technology with intention
7th Grade
Tech class happenings from the 7th grade, including iCLAST (integrated class of Language Arts, Science and Technology).
Aaaand, We’re Back!
Winter is tough for me here around the tech lab. We have a pretty awesome winter sports program here at Billings, but that takes away from some of my classroom time. Additionally, we seem to have a lot of days off here and there, for holidays, conferences, prep days, and so I feel like I haven’t seen my kids enough to write anything about what we’re doing. Now that we have Fridays back, and I’ve gained some momentum with my classes, I can spend some time here.
Both the 7th and 8th grade have been spending time thinking, writing, and researching about Cyberbullying and Cyber-rights. In line with their work in American History, 7th Graders are working on presentations on Cyber-rights and the constitution. Primarily, they are focusing their work on a court case that involves a student and a perceived violation of rights. 8th graders are using their knowledge of cyberbullying to create presentations for younger students on different types of cyberbullying and harassment. Central to their presentations is how to prevent harassment from occurring and how to stand up for others who are experiencing harassment.
A Google a Day
7th graders returned from mid-winter break this week and began working on their online research skills. They started by playing with the online puzzle challenge game called “A Google A Day“.
After discovering that Rachel, Nevada draws science fiction enthusiasts, that the half-life of cesium-137 is shorter (30 years) than uranium-238 (4.5 billion years), and how to say good morning in Romanian (bună dimineaţa) the students came together and discussed how to conduct a Google search that provides you with the information you need.
Spreadsheets and Snowshoeing and Scratch, Oh MY!
Wow, 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.
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.
Billings students receive an Eco-code award!
704 days
A few weeks ago, Ronan, Rebecca and Peter got together to reflect on the ways we are trying to be environmentally responsible as a school. This conversation turned into a rap, and other students contributed their voices. The result was sent off to the wonderful people at the National Wildlife Federation as an entry for their annual Eco-Schools USA celebration.
Congratulations go out to all the schools that entered – it is heartening to think that there are so many students in the world that are taking responsibility for the future and present of our planet.
Learn more about the contest on the National Wildlife Federation’s blog.
Billings Middle School Eco-School Eco-Code
729 days
As a proud member of the National Wildlife Foundation’s Eco-School partnership, Billings students took some time to reflect on some of the ways we try to be environmentally conscious as a school. From recycling to switching off lights to spending time outside, all of our actions fall into the 8 pathways to sustainability.
Ronan, Peter and Rebecca took the time to organize our thoughts into a song, and they were joined by Eli, Abe, Mason, Tati, Kyri, Rowan, Isabelle M, Isabelle B, Ben C and Ben B to record.
Here is our result: Eco-Code
And the lyrics:
Hey it’s Billings,
School environmental,
Earth day all year round,
Now roll the instrumental…
Perfect lawn, our school don’t need it,
Catch roof run-off and reuse it,
In the lunchroom we compost,
reduce the waste, recycle the most.
Energy is what comes when you recycle
Don’t waste this world, it’s just a cycle.
Playing at the park,
Watering the rain garden,
Having some fun too,
These are all the things we do.
Take a ride, on the Spud,
a bio-diesel bus that we all love,
Takes us places we can’t walk,
Trucking graceful, like a hawk.
Get on a bike reinvent your life,
Save the world, fight the good fight,
Feeling good on your commute,
Do the math, it all computes.
Green hour, gain some power,
Play outside for one or two hours,
Get unplugged and have some fun,
Feel the rain, soak up the sun.
All our actions are connected,
The Earth is precious, help protect it.
Take a moment to reflect
On your life, please show respect.
Playing at the park,
Watering the rain garden,
Having some fun too,
These are all the things we do.
Students celebrate Media Arts
736 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!
Google Earth and the Olympic Coast
737 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
7th grade students have spent weeks in preparation for a 5-day hike in the remote North end of the Olympic Coast. We’ve learned about the biome and marine life, measured out hiking trails, practiced knots and tarp techniques, become familiar with backpacking stoves and packing techniques, played kickball while wearing hiking boots, and more in prep for the trip.
In tech class we’ve been using Google Earth to examine trail conditions, weather and tide charts. We’ve been learning to create custom maps and embed video and photos as well as taking advantage of the databases of info already available through the software.
Playstation Network hacked
746 days
7th and 8th grade students this week are examining the timeline associated with a recent hacking of Sony’s Playstation Network. The story is evolving daily, as Sony releases information about the incident which may have caused over 77 million customer accounts to be compromised.
As a result of the hack, there is a class-action lawsuit filed against Sony and the U.S. government wants answers too.
Sony’s stock price has dropped as a result of the intrusion, and on Monday they announced that another 25 million older accounts have been hacked as well.
While some students felt this story didn’t pertain to them personally because they don’t have a Playstation Network account, we quickly realized that there are many online locations that have similar databases of customer information.
Here is a list of places that students shop online, places that keep records of our address, name, birthday, credit card numbers, phone numbers, etc:
- iTunes music store
- Amazon.com
- XBOX Live
- eBay
- anywhere online that we shop!
Every time we buy from an online location, we are trading the convenience of instant gratification for the risk of losing control of our personal information. Sony is an incredibly unfortunate example.
Since the database breach occurred, Sony had to switch off their Playstation Network until they can fix the security issues. This means that millions of people can’t play games online with friends or buy new games. This results in millions of lost revenue dollars for the company and many angry customers.
Will this problem cause Playstation to lose the console battle with Microsoft? Will people be able to trust Sony with their personal information after such a news story?
Spreadsheets beyond spreadsheets
751 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
iTunes' media organizer actually looks just like a spreadsheet, complete with a header row.
7th grade took a look at two popular programs that store information in a database and then drew similarities between spreadsheets and databases.
This work follows our previous learning about Spreadsheets and Excel.
Google Earth's databases don't look like a spreadsheet, but it is clear that every entry must include a photo, text, links, supporting organization, latitude and longitude. These are essentially columns in a giant spreadsheet.
While in Google Earth, students realized that the program includes references to the primary sources for photographs, just as we do when writing a research paper.
