June 2015 Edition
WOW -- has there ever been a lot of cool stuff happening with technology in our classrooms lately! Read on to learn more about the innovative ways in which CAIS faculty and students have been using technology this spring.
Makers Movement Comes to CAIS
In a collaborative project betweenfourth grade science and English, students imagined what life might be like for a person in the California Gold Rush. In small groups, students worked to identify and describe this individual, then discussed a challenge that person might have faced. Next students designed a new solution that would make this person's life better. Given a set of craft supplies, students collaborated to build a prototype of their design, then presented their creations to the entire class.
In eighth grade math and technology, students used the design thinking process to brainstorm ideas about ways to improve their personal electronic device (iPad or iPhone). Students sketched ideas individually and then in groups, then built a prototype. During the design process, students calculated the surface area of their product in order to estimate the cost of materials to build their model. Using the 3D drawing software Tinkercad, students created a 3D model of some part of their product, and some groups ultimately created a 3D printout of their design.
The new middle school makerspace may still be under construction, but making is already happening here at CAIS in our lower school art classes! Art teacher Lisa Ostapinski has developed a series of making projects with her classes this semester. For instance, second graders created stop motion animation videos with clay characters. Third and fourth graders made drawing botsusing motors and battery packs. Students attached motors to strawberry baskets and created drawing machines by attaching markers, pencils, pens, and paintbrushes to the baskets. They also viewed and discussed contemporary kinesthetic art that uses motors, particularly drawing machines. Finally, in a project that integrated both science and art, fourth graders learned about circuitry in science class and transferred that knowledge to create three dimensional paper sculptures illuminated with LED lights in art class. Students viewed and discussed contemporary artwork with LEDs including the Bay Bridge "Bay Lights" project. Check out the amazing video below showing our students and their drawing bots in action!
Design Thinking Across the Curriculum at CAIS
Across grade levels, languages, and subjects, design thinking has begun to take hold in classrooms across CAIS as more and more teachers find creative ways to integrate this approach to their curriculum.
In second grade art and Chinese, students embarked on a unit involving interior design. While learning relevant vocabulary in Chinese, students were paired up with a partner and charged with designing the "ultimate bedroom" for their partner. Students followed each step of the design thinking process, starting with creating empathy and researching the client by interviewing their partners. Next they sketched and created a prototype using paper and recycled materials. During the process they solicited feedback and made adjustments accordingly. Finally, students gifted their prototype to their partner and wrote a letter describing what they put in the room and why.
In a collaborative project betweenfourth grade science and English, students imagined what life might be like for a person in the California Gold Rush. In small groups, students worked to identify and describe this individual, then discussed a challenge that person might have faced. Next students designed a new solution that would make this person's life better. Given a set of craft supplies, students collaborated to build a prototype of their design, then presented their creations to the entire class.In eighth grade math and technology, students used the design thinking process to brainstorm ideas about ways to improve their personal electronic device (iPad or iPhone). Students sketched ideas individually and then in groups, then built a prototype. During the design process, students calculated the surface area of their product in order to estimate the cost of materials to build their model. Using the 3D drawing software Tinkercad, students created a 3D model of some part of their product, and some groups ultimately created a 3D printout of their design.
Using Technology to Enhance Mathematical Reasoning Skills
As Weiwen Yang told her students, "Knowing the right answer to a problem is not as awesome as articulating the reasoning behind it. However, articulating the reasoning is not as awesome as listening and giving constructive feedback to other people's reasoning." Starting with this philosophy, third grade students not only needed to write about their methods to solve a division word problem, but also needed to clearly explain and record their methods using the Explain Everythingapp. After recording, students presented their videos to three classmates, who asked clarifying questions. Finally, students filled out individual checklists on iPad to make sure they remembered to include all the key points.
Understanding Circles in Third Grade Math
What is a good way to introduce the concept of a circle to students? In third grade Chinese, Weiwen Yang developed a clever way to teach this idea using a tale about a cow tethered in a pasture! In this story, the shape of the grass area where the cow eats day after day eventually becomes a circle. Students developed an understanding of the circle concept and then retold the story with complete structure of beginning, middle and end. Then students created their own animated cow story using Explain Everything app and explicitly illustrated the circle definition.
Integrating Explain Everything App in Kindergarten Chinese
Ever considered using Explain Everything to make worksheets more engaging for students? You can use Explain Everything to design interactive activities such as word-picture matching, fill in the blanks, or storytelling with pictures. This spring, Yanmei Yang and Xiaoqing Chen collaborated to create worksheet templates in Explain Everything and pushed the templates to students' iPads through Dropbox. In class, students opened the template, matched pictures and words, and recorded themselves telling a story. Kindergartners completed these projects in their units on Forest Animals, Sea Animals and Spring Season in Chinese class this spring.
