notes from the tech lab
7th Grade
Tech in the News updates
May 23rd
7th grade is focused on technology in the news. The last few weeks we’ve been following the upcoming iPhone, Facebook privacy updates, and a lawsuit against Google for Street View information.
iPhone updates:
iPod touch with camera shows up in Vietnam
Apple loses a second 4th gen iPhone, new insights discovered
iPhone Finder Regrets His ‘Mistake’
Police Raid Gizmodo Editor’s House, Confiscate Computers
Facebook updates:
Facebook Users Plan to Quit the Service on May 31
Senators’ letter to Facebook
Facebook and Others Caught Sending User Data to Advertisers
Google Street View troubles:
Google faces U.S., German probes on data collection
Summer technology opportunities
May 12th
Summer is fast approaching and students have been asking about technology and computing opportunities around town. Of course summer is a time to get away from a screen and explore a world of sunshine…that said, here are some offerings to compliment fresh air and exercise:
Lego Robotics @ Billings: Billings Middle School has our very own Seattle Lego Robotics camp, presented in conjunction with the amazing educators at EdLab. 2 sessions – August 2-6 and 9-13.
iD Gaming Academy: Held at the University of Washington, this 2-week overnight game development camp is a great opportunity to learn about video game creation. 6th grade student Gray says “you get to make your own unique game and play it as well as play other peoples games.”
911 Media Arts: Classes in making movies, digital storytelling, website design, and more.
Reel Grrls: Get hands on with animation and video production day camps – girls only!
TechReach: SeaBots – Dive into science. This girls only one-week camp is a great intro to programming and Lego robotics.
Youth in Focus: Intro to digital photography classes are offered 2x a week. Applications are due end of May.
Wall-E technology
May 1st
iCLAST (integrated class of language arts, science and technology) students watched Wall-E this week, as we transitioned from our identity unit the globalism & sustainability. In our post-film debrief, students focused on the technology present in the film: what was based in reality and what is already available today.
Sophie L. used the iPad to research plasma guns. Forrest, Jamal and Augie discussed various methods of containment using energy or elements. Reyna, Nova and Isaac shared their experiences or knowledge of mag-lev bullet trains in Japan. Everyone participated in the hour long discussion.
There was a vigorous conversation about whether the technology in the movie was “good” or “bad.” Rachel L. and Izzy were the two students to declare that “tech isn’t good OR bad, it’s how humans use it that caused Wall-E’s world to become what it was.”
Digital Arts updates
Apr 30th
The tech lab is the place to be on Monday and Wednesdays afternoons. 2 weeks into DigiArts, students are knee-deep in a variety of excellent projects:
- Jake successfully installed Linux on a donated computer and also harvested motors from a DVD/VCR combo unit.
- Alex is trying to change the infrared filter on an old video camera to capture a light spectrum invisible to the human eye.
- Ella and Cillian have got the Arduino boards communicating with a couple of lab computers, and are writing basic programs (so far just output but soon we’ll tackle input as well).
- Rachel, Torri, Remy, Charlie and Griffyn are working on 3 different screenplays and will begin filming next week.
- Noah completed his first hand-coded website. Click here to view his iPad review and then click here to learn more about it.
- Lexi is recording a reharmonization of a Miley Cyrus song.
- Mike dismantled a laptop and is ordering a couple of kits from the MakerShed.
- Elijah has been working with a mixing board for turntables and an old Yamaha keyboard.
Apple in the news – iPhone 4G (HD?) & profits
Apr 22nd
Spirited 7th grade conversation today, as students tracked the latest developments in the case of the iPhone 4G.
We started by tracking Apple’s stock price this year, beginning with the iPad announcement and following through until yesterday’s report that Apple made over 3 billion dollars in the last quarter.
Using Bing’s finance charts and Google’s time-related search results, we mapped increasing share price and product announcements over the last 3 years. We found a clear trend – stock prices rise between the announcement of a new product and it’s actual launch.
Also, we realized that much of the pre-launch marketing around Apple products is free – news outlets and bloggers share stories and compete to scoop each other with rumors and insider (mis)information. This is great news for Apple, since they don’t have to spend all of their money to get the word out.
Now to the rumor of the week – an Apple employee supposedly left a prototype of the new iPhone (to be released this summer) in a California bar. The device was sold to Gizmodo, which has dedicated an entire portion of their site to stories about this gadget. This creates more buzz for Apple as other news outlets report on Gizmodo’s reporting.
Students used Google’s real-time “updates” to monitor how many stories are bouncing around the blogosphere and Twitter channels about this story. While there is a bump in traffic, we don’t think that this story is enough to sustain interest through the summer. What else will Apple tell us about the new product to keep news outlets interested?
Some students wondered if Apple had “lost” the iPhone on purpose to try and get free advertising from bloggers, newspapers, television and radio. Some bloggers suggest that Gizmodo got punked by Apple.
One class had an unexpected find during class today, a webpage that simultaneously searches Google and Bing, displaying results side-by-side. In Firefox, you can actaully set http://www.google-vs-bing.com/ as your default search engine if desired.
Independent Project Spotlight: Jamal
Apr 13th
In conjunction with a month-long language arts identity writing project, 7th grade students have chosen independent creative projects to support their words. These projects have taken on a variety of forms, all sharing personal experience through vision, sound or touch.
Jamal taught himself to use Garageband to create an original rap about his life and how it has shaped his identity. Judge the results for yourself:
Google Apps for Edu updates
Apr 12th
Teachers, 7th and 8th grade students use Google Apps for Edu daily to collaborate, present, capture information, and express creativity. Google just announced an upgrade to the system with some great new features that will help us be more productive. Watch the official video for more information:
7th Grade in Central Washington
Mar 31st
This week students will be rafting, rock-climbing, hiking, meeting with union workers and immigrant farmers, cooking and learning about the history of Washington state.
Just because 7th graders are in the field doesn’t mean they aren’t experiencing technology. Students are using cameras to document their experience, and we used a map to plot out our week-long journey. Click on an icon to learn more about each location:
Also, a few photos have been sent home via MMS (cell phone multi-media messaging service):
The girls at their Tuesday campsite.
Passover Seder meal.
Top 100 websites
Mar 18th
Some people love to make lists. It can be fun to rank and compare things, but today the 7th grade talked about information graphics: ways to represent data that take advantage of the human ability to compare visuals without having to think to hard about what they mean.
As an example, we took a look at a beautiful new visual representation of the top 100 websites, organized by popularity and category. How many can you guess before visiting the BBC News site to check out the results?
