Building Circuits and Switches

 

Electrician Jordan Clark from Enterprise Electric was our special guest during Computer Science Week. He met with 4th grade classes and shared about the job of an electrician. 

Next, students practiced designing simple circuits, and then building switches out of ordinary materials to run their circuits. 

Mr. Clark also showed many complex types of switches: such as switches with temperature, light, or motion sensors. Our students love learning about STEM careers!  This will help build background for future learning in computer science.

Coding School Bus Routes

Following a unit in Social Studies about communities, second grade students recently extended their learning during Computer Science Week. 

Mike Kennedy came to talk about his job as transportation director of our district. He shared some of the habits and skills needed to plan efficient bus routes. Then students put their knowledge of maps of our community to use.  They used computer science skills and computational thinking to plan and code robotic "buses" along the most efficient route between schools. 

Students enjoyed coding the Beebot buses to travel between the school buildings on their "map". They practiced collaborating effectively with different roles: navigator, driver and debugger.

 

Future Leaders of the Community

 

During their study of communities in social studies, 2nd grade classes are learning how people in a community work together to make decisions on local issues. They are discovering that individuals can take action to address local issues. After learning about the many unique attractions, businesses and events in the area, they brainstormed to determine something that Boone needs. 

Next, they planned a design on paper, and built a cardboard prototype of their proposed building. 

Students also used democratic procedures to discuss possible locations for their vision. This involved using map skills and considering pros and cons. To complete the vision for their idea, they assisted in taking green screen photos which were added to a virtual background of their preferred location. 

These creative 2nd graders are future leaders of the community! 

What Can You Build?

Developing flexible thinking and creative problem solving is an essential part of STEM learning at Franklin. Students used individual STEM bins to explore and create.

Next they discussed how engineers work. Engineers design and build with a goal in mind and a number of constraints.- materials, budget costs, and time.

Students traded bins and were given a new challenge. The materials available proved to be a challenge for some! 

During different challenges, students were tasked with building the tallest structure, the strongest structure, and a structure that would keep its shape when carried to a new location. 

The difficulty of each challenge changed depending on the bin they were using at the time!

Designing a Robotic Device

 

Elementary students at Franklin have been learning about computer science during Library STEM time and Technology Time. This is in conjunction with the Computer Science is Elementary project award from the Governor's STEM Council.

 As an end-of-the-year project, they used what they learned about input and output devices in order to design and build a prototype for a robotic device. Students were creative problem solvers as they designed push button controls, touch screens, microphones and speakers, as well as moving parts of their device. They used Flipgrid to record and share videos to explain their device. 

Virtual Valentines

Franklin students put their creativity skills to work and used Buncee to created virtual valentines for their classmates. They chose backgrounds, stickers, and animations to complete their creative cards.  The valentines were shared to class Padlet "mailboxes" in time for the class parties. Padlet posts were hidden until approved just before the Valentine parties. This was a unique and fun way to keep Valentine exchanging extra safe this year.

Computer Science is Elementary!

Franklin students are learning to code! Using the leveled activities in code.org, they are learning how to decompose a problem and form an algorithm by connecting coding blocks together. This involves lots of trial and error as well as collaborative problem solving in order to debug their programs. 

Thanks to the Computer Science is Elementary project award from the Governor's STEM council, Franklin students will begin receiving computer science instruction embedded into the general education classroom curriculum. Teachers will receive professional development about computer science in education and training on tools and resources for instruction.

Students can look forward to programming, robotics, and other computer science activities added to their technology time and library time specials classes. They will have access to a new set of ipads purchased with the grant funds to create with augmented reality and green screen technology. They will also create digital media projects that help build their understanding how broad the scope of computer science is becoming in our changing world!

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