How Much Choice is Too Much?

Advanced PHP #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 21, 2016 at 12:24am PDT

The above picture was taken during the "maker club" activity I am supervising. It is an after school activity where students can work on what they are interested in within certain parameters. One of them is coding, and the above student was working on a website for a client of his.

Yes, a client. This student freelances as a web designer.

I am sure he does more. He has presented at technology conferences because he is an expert on internet security.

He is also in my MYP Design class.

During the maker space time, I asked what he was working on and he told me. After thinking about it for a little while, I wondered if he might rather work on his own projects during class. He would still need to do the things he would normally have to do for a design project - he would just be doing a different project.

I asked him if he would be interested in trying this for the next design cycle and he was very eager.

This is something he will be doing again next semester, but I wanted to give him something meaningful in the meantime.

Computational Thinking Resources

Computational Thinking is often related with Computer Science. That makes sense, they are related. The problem is when the thinking ends there.

Did you know you can use Computational Thinking in any subject?

The following quote is from Google's Computational Thinking Course:

Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem solving process that includes a number of characteristics and dispositions. CT is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including the humanities, math, and science. Students who learn CT across the curriculum can begin to see a relationship between academic subjects, as well as between life inside and outside of the classroom.

From the Google Computational Thinking for Educators Course 

Teaching Computational Thinking is also teaching critical thinking.

Team Computer Science Group Man by geralt via pixabay.com CC0

Here are a few resources I have recently come across to get you started.

Computational Thinking for Educators Course 

This MOOC from Google guides you through ways to integrate Computational Thinking into the courses you are teaching. It is a great way to introduce yourself to computational thinking.



Computer Science Unplugged

Computer Science Unplugged is a great resource because it gives you access to resources that you can do without a computer at any grade level.



Google CS First

Google CS First is a new Google resource for computational thinking. CS First gives access to resources for activities that can be integrated into any subject area.



MIT App Inventor

MIT App inventor is for more advanced coders. This gives students a platform for creating their own apps

Hanging Out with an Ocean Between

Way back in August, I met with Lulu to talk about her goals for the year. She explained that one of her goals was to do more Mystery Hangouts this year. Last year they were a big hit with her students. Mystery Hangouts are fun for the students, but also takes learning geography beyond memorizing (DOK 1) to using the clues you are given to find the place you are looking for (DOK 3).

 

Soon after speaking with her, I happened to find a teacher on Twitter looking for classes with whom to connect.

Students were broken up into different groups to perform different roles. One group thought of questions for the other class, one group tried to take the clues given and find the other class on the map, one group recorded answers, another took pictures recording the process, one group was working on a globe.

Although students were disappointed they "lost" (the other class beat guess we are at KAS in fewer questions) they all answered "fun" when asked how it was.

I am looking forward to seeing the students get better at this as the year goes on.

Get students excited about what they are doing #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 1, 2016 at 7:54pm PDT

Skyping with @nnruthai #KAStw

A photo posted by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Sep 1, 2016 at 7:50pm PDT

20 Questions with Google Maps

One fourth-grade elementary teacher at KAS introduced her class to Mystery Hangouts last year. (If you are not familiar with Mystery Hangouts, think Mystery Skype - same idea.)

With a date scheduled for Thursday, I met with both fourth-grade teachers today to see how we could prepare the students for their first hangout of the year.

We looked at what skills the students will need for this activity, and decided to do a warmup on Wednesday to practice the skills.

Not wanting to teach the students each little detail about Google Maps, we are going to role play the activity so the students will see how to use it in action. The second skill students need to learn is how to ask a good question.

The Lesson
We started by getting the students logged into the computer and email. For most of the students, this wasn't an issue, but there were those students who had issues whether it be caused by user error [students mistyping] or computer error [computers not being charged or updated]. This ate up 15 minutes, but I believe this is a necessary use of time. It's a now or later process, and usually in those instances, now is better. So I think this was time well spent (despite the way I worded the sentence). Time needs to be factored into the planning of lessons involving tech in the elementary grades.

No matter how long you think it will take, add at least ten minutes.

Exploring maps and questioning in G4 #KAStw https://t.co/elA8lHAl5K pic.twitter.com/5gZzMzvzBi

— Thomas Hammerlund (@thammerlund) August 31, 2016

So we got started. With one teacher saying "Find my old school", and the students started asking questions.

I worked with this group of students a lot last year, and I know they can [could do a lot last year] but this was a new experience for them and they need practice with listening to the information given to them, and determining the next step.

More practice they shall receive.