technology with intention
8th grade
Tech class happenings from the 8th grade, including AML (Applied Mathematics Lab) and IHS (Integrated Human Sciences).
IHS: When life hands you lemons
527 days
Make batteries! That’s what 8th grade students did in their class of Integrated Human Sciences. Students were supplied with copper rods, zinc coated nails, LED lights, alligator clips and a lesson in the parts of a battery. In these lemon batteries, the copper rod acted as an anode, the zinc coated nail acted as a cathode, and the lemon juice acted as the acid.
iPhone photography
530 days
8th grade student Deividas has been spending some time creating art with an iPhone. He writes:
I used two programs, called Toy camera and Photo-show. With them, you can add effects to photos. I chose this technology because the iPhone had these and I wanted to see what they could do, which turned out really awesomely. I like doing photography because it is really fun to go places and mess around with colors and stuff with those apps. Also, you get to take cool pictures of awesome sculptures and stuff to awe other people with your pro-fulness.
Applied math: newspaper tables
546 days
by Jac de Haan
in 8th grade
Written by Forrest H.
Previously in the engineering section of applied math lab(A.M.L.) we have created tables created from newspaper, cardboard and tape. We quickly discovered that these are not the most powerful materials in the world. I learned that to make the most powerful table, we had to make very tightly rolled pieces of newspaper. My partner Abbey and I achieved the most tightly rolled newspaper in the class by folding it over itself over and over again. They ended out being much thinner than most of the other groups but held the best. Also, the structure was held by triangular shapes which are the strongest geometric shape. We were horrified however after creating our table that we were supposed to be measuring the amount of tape we used. We had to spend three classes finding out our tape usage. Fortunately, it all paid off. Our table easily held over nine pounds before collapsing. We were then allowed extra time to reinforce and re-test our table. We did, this time careful to measure and record the tape we were using. We have still not yet weighed how much it held then, but I think it held at least twice as much. This section of AML has been fun to learn and fascinating to experience.
Facebook messages service: the social inbox
549 days
8th grade students today had a conversation about Facebook’s revamp of their messaging service – an idea to funnel all of your communication through their website and let the company decide what you want to look at.
There were definitely some benefits to this approach to communication. Abbey thought it would be nice to text someone who might get the message from their computer. Kevin wondering if you have to use a Facebook.com email account or whether you can connect it to your own personal email.
There were also some concerns about Facebook having access to your entire life – every conversation with every person. Sometimes you might have conversations that you would rather forget, but they will continue to exist in Facebook. Sometimes you don’t want a computer to decide what messages you see and what you don’t. By making life easier, you may miss some important things.
Many 8th grade students use Facebook regularly, they’ll be reporting back on how these changes affect their digital lives.
Hacking the Hurt Square
564 days
Hacking in its truest sense is essential to innovation and creativity. To hack something is to re-engineer something, to give it new purpose beyond what it is designed to do. To hack something is to understand it, find its limitations and push against those boundaries.
8th grade students have been intensively exploring cyber-bullying in the month of October, the types of peer pressure that occurs online and possible solutions. They’ve been candid in using personal experiences in confronting this topic. We’ve also spent some time with the Hurt Square, a tool for plotting perceived intention and hurtfulness of an interaction – whether online or in the real-world.
Through the use of the Hurt Square, 8th graders felt that the tool had limitations and sought to modify (hack) it to suit their own needs. In groups, students have taken a fresh approach to representing the emotion involved in interactions. Some teams added a 3rd dimension, some included rating systems or altered the purpose of axis. Some felt that the emotional/physical aspect of an interaction was missing, others though that time was crucial in representing communication.
Rough drafts are complete, we’ll post modifications once they’ve been tuned.
Positive power of social networking
575 days
In an example of the positive power of social networking, some Billings students were among the 1.7+ million people who wore purple today in honor of the many people who have committed suicide in recent months because of homophobic abuse and bullying. A few student government officers spoke out against bullying at an all school meeting today, and shared a message of togetherness and community while providing examples of ways to treat each other respectfully while recognizing differences.
This worldwide event was put together by GLAAD, Facebook, MTV and other organizations and was spread primarily through a Facebook page and other social networking tools. Billings Middle School is a PACER partner for National Bullying Prevention Month and a large part of our technology curriculum centers around digital identity.
