Fostering New Ideas by Adding "Perspective" with Google SketchUp

American author, Chuck Palahniuk once said, “The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up.”   But finding new perspective whether it be about life or solving a problem is never easy.  We sometimes need to look to new tools and techniques to give us a different viewpoint.

Image Labeled for Re-use on Flickr  by Sadie Hernandez

Although Palahniuk was not speaking specifically about design projects, I feel this quote is an appropriate segue to talking about an amazing program I am now using in my Middle School Design classes; it is called Google SketchUp.  Google SketchUp, a free downloadable program, allows users to create 3D models in an engaging 3D environment.

One of my motivations to learning how to use Google SketchUp is to teach and coach my design students how to take their 2-dimensional architectural drawings to a new level.  As part of the design cycle, students are asked to create several feasible designs for a solution to a problem or challenge.  These usually involve sketching various 2-dimensional ideations/versions for a specific model in form of blueprints like the ones seen here of a model train car.

2-Dimensional Blueprint of a possible Indian Train Car

Then, students are asked to analyze each labeled sketch or blueprint and justify which one they might build.  From here, students pick one solution and elaborate a bit more on it's form and function by putting in further details and features before they move to creating the product.  This is often a difficult step for students as they have a hard time coming up with new ideas to further enhance their detailed blueprint.  However, with Google SketchUp, students might now take one of the 2-Dimensional drawings and create a 3-Dimensional version of it in Google SketchUp.  This is a superior approach to elaborating on their proposed solution.  When expanding a model into a 3-Dimensional program like SketchUp, students will be forced to have new "perspective".  Google SketchUp has several features that will empower young designers to look at their possible solution from  "new eyes".  Some new understandings that students may develop from expanding their proposed solution into a 3-D drawing are:

1.  What does my product dimensions look like  when in 3-Dimensional format?
2.  What does my proposed product look like from various angles? (top view, side view, etc)
3.  What are some of my aesthetic options?  Color, texture, shape
4.  Where is the most effective/strategic location for this  seat, coach, fountain, etc.?

My son and I worked together with Google Sketchup on building a model of the Alberta Legislature Building.  You can see the finished product here:



We had to pay attention to several details in order to make the model historically accurate.  As we were translating our ideas into a 3-D model, a fresh perspective enabled us to learn far more than we imagined.  For example, there is a large circular fountain  at the entrance to the building.  When we sized and created the fountain, we noticed that made it difficult to walk around the fountain to get to the entrance to the Legislative Assembly.  We both wondered why the designers would want to make the journey so narrow and difficult.  After much discussion about security, we realized that this might be intentional for security reasons.  Furthermore, from above we noticed that the Building is in the shape of a cross, which  has significance based on the religious affiliation of the original designers and architects. 

Stepping back, taking a breath and finding a new perspective is often a difficult mental task.  Yet, with the right tools, we can teach students to see things differently and therefore develop allow them to develop new ideas.  What techniques and tools do you employ to help students develop new perspective?

If you are interested in using Google SketchUp to give your students new perspective here are a few sights that might be helpful:

1.  Google SketchUp Download

2. Free video tutorials to learn Google SketchUp

a) http://www.sketchup.com/learn
b) Google SketchUp for Dummies by Aidan Chopra

3. Sample Lesson Plans using Google SketchUp

4. For the complete PDF version of the 3DVinci Google SketchUp Teacher Guide, go to:
http://www.3dvinci.net/teacherguide/teacherguide.pdf

5.  Video Presentation by Joe Donahue on the use of Google SketchUp in the Classroom

Teaching and Learning with Mindstorm Robots

Sir Ken Robinson once said, "Students should be free to make mistakes and pursue creative interests."

As a middle school design teacher, I strive to incorporate this notion into all my units of inquiry.  One of my favorite units to facilitate the pursuit of creativity and learning from mistakes is our Lego Mindstorm Units.

Lego Mindstorm kits are amazing tools to enable students to discover, innovate and learn through trial and error.  However, just like any technology they are simply just that, a tool.  Putting Lego Mindstorms into the hands of students does not guarantee inquiry, problem solving, creativity and innovation.

Here are some suggestions to make the most of your units of inquiry when using Lego Mindstorm kits:

1. Before tackling a challenging problem ensure the students have been given sufficient time to upskill and learn the basics of Mindstorm programming.  Protip:  I have students spend one class building the 5-minute bot and then I usually spend 7-10 lessons scaffolding various challenges to ensure students who are new to Mindstorm programming have enough time to familiarize themselves with the basics like movement, sensors, and looping.  Here is a great book that offers progressively more difficult challenges, Mindstorms Made Easy, by Karl Peterson.

