STEAM Club Narrative- Aug 26

Learners: Kim, Selestine, Sharon, Harry, Aditi, Hamish, Rudi, Louisa, Selene, Maanvi & Iman	Learning Coach:  D Wilkes	Date: 25-08-16
Learning Area:  Technology & Science NZC Achievement Objective: Level 2 Technological systems:  Understand that there are relationships between the inputs, controlled transformations, and outputs occurring within simple technological systems. Investigating in science  Extend their experiences and personal explanations of the natural world through exploration, play, asking questions, and discussing simple models.	Key Competency:    Thinking Relating to others Participating & Contributing Using language, symbols & text	4C:
Learning Observed: The learners were invited to use the www.buildwithchrome.com program to design a house but to do so creatively.  We began by logging into the website and signing in with their own google account.  Aditi and Hamish couldn’t sync their account initially but it worked when they published their design- yay! Then the learners used their imagination to design a house with the lego blocks.   This challenge was enjoyed by the learners immensely:   Selestine ‘this is #oresome!”   Louisa “I love STEAM club!”   Hamish ‘how do I add a window?’   Kim ‘I’ll show you, click here.’   Harry ‘I wish we could do this in learning time!’   Ms Wilkes ‘Why don’t you use it for your iExplore Harry?’ The learners were asked what this had to do with STEAM and this is what Aditi, Maanvi, Selene and Iman came up with:
Evidence of learning: Look at the #oresome fun the group had in this Photopeach SlideShow→ http://photopeach.com/album/142xx3p# The learners were making a lot of connections to their previous experiences with lego and designing .  The learners were very collaborative and helpful with each other and demonstrated a growth mindset mentality.  The learners were developing capabilities with prototyping, spatial awareness and visual representations.  Curiosities were evident in the Louisa’s rainbow house, Maanvi’s swimming pool home and Selestine’s various iterations! We talked about which kind of home would influence their design→ igloos, houseboats, teepees, tents, mansions, treehouses etc.  Selestine wanted to make them all!  Selene’s creation had a larger than life TV and Sharon built an entire village.  Harry, Kim and Hamish were the closest to a finished home but they were all able to publish and save it so they can work on it later if they choose.
STEAM- buildwithchrome on PhotoPeach
Next Learning Steps: Practice using www.buildwithchrome.com to create new designs See if they can re-create their design with actual lego Write a blog post about what they learned and how using www.buildwithchrome.com relates to STEAM learning areas

STEAM Club gets Scratchy

Learners: Kim, Selestine, Sharon, Karis, Harry, Aditi	Learning Coach:  D Wilkes	Date: 12-08-16
Learning Area:  Technology & Maths NZC Achievement Objective:        Level 2-Technological systems:  Understand that there are relationships between the inputs, controlled transformations, and outputs occurring within simple technological systems. Number strategies:  Use simple additive strategies with whole numbers and fractions.	Key Competency:    Thinking Relating to others Participating & Contributing Using language, symbols & text	4C:
Learning Observed: The learners were invited to use the coding program Scratch to create a simple calculator.  We began by logging into the LH1 account and creating a Scratch pad.  Then the learners used some simple code to make the sprite (cat character) say hello.  After that they were presented with a more difficult challenge: This challenge highlighted the learners who were willing to persevere (Selestine & Karis & Kim) and those who required a lot more support.  It was great to see them explore the different types of code and realise that they needed to set up an ‘event’ for each instruction.  I would strongly encourage all of the learners to create their own account and try more of the challenges found here.
Evidence of learning: The learners were making a lot of connections to their previous experiences with coding, maths and the Scratch program.  Harry has been doing his iExplore learning adventure with Scratch and Makey Makey so he was very collaborative and helpful with the younger learners- helping them log in and create their first Scratch pad.  Harry is definitely developing his capabilities with coding in Scratch and at helping others.  Sharon, Selstine, Karis and Kim were having a lot of fun exploring their curiosities at making the cat sprite ‘meow’ and at creating musical instrument sounds.  Aditi enjoyed recording her own voice and making the program repeat her greeting.
Next Learning Steps: Practice using www.scratch.mit.edu to develop their coding capabilities Persevere with the maths challenge to see if they can make a simple calculation Come to STEAM club every week and blog about what they learned Try https://code.org/ for some self directed easy to follow coding tutorials