Book Now Out on Kindle

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Interview From PBS Connecting Point

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Engineering Is Egg-citing Day

I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for Engineering Day. I have received incredibly positive feedback from students and teachers. One student said it was the biggest highlight of the year!

Kate Arsenault, Library/Media Specialist

Wow! Thank you, John! What an amazing day! One of the very best days that I have seen in any school. 100% engagement from all students!!! The pics are amazing! I can’t thank you enough!

Kristen Gordon, Principal

My 6thgrade son graduates from our small, rural elementary school in Western Massachusetts this year.  I had struggled  for many years to try to bring in some robotics-based engineering experiences to the school.   However, a new principal and new library/media specialist were very excited about the prospect so we worked together to create a PK to engineering day. I racked my brain for a while to try and come up with a cohesive theme.  I was finally inspired by the egg drop challenge the first-grade teacher does every year at the nearby elementary school where I teach.  We expanded on that idea to create engineering challenges based on eggs.  At the kick-off assembly, we did a skit where farmer Kate explained that she needed help with transporting eggs around the farm and we challenged each class to help her with a specific task.

  • PK students reported on progress of each class back to the principal
  • K and grade 1 students did a traditional egg drop challenge where the designed some kind of container to protect and egg from breaking when dropped off a fire truck at the end of the day assembly outside
  • Grade 2 students designed non-robotic LEGO egg vehicles that could drive down a ramp and not break the egg inside
  • Grade 3 students designed robotics egg mixers and optionally included craft materials
  • Grade 4 students designed robotic cars using LEGO WeDo 2 kits and Apple iPads
  • Grade 5 students designed devices that transported eggs horizontally with LEGO NXT robots and EV3 software
  • Grade 6 students designed egg lifter devices that transported an egg from the floor to a table

All classes had craft materials available and, in most cases, needed them to create some kind of egg holder. We mostly used hard boiled eggs but grade 1 students decided to use raw eggs for their final egg drop test.

While it was challenging at times to get around to multiple classes to check in and give help, it was very interesting and exciting to see kids K-6 all doing engineering challenges at the same time.  Kids (and teachers) were fully engaged and so proud to show me what they had created.  I also saw great collaboration and cooperation as most kids worked in teams to accomplish the task.  As I returned to classes, I was amazed at how designs had grown and changed during my absence.  I scaffolded as needed for students who were stuck or needed technical help.  We had minimal connection or technical issues with the various LEGO software we were using.  Students, especially fifth graders, made interesting physical connection with LEGO and non-LEGO materials.  Some of the most rewarding moments were when I saw students with various visual, emotional, or learning issues succeed alongside their peers and were literally be beaming about their work.  I got reports from parents and kids at our local swimming hole about kids who were still talking about the day at home or told me directly that it was “amazing”.  I was so happy to be able to provide this experience to my son and all the kids in our small town.

*Thanks to the teachers, administration, and students of the Anne T Dunphy School for letting us use the robotics kits and laptops for a day!

Lots of photos but check out this video of this second grader  testing his final LEGO egg carrier car.

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LEGO Education Master Educator Meet Up with Mitch Resnick

I was recently honored to be named a LEGO Education Master Educator (and an advisor to the group).   We met recently in Chicago for a day long event.  I got to chat a bit and hear the keynote from Mitchel Resnick, known as the inventor of the Scratch programming language.  He is the  LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab and has been advocating the concept of Lifelong Kindergarten, the idea of bringing playful and creative kindergarten attitude to the rest of school and, indeed, to life.  Unfortunately, the push now is in the opposite direction, of pushing play out of kindergarten.  Mitchel is the intellectual heir to his mentor Seymour Papert, who pioneered the notion of educational technology with his LOGO programming language.  Papert also came up with the notion of constructionism, the idea that children create knowledge best in the context of creative  hands on activities.   Resnick  has created a model of projects, passion, play, and peers to help illustrate and define his notion of lifelong kindergarten.   Both Papert and Resnick has inspired my own practice of creating K-6 engineering experiences and also intensively studying the engineering processes of elementary children.

 

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PAEMST – Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching

I received this award a few years back and I encourage others to apply.  It’s a great experience to video yourself, really analyze what you are trying to do, and get feedback from the NSF reviewers. Here’s some info on the award.

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) are the highest honors bestowed by the United States government specifically for K-12 mathematics and science (including computer science) teaching. The 2017-2018 nomination and application period for K-6th grade is currently open.

The awards were established by Congress in 1983. The President may recognize up to 108 exemplary teachers each year. Awards are given to teachers from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense Education Activity schools, or the U.S. territories as a group (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands). PAEMST recognizes those teachers who develop and implement a high-quality instructional program that is informed by content knowledge and enhances student learning. Since the program’s inception, more than 4,700 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession. Presidential awardees receive a certificate signed by the President; a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities; and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The National Science Foundation administers PAEMST on behalf of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Please consider nominating a talented science or mathematics teacher using the PAEMST website today. If you are interested in applying yourself, you can begin an application at www.paemst.org. The 2016-2017 nomination deadline is April 1, 2018, and the application deadline is May 1, 2018.

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Two Speeds at Once

This photo shows one of the common issues I see with our grade 6 make your own dragster project.  Frequently, kids try to have different wheels on the same car go at two different speeds at the same time.  Not sure if this has to do with causal reasoning or a lack of structural knowledge of gearing or something else.

 

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Empowering Kids to Create with Technology – STEAM, Maker, & Design

Empowering Kids to Create with Technology – STEAM, Maker, & Design from John Heffernan on Vimeo.

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New versus Old Tech Labs

We recently went back to our old building as a staff to see how far we have come.  Here are photos of our new and old tech labs.  Can you identify the newer lab?

 

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Going With the Ant Squad

This fall, I  had indoor recess duty (usually a dreaded duty) with a first grade class.  I noticed that many of them busily working on (some might say obsessed with) some ants that had been seen in the classroom.  They had formed an ant squad to handle the problem.  They were drawing plans, looking around the room, and designing paper constructions to handle the ants.

Now, I had a few choices here.  I could tell them not to worry about the ants and assign them some other activity.  I could take the “ants are people too” approach and urge/require them not to interfere with the ants.  I could ignore the kids and let them continue their ant squad unimpeded by adult action.

I decided not to take the usual adult approaches. I decided to really take time to really find out more about the ant squad.    The kids were very excited that I was going to join the ant squad and gave me some assignments. I filled an empty spray bottle with some water and gave it to them as an ant spray (knowing it would not hurt anything). They sprayed the ant locations using the bottle.   I checked out their drawings and plans and made and shared some of my own.

A student came down to the tech lab later in the week and excitedly shared his ant squad plan with me.  (See below.)  I was reminded of this recently when the same boy told me they had changed the ant squad to the white caterpillar squad at outdoor recess.  (Kids have been very afraid of these white caterpillars that some kid are allergic to and adults have warned them about.)  I was happy that I had decided to join,  get a little glimpse of, and become a part of  the kids’ world.

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Careful – Don’t Stack Your LEGO NXT/EV3 Kits Too High!

Kids actually cleaned up the part in about 20 minutes. Will have kids resort kits next year.

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