Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
This lesson by itself doesn’t really fit in our core but if we were to use these (or similar) kits in any way than a lesson like this would be a great way to introduce and demystify microcontrollers in my classroom. Many students don’t think they can use equipment like this and this is a very simple starter (perhaps paired with the blink lesson and the light show) to get students confident enough to build and use sensors in more real science experiments later.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
Lots of modeling by the teacher and specific roles or table team responsibilities to ensure every one gets their hands on the materials at some point during the lesson.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
Assigning roles (and reassigning roles as necessary to ensure all get to participate), modeling, tech support when needed, positive reinforcement will be important to help students build confidence in their new abilities.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Reading and following instructions, holding themselves accountable for meeting targets, there must be some kind of end product, maybe the blink lesson would be a good check of their understanding.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
Since I teach teachers to use integrate tech vs having a regular class time with kids, this is a hard question. I can easily see introducing this lesson to learn about sensors and to make the connection between the code and the data collected. I am not sure which classes would use which sensors at this point, since we currently don’t do anything like this! A couple teachers come in to do work on forces/friction etc. and I can see that these sensors may be able to help them collect real data.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
The intro lesson seemed to be pretty self explanatory to me. I think my gr 4-6 students could do this. They would just need to take time to figure out the “explain your answer” parts.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
This one seems to be something I would model- and then ask the students to try it in pairs. Reading and following directions is key.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. Listen, watch, try it.
What does “student success” look like?
Students are engaged. They can follow instructions. They can come up with the why? And they are excited to try more.
I could probably go back and look, but what ages are you teaching? I love the idea of using this basic intro in a real hands on manner- with the balloon and the hair dryer. Making real connections to “sensors” and “coding” is so important.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum:
We cover a few units on electricity / electronics. This basic introduction is a nice stepping stone to go from basic use of bread boards to simple coding.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
Usually I would review the actual board and components before having students try the experiments. This introductory one is simple enough that most students shouldn’t have a problem completing it.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
Again, for a simple lesson like this, most students should be able to complete the process without much hand-holding from the teacher. I would let them try it and help troubleshoot if things didn’t work.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Students should want try things and experiment with possibilities. Some students will want to progress more quickly and they should be allowed to. For those students that find it easy, I would encourage them to help other students who may be struggling or missing some basic understanding.
Collaboration is key. The PLTW classes are wonderful avenues for sharing and I am trying to bring more of that to my regular technology classes as well so that students learn to work with one another, in groups and learn to solve problems by sharing ideas and solutions.
Oh my, following instructions … what a quaint idea. I jest of course, but that really is a difficult thing to teach students today. They have everything at their fingertips instantly and they are loathe to take the time to read instructions and follow sequential directions. Using these kits is an ideal way for them to learn to do things in order and reap a reward from doing so.
This lesson really doesn’t exactly fit into my curriculum other than to say I teach 4th grade math and science and it is extremely difficult for that age student to image what circuit boards and sensors actually look like. I think this would be a great introductory lesson for them.
Students might need extra support on the downloading just like me because our IT at school is under so much “heavy security” you would think they are guarding the US Mint! I ended up having to download equipment to my personal laptop because putting in a ticket to get it down by the IT department was going to take too long and I needed their password for permission to download anything on my school computer!
My role during a lesson such as this would definitely be a walk-through along with the students kind of a watch me and then you do type of lesson just simply because of the age of my students.
The students role would be to complete the steps on their computer by following along with my directions as I complete the download. A successful student would be one who has completed the steps along with me even if they had some trouble with the download as some computers may not play as “nice” as others do.
I agree. I think some teachers cause students to be too dependent on them by hovering too much!! I allowing my students to problem solve on their own before trying to solve their problems for them.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I work with K-16 STEM/Science Teachers and Students. This lesson would really be great for my upper elementary students up to pre-service teachers to get a good introduction to coding and Arduino. Some teachers and students that I work with are familiar with coding, but others have never been exposed to it before. This would give them a great place to begin learning or apply their skills.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
For those that have never worked with Arduino or Micro:bit, there would be quite a bit of discomfort and nervousness with handling unfamiliar equipment. I think that explaining the parts of the equipment and having a labeled diagram available for them at all times would help them be more successful.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would model the steps and answer questions as the students initially go through the lesson, then turn it over to them. After the students have become familiar with the equipment and the task, my role would be to encourage and ask questions, letting them work through the challenges and troubleshoot with peers.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
The student’s role during class would be to work with their partner to discover the connections between the coding and the functioning of the sensors and output. Persistence with problem solving and attempting something new is a key feature of student success to me.
My 8th graders were very excited to see the kit and we put it together as a small group. These are students who have some degree of experience with Scratch, but not much with putting together a any hardware. We had fun tryin git in different locations to see the change in the luminosity. There would be very little I would have to do to use this lesson in class! Students could follow the directions independently.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
This lesson does not fit now, but I hope to eventually learn enough to offer a course in coding and utilizing the materials provided. I may be able to integrate some of the later lessons.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
They always struggle with reading and following directions. Many would just try to jump in and see what happens. That is fine, they would just need to figure it out as they go. We have a block period each week, so the time would be great for figuring out how to get the sensors to work, and how to be persistent.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would do what I like to do with labs - present the problem, discuss as a class what we know, determine what needs to be done, and let them go for it. I would try to group students in ways to allow each group to have one person who is comfortable with the equipment, and be sure to circulate. I try a cw or ccw approach to keep moving and allowing students to look up and know how close I am to them to help out.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
I encourage them to ask each other questions first. There are 20 - 30 of them, and one teacher. This usually works well and gets them helping one another and feeling a bit confident.
Success would be when they are able to make it through the assignment as a group with understanding. I try to ensure all students are working as a group, and not one who does all the work while the others stand by. I want them all to be able to know how the equipment works.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
This lesson does not currently fit, but there is a coding elective my students can take, and I would share this with my colleague who teaches it.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
Following the directions to the letter is a challenge. But, I would have the try on their own first, and trouble shoot in teams.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I think my students would enjoya role-reversal and have the opportunity to teach this lesson to each other.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Partner them up and have each team member have a role. The success would come if they are express interest in continuing to learn more coding.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
This lesson was perfect for our curriculum. My students have been very interested in coding for a while now. We are lucky to be homeschoolers so that we can slip what they are interested in into their day. Although this was for me to learn first - I had them join me and we really had a lot of fun setting everything up and it was easy enough for me to understand without too much help from my tech savy kids. 
After we set it all up they took turns with the OLED and went right into the next lesson.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order ot be successful?
Since my students already had experience with coding that was not a challenge - however as we introduce the program to those who may not have experience with coding or a sensor board/OLED display etc. I think that I would watch and see how they follow instructions and then give support where needed.
If you were to teach this lesson…
For this lesson I think giving them the kit, watching how they do with reading and discovering for themselves is imperative. There’s nothing like watching the light go on after they get it and it works! Making sure they know as a teacher I’m here to support them and they can ask questions as I check on them individually, walk around, ask them questions, give encouragement, help if needed etc. (this is with the understanding that we’ve had a previous lesson on what everything is and does)
I believe the students role would be to participate, try, discover, and success would be if they were able to get the kit up and going and if they were happy with thier ability to achieve this goal. If they want to learn more great if not that’s okay too. But for me the success would be for them to have a sense of accomplishment and discovery of something new.
This was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me since I have not done much coding. I was initially successful and then it seemed like my screen quit working. I contacted Sunny on a Sunday and she immediately got back to me, asking a colleague to help me out. He contacted me within a couple hours and got me back up and running! It was a simple solution. I did not realize that the system would remember a code. I thought it would just reset. They then sent me a reset page to take the system back to “out of the box”.
This actually would fit in with ELA standards for communicating and following instructions.
I suspect that my students would need quite a bit of help to be successful on this lesson as far as plugging in cables.
I would explain the lesson and explain and show the wiring. I would then step back and let students attempt and ask for help from another student and then asking the teacher.
I would act as a facilitator and step in as needed.
I love the idea of incorporating ELA standards into this lesson!
I also struggled, but Sunny was quick to help me out!
Really easy to get started. The short video showed what was supposed to be in the box and the items were easy to find and follow. worked with no problems.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I teach a STEM class and Environmental Science. This lesson would fit perfectly into my STEM course as an introduction arduino. It would also be fun to incorporate it into Environmental Science and some of the labs I do with temperature and UV.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful? The students would need support in getting the drivers to download and basically just getting started. They have little to no experience with this type of technology.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson? If I was to teach this lesson, I would have the role of facilitator. I would answer student questions but not do it for them. I would have to guide them through the process so that they could learn how to do it on their own one day.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
During class I would expect my students to be following the instructions. I know they would have questions and I would help trouble shoot. But, following a set of instructions/procedures is a skill that they should develop. Student success would be successfully making the project work, even if I had to guide them through it. Having exposure to this type of technology is success to me, even if there was a little bit of struggle along the way.
I also experienced the learning curve you mention! Eventually I also got through it. I agree, the students would definitely need some facilitation.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
One of the classes I teach has programming standards. It was basically an introduction to the sensor package, display, and setup for future activities.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
The biggest issue will be the computer software configuration. The Chrome extension is blocked by district, so it is unusable. Any software used by students requires district approval…especially if it requires account creation with student information. I do have limited admin rights, so install is not an issue. However, agent does not seem to save answers (doesn’t save mine) so that is an issue.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
As with the rest of my courses, I act as a facilitator for learning. Students learn through exploration and figuring things out. I try not to spend too much time in front of the classroom. I setup the initial lesson, explain requirements, monitor, and assist as required.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Student is in charge of their own learning. Success would be a student successfully completing activity, understand concepts, and be able to apply learning to future lessons.