technology with intention
6th Grade
Tech class happenings from the 6th grade, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).
Spreadsheets and Snowshoeing and Scratch, Oh MY!
0Wow, sorry it’s been so long between posts. Between the Winter program, snow days, and Christmas break, we’ve been extremely busy!
The 6th graders have been working hard on learning the program Scratch, developed by MIT Media Lab. This is their first classroom experience with programming, and many of them are taking off and really enjoying it! So far, they have completed two of the four sets of challenges, and by the end of the unit, they will be able to use the program to create video games, animations and more!
7th grade has been working to develop their skills with spreadsheets, and are currently making their own “battleship” game with Microsoft Excel. This week we worked on using the “if” function with numbers and text. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to match up and play our games.
8th Grade has taken a little bit of a hiatus from the tech lab since they snowshoe on their day of tech class, but pretty soon we will be working to develop a survey for the entire school on uses of different technologies both in and out of the classroom. They started by thinking about how they effectively use technology at school and the different ways teachers at Billings use tech in the classroom to enhance learning.
R.I.P Steve Jobs
The Tech world was struck last week by the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Both the 6th grade and the 8th grade took the opportunity to reflect on the development of the company, what the company is known for, and how products have changed over time.
Members of the classes included these products in a list of what Apple is known for:
- iPad
- iPod Classic/Touch/Nano/Mini/Shuffle
- iPhone
- Macbook Pro/Air
- iMac
- Pixar
- iTunes
- App Store
We researched different Apple products, including the original Macintosh from 1984, the first iMac, the Apple II series, and discovered a lesser known Apple product the Bandai Pippin. We also played around on the way back machine and looked at what apple.com looked like in 1998!
Welcome Back!
A lot has been happening in the tech lab since school started! We’ve been busy reviewing lab expectations and getting back into the swing of the school year.
7th graders worked in groups to define technology terms in their own words. Definitions included “a network of information that most computers can access” and “the giant digital information superhighway” for Internet; and “a program that lets you connect to the Internet” with examples of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox for Web Browser. Other terms we defined included WWW/Web, Cloud, Web Address/URL, Program, Search Engine and Address bar.
6th grade has been spending time reviewing Internet use expectations and understanding passwords. In what has become a Billings tradition, 6th grade heard the story of Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington and his experience when many of his online accounts were hacked as a result of poor password choice. The class worked together to come up with different passwords based on everyday words. Kangaroo became k@N6aro0, computer became c0Mpu+3r and technology became T3cHn0\o6Y. We decided that good passwords include lower and UPPER case letters, numbers and symbols.
8th graders were introduced to the Hurt Square and were presented with various scenarios to rank on the square. We decided that sometimes actions online are less hurtful and more annoying, but they still have an impact in our lives.
What is “PLAY”?
187 days
What happens when you give 67 middle school students access to a camera, a question and no adult supervision?
STEM memories
246 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
6th grade students completed an evaluation survey of our STEM experiences this year. Before we got to work, we took a look back at some memories of the year:
Up to speed with SketchUp
262 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
6th grade students are deep in the study of SketchUp. Skills practiced so far:
- View manipulation
- Zoom
- Zoom to extent
- Pan
- Orbit
- Draw
- Line
- Rectangle
- Circle
- Arc
- Erase
- Paint
- Manipulate
- Push/Pull
- Move
- Rotate
- Offset
- Advanced features
- Section Plane
- Scale
- Keyboard Shortcuts
Students celebrate Media Arts
267 days
Rory, Jake, Cooper, Ben C, Enzo, and Milo headed over to Seattle Country Day School today for the first Northwest Middle School Media Festival. It was standing room only in the screening room.
There were entries by students from Eton, Whitman, McClure, Vista, Woodinville Monessori and Catlin Gabel. Billings students represented the interactive category, with websites and games. Ben and Cooper entered their Battle of Fredricksburg film, which was well received.
We were honored to be joined on our journey by Noah, a Billings alum who helped found our DigiArts program and one of the organizers of the first Maker Faire trip that we took 2 years ago. Thank you Noah!
STEM: In a galaxy far far away
268 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
6th grade STEM students took a break from their recent study of programming and robotics to look at some more practical use of technology and engineering…Star Wars!
The Pacific Science Center and Science Fiction Museum worked together to create an exhibit that looks at the science and technology behind Star Wars and connections between the film series’ science fiction and real-world robotics. Students got to design their own mag-lev trains and explored similarities between the programming in R2-D2 and a robotic vacuum cleaner.
STEM: Lego Mindstorm Sensors
275 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
6th grade students are continuing their study of programming and creative problem solving with Lego Mindstorms. Building on our study of robot movement last week, we were presented with 3 new challenges this week, all requiring sensors!
- Convince your robot to stay within a path outlined by masking tape against a black floor. The path weaves around the classroom. So far, students have figured out how to have their robots stop at the tape and change direction, but no solutions yet on how to the the robot to decide which way to turn.
- Create a whisper bot, a robot that will only move when it is quiet in the room. If noise reaches a certain threshold, the robot will stop until it is quiet again. As an added challenge, if the robot receives an extremely loud noice (“STOP!”) then it will cancel it’s program and remain stopped forever.
- Send your robot directly at a wall and have it stop without bumping into anything and then react using sound or movement.
Digital identity quotes
287 days
The 8th grade recently deployed an annual digital identity survey of Billings Middle School students. We are still analyzing the data, but here are some interesting quotes that were submitted:
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