2. Anchor your Lego Mindstorm unit around real-life, open-ended challenges.  Students will learn to be more creative and innovative if you design Robotic challenges around real world problems.  Here is a sample video from a unit I do with my grade 8 students called "Fire-Fighting Robots":




You can access all my files for this unit here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0ogQx7QIUR_bnJtaWo5Y1gwenM&usp=sharing.

Another unit I do in a higher grade, which is an even more open-ended challenge, requires the students to design a Robot that would fullfill a need for the United Nations.  Pro-tip:  As your Lego Mindstorm program is experienced by students again in later grades, the challenges become more and more open-ended and therefore require more sophisticated problem solving. For example, Sumo Wrestling Robots (grade 7), Firefight Robots (Grade 8) and United Nations Robots (Grade 9).

3.  Over time, create a Mindstorm "Graveyard" of parts and pieces.  This may include spare sensors, motors, batteries and other parts that may get lost or broken from your original kits.   One way to start creating a graveyard is to put an article in the school newsletter as well as in the local paper asking people if they have Lego Mindstorm kits around the house that they might be willing to donate to the school.

4.  Have lots of foam board and packing tape available for students to use to enable students to create walls, mazes, and external parts (buckets, wagons, etc.) for their robot creations. Pro-tip: Foam board is usually sold at most dollar stores for $1.25/board.

5.  Have one class at a time work with the kits.  I usually cycle my design units so that one group is only working with the Mindstorm kits for their entire unit (approximately 20 lessons) before another group or class begins to use the kits.  Mindstorm creations tend to take on the personality of the group so to have them take apart a robot after each class is not feasible.

Sir Ken Robinson challenges educators to promote greater creativity and innovation in the minds of our students.  Using Lego Mindstorms in our classrooms can be one tool to meet this goal.  Are you using Mindstorms in your classroom?  What sorts of tips and tricks do you suggest to others?


Some Useful  Resources

1.  A great website with free lessons and mini-projects. http://drgraeme.net/DrGraeme-free-NXT-G-tutorials/ChV4.htm

2. A Course for Beginners new to Lego Mindstorm Robots- https://cs4hsrobots.appspot.com/preview

3.  An article about how one school is using Robots to engage students in problem solving, http://www.stripes.com/news/dodds-using-legos-zombie-apocalypse-to-try-to-reach-students-1.253835

4.  A video about how Robots are evolving and taking over our world (great for introducing the unit),  The Future of Robots, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zP7yP8hdLE&sns=em 

RSA Style Videos Using a Green Screen

The great Aristotle once said, "There can be no words without pictures."

 
There is a growing trend online and in media regarding the use of images and pictures in resources.  According to research this is a positive trend.  There is much support for how we are "hard wired" for reading information that includes pictures to support text.  Did you know:

-we use more than 50% of our brain for image processing
-it only takes us 0.01 seconds to scan a room to determine what is going on
-people follow directions and instructions much better when pictures and text are used
-speeches that incorporate images are more persuasive than those that do not

Dan Roam, in his book titled Blah, Blah, Blah: What to do when words don't work,  writes  about how words alone are not sufficient to engage listeners.  He encourages presenters, business people, and educators to use images to deliver and reinforce ideas.  According to Dan, ideas will be more memorable and our information will be more engaging when we use images to support our information. 




I have already written about how teachers might incorporate image usage into their lessons to motivate and engage learners using RSA Animate videos.  If you have not read this blog, you can access it here.

RSA Animate videos could be taken to a more advanced level with your students using green screen technology.  Here is a sample of one I quickly created with the help of my daughter.





How is this done?  Instead of having students draw out their RSA Animate on a white board or paper, students could write and video record the drawing or their images on green or blue paper as seen in the picture on the left.  When finished, the video file can be imported into a program that has green screen or chroma key functionality like I-movie or Adobe Premier Elements 11.  You can find two tutorials on how to do this here:

a) Green Screening using Adobe Premier Elements 11-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEzg-WIHL-4
b) Green Screening using I-movie-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q64NAQsoUZg

As you can see in the tutorials, you can swap out the green/blue background for any image or video you want.  This allows students to come up with a variety of options.  Drawing RSA Animate on a green/blue background and then using green screen software enables students to enhance their videos and create original and professional RSA Animate video.

Give it a try and let me know how it turned out!

Implications of Using Formative vs Summative Assessment Labels

My goal in writing this article is to underpin potential changes in assessment and marking practices as they pertain to using the language and semantics surrounding the terms formative and summative assessment.  In today's classrooms students will often ask this question when an assignment is being assigned and explained, "Is this going to be a formative or summative assessment?"  Which for some students really means, "Is this going to count for marks or is it just practice?"  Should we be transparent with our students in regards to our assessment intentions?  What impact does pre-determining our assessment intentions have on student attitude, engagement and achievement?

