Yesterday ended on a high, but getting to it was a surprise for the teams.
With the deadline looming to have a complete rover, tension in the room was tight; team members were super edgy with each other. The parent coaches and mentors that have been participating had furrowed brows and concern in their voices.
My job is to check in with teams and orchestrate the content.
Note: Watching the Engineering Design Process is as hard as being part of it.
At the end of Thursday, during the 4th week of the project, we circled up the chairs, as we do often, but this time with the rovers, notebooks, and Idaho Tech Manuals. I started by giving the kids one Starburst with a reminder to not talk because they each have two ears and one mouth. There has been tons of talking!
It was time to listen. :) It was time for a class TBaA (Think Back and About)
I sat in my chair in the circle and said, "Wow, we have finally all failed!" They looked at me and then I told them that we have been successful in the EDP because everyone in class had FINALLY been through the emotions and thinking of the process. Each student and team had felt the rainbow of emotions and thinking that comes when problem solving--all had been inspired, angry, happy, frustrated, lost, thoughtful, lonely, together-- you get it....
In that moment they sighed and smiled. They got it. They had accomplished what is set out in the Idaho Tech Manual. The goal of the challenge is to grow as learners through creating the Mars Rover.
Click on the link to see the EDP page that was up on the Smart Board. It has been the content tool.
Idaho Tech Mars Rover Challenge Manual
This class needed this project this year.
As a class, they have grown in the way that I had hoped. Learning does have the word 'earn' inside it. Success does feel best when we know that what we did took effort and energy.
With the deadline looming to have a complete rover, tension in the room was tight; team members were super edgy with each other. The parent coaches and mentors that have been participating had furrowed brows and concern in their voices.
My job is to check in with teams and orchestrate the content.
Note: Watching the Engineering Design Process is as hard as being part of it.
At the end of Thursday, during the 4th week of the project, we circled up the chairs, as we do often, but this time with the rovers, notebooks, and Idaho Tech Manuals. I started by giving the kids one Starburst with a reminder to not talk because they each have two ears and one mouth. There has been tons of talking!
It was time to listen. :) It was time for a class TBaA (Think Back and About)
I sat in my chair in the circle and said, "Wow, we have finally all failed!" They looked at me and then I told them that we have been successful in the EDP because everyone in class had FINALLY been through the emotions and thinking of the process. Each student and team had felt the rainbow of emotions and thinking that comes when problem solving--all had been inspired, angry, happy, frustrated, lost, thoughtful, lonely, together-- you get it....
In that moment they sighed and smiled. They got it. They had accomplished what is set out in the Idaho Tech Manual. The goal of the challenge is to grow as learners through creating the Mars Rover.
Click on the link to see the EDP page that was up on the Smart Board. It has been the content tool.
Idaho Tech Mars Rover Challenge Manual
This class needed this project this year.
As a class, they have grown in the way that I had hoped. Learning does have the word 'earn' inside it. Success does feel best when we know that what we did took effort and energy.
 |
| THANK YOU TO ALL THE PARENT COACHES AND MENTORS |
No comments:
Post a Comment