Spring Update – Imagine IT
By now, I have had a few opportunities to see my Imagine IT in action. I am not getting to NGSS #2 as much as I would like but reflecting on what my Assistant Principal stated some time ago, I feel good about it all in. My colleague and I have hit somewhat of a bump in the road when it comes to the IPad cart. It seems that some of our apps have disappeared and our operating system for PARCC testing was way out of date. Apparently, CPS puts a block on updating from 8am-4pm (Monday-Friday) which is really frustrating. The cart will be out of commission for some time now, as it needs to be used for PARCC testing throughout the various grade levels. Once that is complete, it will need to be used for NWEA testing. I am currently feeling irritated by the whole situation.
Getting back to the update of my project, we entered Physics in late January / early February and one of the first things I have the scholars do is design an activity to demonstrate the effects of Gravitational Potential Energy. For supplies, they get one large steel and aluminum bar, one small steel and aluminum bar, one large tube, one small tube, one foam block and one nail. They are responsible for designing their lab (procedures), designing their data table, developing the model and using that model to test their procedures, collecting their data and analyzing their data. It literally hits all eight NGSS and takes about 4-5 days of class time. It is really interesting to see when given the same materials and goal, how different groups of scholars can come up with completely different models and procedures.
Below are pictures of the scholars hard at work.
By now, I have had a few opportunities to see my Imagine IT in action. I am not getting to NGSS #2 as much as I would like but reflecting on what my Assistant Principal stated some time ago, I feel good about it all in. My colleague and I have hit somewhat of a bump in the road when it comes to the IPad cart. It seems that some of our apps have disappeared and our operating system for PARCC testing was way out of date. Apparently, CPS puts a block on updating from 8am-4pm (Monday-Friday) which is really frustrating. The cart will be out of commission for some time now, as it needs to be used for PARCC testing throughout the various grade levels. Once that is complete, it will need to be used for NWEA testing. I am currently feeling irritated by the whole situation.
Getting back to the update of my project, we entered Physics in late January / early February and one of the first things I have the scholars do is design an activity to demonstrate the effects of Gravitational Potential Energy. For supplies, they get one large steel and aluminum bar, one small steel and aluminum bar, one large tube, one small tube, one foam block and one nail. They are responsible for designing their lab (procedures), designing their data table, developing the model and using that model to test their procedures, collecting their data and analyzing their data. It literally hits all eight NGSS and takes about 4-5 days of class time. It is really interesting to see when given the same materials and goal, how different groups of scholars can come up with completely different models and procedures.
Below are pictures of the scholars hard at work.