As an avid runner, I was intrigued by the debate over the semantics used my many when it comes to the terms "jogging" and “running”.    To some they mean the same thing.  When one looks up definitions of these two words most use speed as a way to differentiate a jog from a run.  According to Wikipedia, “Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace.”  Since most of the definitions are subjective, I believe it is up to each individual to decide if their pace warrants the title of a "run" or a "jog".  As long as your pace keeps you motivated, the term you choose is just a minor detail.  Should this hold true for assessing student work?

Since the landmark study by Black and Wiliam (1998) about the benefits of formative assessment, there has been a plethora of schools that have adopted assessment policies and practices that differentiate between formative and summative assessment in the classroom.  Is this new assessment language necessary at the onset of giving an assignment?  Why pre-determine what our assessment intentions? 


Research has shown that many schools struggle with establishing clear operational definitions, guidelines and procedures for implementing formative and summative assessments anyways.  According to Dunn and Mulvenon (2009), “Definitions of formative and summative assessment are plentiful, resulting in multiple and sometimes conflicting understandings.  And in part because of these varying definitions and views, practices labeled as formative assessment in schools today vary widely.” Although any assessment may be designed, packaged and labeled as a formative or summative assessment, it is the actual methodology, data analysis, and use of the results that determine whether an assessment is formative or summative.  It is what a teacher does with the data afterward that helps delineate which type of assessment you are using.  Summative data is used to make a judgment about a student and is often finite and counts toward a report card mark.  However, formative data is only used to help inform students, teachers and parents about their recent performance level.  It is my belief that good teachers will provide feedback and information to students regardless of whether it is formative or summative.  




In my school formative assessment is thought to guide students and teachers by providing valuable and timely feedback regarding where the student is at, on a given set of standards, and where they need to go.  Formative assessment is thought of as “practice” and summative assessment is more like “the game” situation because the score has more impact on the student's grade.   My question is, do teachers need to predetermine their intention to students regarding what type of assessment (formative vs summative) will be used? On page 3 of my school’s assessment policy handbook it is clear that we should divulge this information,  "Students need to be told how assessment tasks are to be evaluated."  

This level of transparency may have motivational and achievement implications for students.  This open and transparent approach to assessment intentions has benefits and drawbacks. Some believe that when assignment are labeled formative or “practice” students are more relaxed and less stressed about the pressure associated with doing well because it does not count as much towards report card marks.  Furthermore, this high level of openness and transparency promotes an environment of trust and mutual respect amongst students and teachers.   Yet, an obvious drawback to pre-determining which type of assessment you will use is that students may put in less effort and therefore underachieve on formative tasks because they do not count for marks.  

When a runner heads out for exercise, I wonder if they decide in their mind whether they will "jog" or "run" that day?  As educators is it really necessary to consider ahead of time what our intentions may be for students?  We could divulge ahead of time whether we will formatively or summative assess student work or we could wait until after the assignment has been handed in before determining the nature of the feedback we will be providing.  Maybe there is a third choice?  According to Perkins (2008), "when learners feel that they have a choice about just where they focus their attention and just how they proceed, they are more likely to show intrinsic motivation."  Thus, what if we let students decide ahead of time what type of assessment they would like to use for a particular assignment: formative or summative?  It would be an interesting action research study to see if there is a difference in student attitude, engagement and/or achievement on assignments when posed with these three assessment scenarios: students are told ahead of time, students are not told until they hand in an assignment, and students are given a choice as to the type of assessment used. 

What are your experiences when it comes to pre-determining whether an assignment is formative or summative?

References


Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80 (2): 139-148. (Available online:http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm.)

Dunn, Karee E and Mulvenon, Sean W. (2009). A Critical Review of Research on Formative

Assessments:  The Limited Scientific Evidence of the Impact of Formative Assessments in Education. Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation, 14(7).  Available online: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=14&n=7


"Jogging." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 May 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.


Perkins, David.  (2008).  Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education.   San Francisco, CA.  Jossey-Bass

Creating RSA Animate Style Videos

Over the last few years, I have been entertained and informed by RSAnimate videos.  You can view one here, 

Recently, I noticed a blog post  on twitter by @paulblogush titled, "How to Create RSA Animate Style Videos in your Class".  Paul's post was very informative and detailed.  His description is grounded in pedagogy and his step-by-step process makes it easy for teachers to replicate this teaching strategy.  You can view his entire blog post here, http://blogush.edublogs.org/2012/12/26/how-to-make-rsa-animate-style-videos-with-your-class/. 

