Our parents and students were able to talk through a Google Hangout with the creator of the Kodable app. He talked about how learning coding and how he learned in school helped him to learn problem solving and critical thinking. It was a great opportunity for students to ask questions and hear from an expert in the field. Great example of how a mentor can reach our to our students through the use of technology to help them understand coding and real world applications.
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EXPLORING STEM THROUGH ENGAGING ACTIVITIES
On March 29, 2016 the BLHS BIT conducted their first Makerspace event with Basehor-Linwood's Kindergarten students.
The Highlight of the event was a mentor, who was the creator of Kodable was live on the screen through a Google Hangout to show students how coding connects to the real world and how he learned how to code at a young age. Each student got to critically think, create, and collaborate with a variety of items from recycle towers, Makey Makey, Sribble Bots, and as well as Squishy Circuits. This Makerspace was set up to allow the parents and students to migrate to an area of their choosing and focus on their area of interest. Students enjoyed working with high school mentors to create scribble bots to see how an electrical circuit made the robot move and draw. Students loved learning from high school mentors about circuits and how electricity was conducted through dough to light the colored bulbs. Exciting to see students create multiple circuits and understand how the conductive and non-conductive dough stopped the electrical current or allowed the electrical current to flow. A big hit was creating a circuit with the MakeyMakey and using bananas to play the piano. Great way to show how we can use everyday products to use in creation. Our students used problem solving skills and worked with our high school and middle school mentors to build a recycle tower that would withstand a tornado. They spoke through their thinking in a green screen activity. They were excited to learn they could code on the ipad with Kodable, after actually seeing and hearing from the founder of Kodable. |