Posted in 21st Century Learning, Bots, iPad, Math, Projects, Roanoke County Schools, Science, STEM, Writing

Niche Bots

Students in Mrs. Mulvaney’s Science class created creatures using circuits and their knowledge of living systems.  They created new creatures based on a habitat and an animal type card they drew at the beginning of the activity.  The animal had to move, had to have a complete circuit, and had to have adaptations for the food it ate and the habitat it lived in.   Take a look at their creatures in action.

As a culmination to the project, students created Trading Cards (using an iPad app) about their animals.

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Posted in 21st Century Learning, Augmented Reality, Bots, iPad, Math, Projects, Roanoke County Schools, Science, STEM

Bringing Famous Virginians and Documents to Life

Mrs. Mulvaney’s VA Studies class created virtual reality posters to convey key information about Famous Virgnians and Famous Documents.  They used a lot of technology to create these posters.  They used Pic Collage on the iPads to create the actual poster and green screen technology to place themselves in a historical setting.  The entire project is pulled together using an app called Aurasma.  If you download the app, follow the Oak Grove Channel, and scan the posters, they will come to life with the students’ videos.  Here are directions on how to load the app.

Aurasma Directions for Oak Grove

And just in case you can’t make it to Oak Grove to scan the posters in person, here are their videos below:

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Posted in 21st Century Learning, English, iPad, Projects, Roanoke County Schools, social studies, STEM, Video

Pic Collage and Videos with Famous American Speeches

Students in Ms. Barger’s fourth grade class just finished a huge unit on Famous Americans.  As part of a STEM activity, students were responsible for writing a speech about a Famous American.  They also had to create a poster to use in their speech with a pop-up and movable part.

As students were given speeches, I filmed them (on their assigned iPad).  Students took notes when other students gave speeches.  Then students watched their own speech and used a self-evaluation sheet to foster self-reflection.  They used their notes and each other’s posters to create a Pic Collage containing three facts they learned from listening to other classmates’ speeches.

Students enjoyed the project, and it really gave ownership to giving speeches and listening to others.  Both these skills are important Fourth Grade English SOLs.

Posted in 21st Century Learning, Augmented Reality, English, iPad, Projects, Roanoke County Schools, Science, STEM

Kicking Machines with Augmented Reality

As students in Mrs. Grave’s Science class studied force and motion, they created Kicking Machines to move a ping pong ball into a cup 12 inches away. They started with the idea from the Design Squad but added a technology twist.  Once students created their machines, they used an app called VideoPix to film their Kicking Machine in action.  This app allowed students to slow down their videos. Then, they were able to capture images from the video showing the machine and ball in action.  Using these pictures, they created a Pic Collage showing potential and kinetic energy.

Finally, using an Aurasma app, the slow motion videos were imposed on the Pic Collage.  Now, when someone scans the Pic Collage with the Aurasma app, a video will pop up and play.  It’s hard to explain without seeing the posters in action, but here are a few examples.  If you follow the Clearbrook channel on the Aurasma app, you can scan and see their videos.

They students absolutely loved this project and were amazed at the final product.  And by the time the project concluded, students were very clear on Potential and Kinetic energy.  If you’d like to try to scan the posters and see the videos, the directions are below:

aurasma