Today was all about micro bits….and a little more Lego. I found today to be frustrating; in the good, I’m out of my comfort zone kind of way! We were challenged to come up with an idea for a project for our class where they would use Lego We Do to solve a problem. I decided to take on the challenge of incorporating ADST with Social Studies. The question to students would be: Early settlers in Canada encountered many obstacles. Is there something that you could design that would have made their lives easier. I decided to try to build something that would pull objects with the use of a joystick. I knew I wouldn’t have enough Lego to complete the task but I thought, even if I could get the motor to turn wheels, I would be laughing! It was more difficult than I thought and I found myself wishing that I had played with Lego more as a child! On the bright side, I really learned first hand the importance of play to learning. I needed a lot of time to experiment and try things out. I will remember this when I am working with my students. Some students are going to need loads of time to play and experiment before they figure things out. Others are going to get it immediately and need an extension activity to keep them learning. Below is a picture that represent the chaos I was feeling today!
Microbits are fascinating! I had never heard of them before but working with them really brought me back to my days in electronics class in Grade 9. I loved electronics and I can see how working with these would really get kids creative juices flowing. This was also a frustrating experience because not everything worked out. The coding was also a bit more complex than some of the coding we did earlier. I definitely want to keep working with these. I found myself stumped all day in terms of creativity though. I just didn’t feel like I could come up with interesting projects to build. I am sure that will come with practice and as I become more comfortable with the technology. This is also something that I need to keep in mind for my students in the fall.