Thursday, September 16, 2010

Reality Check Inventions

The Students have designed some inventions and spoken about the on ustream.
I was impressed by the creativity that went into ideas such as the “ultimate hair brush”,
”The Magniball wall” and the “Super Alpaca feeding station”. The ability to adapt, change and think in different ways shows that young students are able to move from designing to inventing. Well done.

It takes bit of strength to get up in front of the camera. There is a pause for about 30 seconds while one student gets up the courage to show what they invented.

 


Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Learning to collaborate? – Games can help

Did anything come out of our collaboration using the Xbox game viva piƱata yes it did!

A recent Visit From Ewan McIntosh Reminded me of some key factors

  • A shared interest or goal makes for a good opportunity to share: blogs and information. It creates that purpose for communication
  • Problems often require communication to solve: a puzzle is a good place to start a collaboration
  • When you are describing something new and dynamic you can’t rely on others you have a unique experience to describe
  • The imaginary world of games reflects the real world, presenting lots of opportunity to think and bring ideas together

Next Term a Syndicate at school has decided to put an Xbox in each class and use them for Creative Writing. I am excited by the  prospect of this an hope that I can be involved in some way. Will blog about this as it takes place.

  • There is still a lot of reluctance to recognise the

    potential

    of Games in Learning
  • Viva la revolution

Learning to collaborate? – Games can help from Media team on Vimeo.


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Connected Schools – Six mths in

We have been working as a professional learning community for six months and we can see impact in the video below.

With the project comes regional goals and as leaders what I see as crucial now is:

  • Communication with other schools (newsletter coming)
  • Collaboration with others like the University and Polytechnic
  • Clear internal roles such as (organiser secondary voice)
  • Sharing of successes and failures (learning)
  • Strategic planning for sustainability and engagement
  • The creation of Reuseable and AAA (anytime ,anywhere, anyhow) material

Great to watch a lot being picked up from our community development day and being used by the students,
EBooks , Voicethread, numeracy interactives. This will make for engaged learners and improved learning outcomes.

Connected Schools Six Months in from Media team on Vimeo.

Hamilton Schools working together to create a professional learning community for themselves and other educators.


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Digital Citizenship – a big ask

We have students with connectivity and a number of choices to make.
We can protect them to a certain extent and of course we do by filtering and
education B U T in the end we can only do so much ….

I have spoken to students about this and asked them to collaborate on a document where they are asked

What we think as students about digital citizenship.....
What the school should do about students who download age restricted material is ...
How the School should try to protect students from things on the internet is ...
Should the school lock down computers so that we can't install anything ? Why ? Why Not?
What we should be able to do with our computers is...
What we shouldn’t be able to do with our computers is...
Questions we have around digital citizenship are.

Will post back what this group thinks soon


Monday, August 23, 2010

6 Word Stories

6 Word Stories

Describe / Reflect / Wonder about these pictures in 6 words. Remember to write your name




Attribution:
www.flickr.com/photos/14239765@N00/535851460
Attribution:
www.flickr.com/photos/21222992@N00/1682989

Attribution:

www.flickr.com/photos/7764981@N05/2646109147














Leave some feedback for someone else in a different colour


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Inventions Scamper

Inventions Scamper

When we invent something we might have to look at something a different way and change things. This one way to help us think about things in a different way.

  • S = Substitute
  • C = Combine
  • A = Adapt
  • M = Magnify
  • P = Put to Other Uses
  • E = Eliminate (or Minify)
  • R = Rearrange (or Reverse)
dog bowl

Substiute - change metal for waterproof foldable plastic
Combine - a bowl that has a cushion pillow as part of it
Adapt - build the bowl into the deck of the house so sunk into floor
Magnify - make it so the bowl collects water from the roof or get fed from a tank
Put - it over a dogs mouth as a muzzle
Eliminate - foldable makes it flat and small
Rearrange - use a muzzle or a lead

Work as a team to make a Scamper


Thursday, July 22, 2010