Transitioning the Library
Our current library (resource centre) is a very traditional space with a number of class areas, bookshelves, quiet study area, fiction room and teacher reference. One part is also sectioned off as the IT support room. Needless to say the entire space is under utilised and a large number of the books haven't been opend for years. The library is a hub of noise and excitement at recess and lunchtimes when it fills with students who come to chat, play games and use their computers (mainly for gaming). We are currently looking into repurposing this space to develop it into a more 21st Century Learning Commons. We have tentative plans to introduce a maker space, open learning spaces, greenscreen space and generally a space where more collaborative teaching and learning can take place. We have been fortunate enough, with the assistance of Ian Jukes, to secure the services (by way of some innovative advice) from Frank Kelly who has been redesigning library spaces into 21st Century collaborative spaces for many years. Stay tuned for our progress over the coming months and years. (We do not currently have any funds to do this so we will be putting our creative heads together to see what we can do with very little.)
Maker Space
During November 2014, we were fortunate to be able to borrow a large quantity of Maker Resources from the NPDL Team. This consisted of Little Bits, Makey Makey and some Arduino kits. We hadn't had any of this material in the school previously so it was a great opportunity for us to 'try before we buy' and see what we thought would be best value for money.
We had two staff attend the Gary Stager workshop and after reading through Gary's book "Invent to Learn" we felt we needed to invest more time into researching and applying some of this information.
We did't have any staff members who had knowledge of how to use or apply any of the resources and we didn't have time to create any specific lesson plans for them, so we thought we would throw caution to the wind and just put them in front of students and see what would happen.
They were used primarily by Science staff who seemed quite comfortable with the idea of letting students investigate and learning along with them. A year 7 class used them first. They were told that we had some special resources on loan and that they were priviledged to be allowed to have a 'play' with them. The teacher told them that she had no idea how they worked but it was to do with electricity and curcuits and maybe some programming.
The Little Bits were a major hit. All students were highly engaged immediately. Within a matter of minutes there were alarms sounding, buzzers going off, light flashing and dimming and rotors turning. One group had their iPod playing music and another had already attached their pen to extend a rotor arm. Not one student had opened or looked at an instruction manual. The groups shared the different attachments readily and worked out many different combinations of switches and controllers.
Of note was that after the initial amusement, the girls quickly tired of the activity with a few resorting to the instructions to see what else they could do and then they were happy to get on with their class work. The boys continued to experiment further with some resorting to instructions to solve a problem and others building creatively by experimentation. A small groups of boys looked for a different challenge and worked with the Makey Makey and Arduino. This was a higher level challenge which required following instructions to begin to understand how it worked. Two boys were quite successful but as class time was running out they could see that the activity was not going to get finished so they packed it up.
A year 9 Physics class which had already done some work on basic curcuits showed a deeper understanding of how and why their curcuits worked in particualr ways and could construct their projects based on knowledge rather than trial and error.
Given more time and being more famililiar with the resources it would be easy to incorporate them into a unit of work. A comment of note though would be that when students are first exposed to them it would be best to see what they could come up with first rather than telling them what they should be doing.
We have since purchased a small amount of Little Bits, Makey Makey, Raspberry Pi, a Bare conductive Arduino touch board, some electronic paint and a CircuitScribe starter kit. Initially we plan to have these in a supervised Maker Space in the Learning Commons so that students can investigate them freely rather than tied to a specific lesson or subject. We would then support staff who would like to incorporate any of the Learning Commons materials into their classes without them having to be the experts in the use of the resources. Our plan is to have a member of our Learning Commons staff support the classroom teacher in conducting their lesson.
We had two staff attend the Gary Stager workshop and after reading through Gary's book "Invent to Learn" we felt we needed to invest more time into researching and applying some of this information.
We did't have any staff members who had knowledge of how to use or apply any of the resources and we didn't have time to create any specific lesson plans for them, so we thought we would throw caution to the wind and just put them in front of students and see what would happen.
They were used primarily by Science staff who seemed quite comfortable with the idea of letting students investigate and learning along with them. A year 7 class used them first. They were told that we had some special resources on loan and that they were priviledged to be allowed to have a 'play' with them. The teacher told them that she had no idea how they worked but it was to do with electricity and curcuits and maybe some programming.
The Little Bits were a major hit. All students were highly engaged immediately. Within a matter of minutes there were alarms sounding, buzzers going off, light flashing and dimming and rotors turning. One group had their iPod playing music and another had already attached their pen to extend a rotor arm. Not one student had opened or looked at an instruction manual. The groups shared the different attachments readily and worked out many different combinations of switches and controllers.
