Milobo’s Musings

So, a friend from another school and I decided to write grants for LEGO Robotics kits and video cameras that we could use to teach math, science and problem solving.  We spent a weekend putting it all together and were excited when our grants were awarded.  The problem, however, was that each of us only received half of the money we needed. It meant we didn’t have enough equipment for either of us to fully implement the project.  We decided to buy what we could and then plan our units so that we’d combine our materials and each have the equipment every two weeks.  Every other Friday we’d meet and move the equipment between our two schools.

After a couple of weeks, we began to notice that our students were slipping tiny notes into the LEGO cases to one another.  “Make sure to use the little gears on your wheels – it’ll go faster.”  “Hi my name is Eric and I used this kit.” and so on.  We asked our principals if we could set up an online collaboration between our classes to allow them to talk and share what they were learning.

Every Wednesday and Friday, we opened a chat between our two schools so that the students could type messages to one another.  They shared building and programming tips as well as general “kid stuff.”  It helped them to work on their writing and conversation skills while communicating with their peers.

At the end of our units on simple machines, we planned to have the students build examples using their LEGO kits and then create videos to teach the rest of the class.  Our students asked if they could work with their “virtual buddies” to create their videos, so their communications became focused on dividing up the video into segments and deciding which group and school would be responsible for each piece.

We planned a field trip at the end of the unit for our students to meet in person and build four group videos out of the pieces they had created in class.  We set up computer stations in the school auditorium so students would have space to work in teams to create their video masterpieces.  At the end of the day, we served popcorn while the students crowded around the screen in the library to see the final product.

What did our students learn from this project?
• Science skills: Simple Machines,
• Math skills: Ratios, Scale, Proportion
• Communication skills: Writing for an audience, Outlining, Spelling, Grammar
• Collaboration skills: Working in teams, Compromise, Negotiation

Think this project sounds cutting edge for today’s classroom?

What if I told you that this project was from my classroom in 1993? The students used LEGO TC logo kits with an Apple IIe to build and program.  They used Macintosh LCII and III computers with 8MB of RAM and a 40MB hard drive to create and edit their video using KidPix and Premiere.  Their final videos were stored on a floppy and transferred to VHS tape so we could watch them on the only available television in the school, which was housed in the library.

To communicate between classes, we used a modem and an early version of Apple’s eWorld online service to open a chat between our schools.  I actually had to purchase a 100 foot phone cable to string down the hallway so that I could tie into the faculty lounge phone when we wanted to have our students chat.

I found myself cleaning out piles of photos last weekend and came across the pictures from that project. It got me to thinking about how many of the things we argue are “cutting edge” today are really just extensions of ideas that have been around for quite a while.
So let me ask that again.  Think this project sounds cutting edge for today’s classroom?