The Hurt Square
590 days
While Jac is in Central Washington with the 7th grade, 8th grade students are delving deeper into the intersection between data permanence, social networks, friendship and privacy. The work they are doing is an adaptation of a lesson created by Common Sense Media, a non-profit focused on educating students, parents and teachers about the reality of digital identity.
Students examined a series of scenarios that happen everyday online between teens. They then rated the experiences based on the level of hurtfulness or embarrassment that would be caused and the level of intention behind the action.
You may be posting something that you think is funny or harmless, but others involved might not see your comments or media in the same light as you. Who gets to decide how painful something is – the insulter or the person feeling hurt?
You don’t always know how someone will take a joke or statement online. Don’t just think would this offend me? but consider could this hurt the person I’m referring to?
Students captured their responses in a ‘hurt square’, a graphing tool that illustrates the relative pain/intentionality of a situation:
Here is a list of the scenarios that students assessed:
#1: Your long-time buddy from 1st grade just posted a hilarious photo of the two of you when you were only 6 years old. You are both completely naked, running through a garden sprinkler with cowboy hats on.
#2: A classmate that you don’t talk to often just posted a list of “the 5 dumbest things you said today.”
#3: A friend from another school just posted a photo of you with the caption “Sooooo hot! I’d tap that.”
#4: A cabin mate from Camp Colman just posted a photo of you asleep with someone else’s underwear on your pillow.
#5: A buddy has a wall post about how cute you and your crush are. Problem is, they are online buddies with their Mom, who knows your Mom, and your Mom isn’t cool with you dating in 8th grade.
#6: You made a YouTube video for a school project. Someone anonymously commented “that’s so gay!”
#7: A bunch of teammates created a page called “you shouldn’t start for our team because you suck at sports” and then forwarded it to you.
#8: Someone took a photo of you from a school trip and drew boogers and a mustache on it, then posted it.
#9: A friend sent you a private message online that starts by calling you a racial slur for a different race than yours.
GAM review
610 days
by Jac de Haan
in 8th grade
8th grade students dug back into their memory banks to remember some useful facts about 3 of our most talked-about companies: Google, Apple and Microsoft. Teams competed to gain the most points for accurate answers.
| Apple | Microsoft | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded by | Larry Page and Sergey Brin | Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne | Bill Gates and Paul Allen |
| Founded in | 1996 | 1976 | 1975 |
| Founded location | Stanford University, CA | Los Altos, CA | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| HQ in | Mountain View, CA | Cupertino, CA | Redmond, WA |
| Web browser | Chrome | Safari | Internet Explorer |
| Operating system | Chrome OS | OSX | Windows |
| productivity | Google Apps | iWork | Office |
| Stock ticker | goog | appl | msft |
| revenue | $26B | $54B | $62B |
| employees | 22M | 37M | 89M |
| revenue per employee | $1.2M | $1.4M | $702K |
| price per share | $482 | $268 | $25 |
| shares | 318M | 913M | 8.6B |
Lab expectations defined
612 days
Students spent a period setting boundaries to work within while in the TechLab. We started with our 3 rules, and then defined what that behavior would look like in specific settings. It turns out that sometimes focused computer work is an expectation, and other times it can be a distraction. We’ve posted this table in the lab so that it can be referred to as necessary.
| transitioning to class | presentation or lecture | discussions | independent time | end of class | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be awesome to each other | *treat others as you want to be treated nicely
*be flexible *be calm *talk to each other |
*listen
*assume others are trying to help *take turns *offer compliments *agree/disagree respectfully |
*listen
*assume others are trying to help *take turns *offer compliments *agree/disagree respectfully |
*work quietly
*compliment others work *help others focus *give suggestions if asked |
*treat others as you want to be treated nicely
*thank others |
| participate | *log in to computer
*paper, pen(cil), planner *write agenda in planner |
*eyes on speaker
*take notes *ask questions *share ideas *stay where you are meant to be |
*eyes on speaker
*take notes *ask questions *share ideas *stay where you are meant to be |
*stay focused
*try new things *use time wisely |
*leave on time
*take your stuff *help clean |
| respect the lab and equipment | *use technology as appropriate
*control your body *no food/drink *wash hands *use cubbies |
*use technology as appropriate | *use technology as appropriate | *use technology as appropriate | *log off computer
*hang headphones *push in chairs |