Of note was that after the initial amusement, the girls quickly tired of the activity with a few resorting to the instructions to see what else they could do and then they were happy to get on with their class work. The boys continued to experiment further with some resorting to instructions to solve a problem and others building creatively by experimentation. A small groups of boys looked for a different challenge and worked with the Makey Makey and Arduino. This was a higher level challenge which required following instructions to begin to understand how it worked. Two boys were quite successful but as class time was running out they could see that the activity was not going to get finished so they packed it up.
A year 9 Physics class which had already done some work on basic curcuits showed a deeper understanding of how and why their curcuits worked in particualr ways and could construct their projects based on knowledge rather than trial and error.
Given more time and being more famililiar with the resources it would be easy to incorporate them into a unit of work. A comment of note though would be that when students are first exposed to them it would be best to see what they could come up with first rather than telling them what they should be doing.
We have since purchased a small amount of Little Bits, Makey Makey, Raspberry Pi, a Bare conductive Arduino touch board, some electronic paint and a CircuitScribe starter kit. Initially we plan to have these in a supervised Maker Space in the Learning Commons so that students can investigate them freely rather than tied to a specific lesson or subject. We would then support staff who would like to incorporate any of the Learning Commons materials into their classes without them having to be the experts in the use of the resources. Our plan is to have a member of our Learning Commons staff support the classroom teacher in conducting their lesson.
3D Printer
In September a group of Year 7 students visited QuantumVictoria to investigate and learn about 3D printing. This was an exciting day with a very early start (6.30am) and a 3.5 hour drive to Melbourne. Four hours was spent learning about how 3D printers work and designing objects using Google Sketchup on a PC and then 123D Creature on the iPads. Both students and teachers were totally engrossed in the workshops and found it easy to apply their newly learnt skills and concepts to some of their everyday class tasks.
A basic 3D printer was purchased and has been running non stop ever since. The only conditions for students to print were that they had to have gone through the design process themselves (using Tinkercad, Sketchup, 123D Suite or similar) and they couldn't printing anything considered inappropriate such as guns, knives etc. Some early successes have been: Designing and printing the College logo, a fishing lure, a camera stand and a prototype of a bench seat to be made in metal fabrication. |
3D Student Designs
These are a few of the early designs by students who are just 'having a go' at using the different programs.
For students to print using the 3D printer they are required to show their design process. They can use any program they like to design their model and this must be sent to the IT support staff to have the file converted to a .stl file and checked to ensure it will actually print (to reduce wastage).
Students are not permitted to just find something that has been designed by someone else and then print it for themselves.
For students to print using the 3D printer they are required to show their design process. They can use any program they like to design their model and this must be sent to the IT support staff to have the file converted to a .stl file and checked to ensure it will actually print (to reduce wastage).
Students are not permitted to just find something that has been designed by someone else and then print it for themselves.
How are the changes going?
Coding 3D Printing Colouring Virtual Reality Glasses
Board Games Cards Chess Lego Knitting Pixel Drawings Holograms Sphero LittleBits Puzzles 8 Point Stars Activities on OfferFundraisingMost of the changes we have made to date were cost neutral (sourced from elsewhere in the college or donated) but it is obvious that we would need some funds to be able to purchase any significant resources. We successfully applied for two Telstra Kids Funds at $1200 each and purchased 8 X Sphero programmable robotic balls and 4 class sets of LittleBits.
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With the number of students now spending their recess and lunchtimes in the Library we felt the need to provide some support in the way of mentors to help students navigate their way around the different activities. As with most school, break times are precious for staff and as much as we would like to have staff in the library at these times there wasn't a manageable way to do this. We decided to contact the local City Council volunteers coordinator who pointed a few people interested in being mentors in our direction. We have different volunteers come in on different days to sit and work with students on the different activities. They act as coaches, mentors, activity coordinators and participants. The students enjoy working with adults other than teachers and the volunteers are really enjoying the experience.
The Library is now a hive of activity at recess and lunchtimes. The once 30 odd students has now increased to more than 100 at a time all engaged in activities including coding; 3D design and printing; playing cards and board games including chess; mandala colouring and string designs, making pixel pictures and holograms; learning to knit and making woven 8 Point stars for the Million Stars to End Violence campaign - just to name a few. Staff are kept busy constantly rearranging the furniture to continually provide different and engaging work spaces.
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Volunteers
We have a wonderful group of volunteers who come and support our library at recess and lunchtimes. They support students while introducing new activities or just sit with students and join in the activities they are doing. In some cases they act as mentors and another adult that the students can relate to and share their stories with.