Taiwan Exchange Trip: Mission Impossible
This year, our fifth graders were tasked with a special mission for their trip to Taiwan. Their mission (whether or not they chose to accept it) was to accomplish seven specific tasks during their stay abroad. Each task comprised a part of a larger research project, designed to help our students study and learn about Taiwan...and synthesize this information in order to share their learnings once they returned! Check out this example of one of our students' final presentations below.
Studying the Stars with iPads 
Imagine gazing up at the stars on a clear night. Can you see Orion's belt? What other stars can you identify? In Jack Crow's sixth grade math and science class, students were able to identify objects in the sky using their iPad's built-in compass and accelerometer and the powerful astronomy app Starry Night. Combined with another great science app, Sky Safari, students had a virtual planetarium right on their iPads and a treasure trove of astronomical information at their fingertips. According to Jack, using these apps "added a level of understanding of the universe that I never had as a kid." He continued, "Now that we have [these iPad apps] I can't imagine another way of teaching astronomy."
Heating Up 7th Graders' Beijing Trip with Baidu Map and Taobao Website
In an exciting new project designed to prepare seventh graders for their trip to Beijing, students used Baidu map (similar to Google Maps) to navigate virtually around the neighborhood of Sanfan School, where they were would study in Beijing. Using newly learned directional language, each student guided a classmate to a place of interest near the school and displayed photos of the location. Before landing in Beijing, students were already familiar with many of the street names and views in the neighborhood where they would study!
To add another level of fun, students looked up the prices of common merchandise on Taobao website (similar to eBay). Allotted ¥1000 to "spend", each student purchased merchandise and opened an online store, designed using Keynote slides. In class, half of the students pretended to be buyers with ¥300 to spend and bargained with their peer "merchants". At the end of the class, all students created trading reports on what they bought and sold.
Seventh and Eighth Grade Scientists Get Creative with
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| Video game illustrating the path of eel migration, created by 8th graders. |
Technology
Students' creativity has been shining through with their use of technology during the past trimester in science class! Students in Susan Sherman's science class conducted research on disease pathogens (7th grade) and animal migration (8th grade). In creating their final reports, three seventh grade groups opted to present their disease stories as a video play, while another group portrayed their findings using hand-drawn animated cartoon figures. The eighth graders were similarly creative: two eighth grade groups chose to create animated maps of their animals moving on their migration route while a third group used digital maps and pictures to illustrate their story.
Building A Historical Perspective on San Francisco and
Beijing
Beijing
What did San Francisco and Beijing look like back in 1906, just before the great earthquake in SF? In Chinese class, eighth grade students learned early 20th century Chinese history and wrote essays comparing American and Chinese cities. In this project students specifically chose and researched landmark buildings that reflected the economic development and social changes in SF and Beijing. Then in the technology class, students built sculptures of the landmarks (SF Ferry Building, Beijing train station, SF Flood Building, Beijing Old Tea House, etc.) using cardboard and added kinetic features to the crafting materials using Hummingbird robotics kits. If you stand in front of the train station sculpture, the bell will ring and the train will move. If you clap your hands, the door to the tea house will open. Finally, students added the historical city view paintings they created in the brush painting class as background for their kinetic sculptures. In sum, students provided a small but vivid glimpse into San Francisco and Beijing's past.
Flattening the Middle School Classroom: Connecting with China
In a first-of-its-kind project, CAIS middle schoolers connected with peers at the AnQiu QingYun Bilingual School in Shandong, China this spring. Overcoming tremendous logistical difficulties (such as the 15-hour time difference!), CAIS seventh and eighth graders chatted with students in China via Skype. All six Skype sessions were carefully planned to include topics on lifestyle, Chinese cuisine, hobbies, etc. Different sessions involved different tasks and activities: guessing games, prepared interviews, and open-ended Q&A, to name a few. Students took notes during the sessions and reported their reflections afterwards. Here is a short video capturing some moments of the Skype sessions.
Upcoming Technology Professional Development Opportunities
iTeach 2015 - San Domenico School, Marin, CA Jun. 15-16
EdTechTeacher 2015 - Menlo Park, CA Jun. 22-26
Teach 21 West - Hamlin School, SF, CA Jun 22-25
CUE Rockstar Teacher Summer Camps - Various locations in CA, June-August
Google Apps for Education CA Summit - Palo Alto, CA, Jul.11-12, 18-19
Designing Making Experiences - Oakland, CA Aug. 6-7
Fall CUE Conference - Napa, CA Oct. 23-24
CAIS kids code! In December, nonprofit organization 
For the second consecutive year Lower School informational writing took on new life...in the form of a digital book! Students in Maggie Spillane and Shannon Selerowski's third grade classes became digital publishers by using the iPad app 
Have you ever stopped to think about how your iPad stylus works? Or, for that matter, why your phone or iPad screen responds to your touch? In technology class, our sixth and seventh graders learned about the basics of conductivity and how their iPads' touchscreens work. Then, using nothing more than a pen, wire, conductive foam, and tape, they constructed their own simple styluses! Sound like fun? You, too, can be a "maker" and try this at home! Just check out the handy do-it-yourself video below: