Innovation and Inspiration

I got so busy at the end of the school year that I wasn't able to post a lot of the really cool STEAM projects that were going on in CUSD! So now that it's finally summer, I have time to go back and highlight some of these great projects. One of the most memorable projects was the 5th Grade 3D modeling and printing cell project with Amanda Haugh's class at Forest Hill. After learning about plant and animal cells in science class, we had students draw a diagram of one of the cells. Amanda also had the students do a close reading of an article that documented how 3D printers are being used in the medical industry to replicate essential body parts. We then had students sign-on to TinkerCad using their district Google Accounts and go through the self-paced tutorials at www.tinkercad.com  On average, it took the students about 3 - 5 hours to complete all of the basic tutorials. A three button-mouse is preferable to use all of the features, but a trackpad can also be used. Sinc...

This weekend I posted my first Donors Choose project! Donors Choose is an online charity that uses crowd-sourcing to help fund projects for public school teachers. For my first project, I requested 3 button mice. We've found that MinecraftEdu, TinkerCad, and other software need the wheel and right-click features to work optimally. If you have a few dollars to spare, out students could really use your support! 3 Button Mice, 3 Button Mice, See How They Click! Below is a link to the project. If you enter the word SPARK at checkout, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar http://www.donorschoose.org/project/3-button-mice-3-button-mice-see-how-th/1574523?challengeid=20452808&utm_source=dc&utm_medium=project&utm_campaign=copyURL&rf=copyURL-siteshare-2015-06-project-teacher_1940352 The Project: The students will use the Amazon 3-Button mice in our computer lab. They will use them for computer science, 3D modeling, and collaborative MinecraftEdu projects. T...