After reading Paul's post, I was excited to try this myself before I implement it with my students.  I am currently taking a course/training by the International Baccalaureate Organization to become a workshop leader and consultant.  One of my assignments was to describe in brief the process a school might go through to be Authorized by the IBO.  I decided to create an RSA Animate video for this assignment.  Here is the process I went through:

1.  I read over all the documents to make sure I had a clear understanding of the information.
2.  I synthesized the information into a series of draft drawings, separating the drawings into only a few pages.
3.  I set up a handheld video camera on a tripod and focused it onto a white board.  Then, I drew a box on the white board so I knew what area I could draw on and still be in the camera's view.
4.  With my draft drawings close by, I pushed record on the video camera and began drawing out the pictures and words I needed to help tell my story.  This took a few attempts/trials.
5. I downloaded the video to my computer and imported it into Imovie.  In Imovie, I sped up the video by 400%.  The original video was 14 min and when sped up it was down to approximately 3 min.
6.  Then, I created a script and added audio narration to the sped up video.  This took a few attempts.
7.  Finally, I uploaded my creation to youtube so I could easily share it.

Here is my final product,

Some schools may not have access to a class set of white boards.  So, I also tried the same process with paper.  If you are using paper instead of white boards, you will have a bit more prep work.  I measured out and drew a rectangle on a large poster paper that was within the field of view of the video camera (sitting on a tripod).  Then, I pre-cut several rectangles that were the same size as this rectangle.  So, instead of erasing the area like I would on a white board, I just replaced the area with a new piece of paper that was the same size.  Here is an example of what it looked like when I used paper,




Now that I have explored this teaching/learning strategy myself, I am excited to implement it with my students.  RSA animate style videos are a creative and engaging way to allow students to synthesize and present information.  This strategy could be applicable to any subject, project or assignment.

Have you used RSA animate videos in your class?  What was your experience like?

Allowing Students to Redo Their Work

There is an old saying, "If first you don't suceed, try, try again."  How often do we translate this saying into practice when assessing student work?  My school has adopted a more progressive assessment policy in hopes that we embrace the premise that students in Middle School should be given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

In Ken O'Connor's book, A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades, he talks about the importance of giving students the opportunity to redo work.  He challenges traditional assessment practices which are grounded in the notion that "what's done is done".

I have always believed in a more student friendly approach to assessment.  Over the last few years through reading books like Mr. O'Connor's and adopting new technological tools, I have made signficant strides towards allowing students to view many assessments as, "a work in progress."  In my Design Courses, work is mostly project based.  Students plan, create and reflect on their solutions/products using the Design Cycle.  I want them to realize that with this approach, there is aways opportunity to revisit a project and re-tool your work and way of thinking.  No work in Design Class is every really finished.  So students will sometimes go back and re-vist their Design Portfolios and make changes.  Here is a screencast demostrating how I organize and afford these types of opportunities for students.




If you would like to learn more about some of the tools I used in the screencast, here are some resources to consider:

1.  Google Docs- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FYgnM6ZeTk

2.  Google Drive- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzrixPhql54

3.  Kidblog.org - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KtWSaVdzkI

What are you thoughts, practices and processes when it comes to allowing students to redo assessed work? 

Building Stronger Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning Communities have been around for a few years now and when adopted properly, they can create powerful and rich learning for teachers and more importantly help improve student learning.  This video clip from the Liberty Mutual Responsibility Project demonstrates how groups of people working together can have a positive impact on a community.



I spent that last 3 days at my school learning how to become a "Critical Friend" for other colleagues at my school.  Our training was provided by the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), http://www.nsrfharmony.org/. The hope is for our school to strengthen our Professional Learning Communities (PLC) by training a group of us  to be Critical Friends that might fascilitate rich conversations with other teachers or groups of teachers in the school as it pertains to improving student work, lesson planing or solving a pedgagical issue. 

What can a Critical Friend do to strengthen a PLC?   There are several stumbling blocks when it comes to whether a school's PLC is meeting it's objectives of improving student learning and building collegial relationships.  Rarely do PLC develop on their own.  Like any relationship, they may require deliberate effort on the part of the participants.  Critical Friends are trained to help intentionally foster openness to improvement, trust and respect, improve foundation in the knowledge and skills of teaching and support leadership.  The focus on making this happen is learning several "Protocols" that would guide a Critical Friend through a structured process.

The Protocol list provided by the NSRF is impressive and comprehensive.  There are activities that build trust and respect like the ZONE OF COMFORT.   There are also many Protocols that provide guidance and structure for Critical Friends as they work with teachers on improving their practice like EXAMINING STUDENT WORK. All the NSRF Protocols are available for Free at this link http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/a_z.html.

The 3 days of training was very valuable for me as I learn more about how I might strengthen my role at my school in fostering a robust Professional Learning Community.   I appreciated the structure that the Protocols provided in ensuring that conversations with other teachers are meaningful and productive.  Yet, I still am left unsure about how to deal with the reluctant teacher.  Would these Protocols be effective when you have a teacher in your PLC that isn't open or willing to grow and learn?  I still have 2 more days of training in February and I am looking forward to our facilitator addressing this very important issue.  

What has been your experience in dealing with teachers in your PLC's that aren't open to growth?  Do you have any ideas of strategies that might help me and others?