
The school is situated at the edge of a town. We are lucky enough to have a lot of green area, hedgerows, birds, squirrels, passing foxes and we used to have frogs. I would start by showing them Albert Nolan’s video on biodiversity. The start of the What is biodiversity video would be suitable for the age group that I have but it might be a little too serious towards the end. I would ask them to explore the school grounds and note the plants that are growing there. We have ipads which they could use to take a picture of what they see and then use the Wildflowers of Ireland site to identify them. I would then give the children a blank copy of a biodiversity map of the grounds and ask them to mark the plants that they have found.
At a later time we could explore the creatures in the school grounds. We could use the umbrella trick under the trees and bushes, bird feeders at the windows would attract birds where the children could observe them and use the keys from the Heritage in schools resources to identify them. I could ask the children to imagine what other creatures could be around us that we don’t see, why don’t we see them and what clues might they leave for us. The national biodiversity database would give us some information on what creatures we could expect to find in the area. This could lead to a conversation about nocturnal creatures. As a homework assignment I could ask the children to do a nocturnal walk at home using the starter questions and predicting questions in the ESRO resource. The video resources on how creatures see at night were very child friendly and should spark the children’s interest on the impact of light pollution on these creatures.
We could then explore the relationship between the plants and creatures on the school grounds eg long grass for travel, hedgerows for passage and shelter, flowers , nuts and seedheads for food and water sources. there is a sports complex being built next to the school. When completed we could compare our biodiversity survey before and after the complex with it’s lighting. A small stream that used to be beside the site was blocked and we haven’t seen frogs since!
