Data Collection, Visualization, and Interpretation

Fifth graders worked in small groups to share ideas about what a positive classroom learning environment looks like. Afterwards they completed a Google form survey to share what they thought was the most important response to each of 7 questions. To visualize their responses, each student built a word cloud to share this data. Some discussions included how data is collected online and being careful about what information we share while online. Finally we reviewed alternative ways to represent and read data.

The statements they considered:

1. I think a positive learning environment looks like…
2. One way I can support a friend when working in groups is to ….
3. To make sure I’m ready for class I …
4. If someone is speaking in my group I should …
5. Submitted work should reflect …
6. One way my teacher can support my learning is to …
7. One way my parents or guardians can support my learning is to …

We used a word cloud generator, WordCloud. With this tool, students explored Shapes, Fonts, Text Direction, Colors, and Masking. More popular or frequently occurring student responses are larger while those equally important but less popular are smaller. Take a look below to see these awesome creations.

After building our word clouds we discussed ways data is collected, Google forms, browser history, apps we use, and also different ways we can visualize and interpret data, like pie charts, word clouds, and more.  

Finally, using their data I generated our classroom FAB Constitution. Students reviewed this document, its preamble and 3 articles. They had an opportunity to review, discuss, and offer amendments. No student expressed that their ideas were not reflected in this document. Next they signed and I printed one for each class. Here is an example. 

Stay tuned for our digital drawings with Google Slides. ;-)

It's All Ones & Zeros

We are wrapping up a unit on abstraction that focuses on binary code or machine language. Students have dabbled in converting back and forth between decimal and binary numbers, and writing kind, positive words with binary code for uppercase letters of the alphabet. For the culminating project, we tried something new. 

We brainstormed words and considered symbols to represent binary code.

Next they created binary words and put them onto construction paper.

The final products are numbered and hung on posters around the classroom.

Getting creative with cardboard to make switches for their final project.

Students teamed up to create a variety of artifacts showing something about binary code. Some options included counting in binary, showing letters of the alphabet, or spelling out words and acronyms. I was excited to try this final project and love the creativity and enthusiasm I saw from all of my classes. 

Check out some of these gems by clicking on the links and videos. 

Welcome Semester 2 Friends!

We are off to a great start in the Innovation Lab! It was great to see returning students and to meet lots of new ones. On day two we followed up with a scavenger hunt to learn more about our space. 

Both fifth and sixth grade classes are getting to know their way around our learning space and the curriculum. We started with a short slide show, tour of the room also known as, "The Motherboard," and finally a scavenger hunt. As part of this experience students also identified their "street address," by number and name using their location and a map of the motherboard. The rows and tables in room 88 have street names related to computer things. Take a walk down Grace Road or find classroom supplies stored on Hard Drive.

Returning sixth graders had a chance to review their classroom constitution from last year. They are still FAB and they know it! Classes voted unanimously to move forward with their existing constitution, no amendments required. Fifth graders will complete some activities before finalizing their classroom constitution.

Both grades are learning about abstraction, one of the sub-strands under Computational Thinking in the Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science frameworks. Click here to download a copy. We are discussing using symbols and letters to communicate abstract ideas with a focus on machine language or binary code, base2. Currently they are learning to convert between the base2/binary and base 10/decimal systems using a tool called the Flippy Do which you can find on the Code.org binary numbers lesson, see Flippy Do below. 

I was excited to learn that the sixth graders are coincidentally learning about abstraction in Social Studies as they focus on the cuneiform alphabet and in Math they are exploring exponents. This provided a great opportunity for them to connect concepts across the curriculum. 

Next they will use "alphabytes" to create words and messages using an alphabet decoder key. Correctly completed student work will be displayed around the room and used in an upcoming Challenge. Stay tuned for more on binary code and abstraction.

Click the image to the left to make a copy of your own Flippy Do from code.org. To learn more about how you might use this tool see their lesson plan or wait for my next post to see how we used it in class.