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Wednesday’s lesson started with a discussion about Learning Styles and the debates that surround these ideas and concepts. With no real evidence backing the incorporation of Learning Styles in the classroom, teachers cannot assume a child be strong in one or two areas and cater accordingly. However, it is of my belief that incorporating a variety of learning opportunities and activties into our pedagogical approach has the ability to differentiate and appeal to a vast array of learners.

From my experience as a student, in the classroom and as a coach, I know that no one child is the same and presenting the class with one way of teaching and learning (and expecting everyone to understand) is unrealistic. So, while I agree that teachers cannot apply Learning Styles exclusively, I do believe in considering this approach as an application for differentiation and inclusive education, or as a way of simply allowing children to realise their worth outside of the standard “Maths/Science/English” Intelligence framework.

“Even the biggest problems in the world are just tiny problems stuck together.”

I LOVE ‘Hello Ruby’, and I also love the approach where the focus of learning coding is not about creating a generation of hackers, but instead it is a context in which students can learn and develop valuable problem-solving skills. Students need to think logically, AND creatively, they need to recognise and understand patterns and sequences, they need to collaborate and be persistent. These skills may be necessary to code effectively, but they are also valuable in a much wider context. As this article points out, they can be developed in many different curriculum areas, and don't necessarily require access to a computer.

These are some simple introductory ideas that will challenge students and make them think more about what kind of role robotics plays in the modern world.

Blindfold walking activity:

Set up a simple course, split students into pairs and let one of them try and walk around the course blindfolded as the other student follows them around and makes sure they don't walk into any trouble. Ask the students how they found walking around without being able to see, do they appreciate their sense of sight a bit more now?

Senses are very important for both humans and robots, try walking around without the use of our most important sense, vision.

Is it easy to make a robot that performs tasks like a human?

In a word, no. Tying your shoelaces is easy right? Would it be so easy if you were designing a robot to do it? Try tying your shoelaces with ice block sticks attached to yours index finger and thumb.

Replicating the dexterity of human fingers is just one of the challenges that face scientists and engineers who make things like robotic arms and humanoid robots.

As outlined in ACARA, in Digital Technologies, students:

develop foundational skills in computational thinking and an awareness of personal experiences using digital systems.

create a range of digital solutions through guided play and integrated learning, such as using robotic toys to navigate a map or recording science data with software applications.

learn about common digital systems and patterns that exist within data they collect.

organise, manipulate and present this data, including numerical, categorical, text, image, audio and video data, in creative ways to create meaning.

use the concept of abstraction when defining problems, to identify the most important information

develop design skills by conceptualising algorithms as a sequence of steps for carrying out instructions, such as identifying steps in a process or controlling robotic devices.

describe how information systems meet information, communication and/or recreational needs.

apply safe and ethical practices to protect themselves and others as they interact online for learning and communicating.

iPads are self-contained media-making devices, and there is something great about students having the ability to record, edit and playback their movie on the same equipment.

Making a trailer is a very simple first iMovie project when getting used to the equipment. iMovie trailers are templates for making preview-style movies. Using these templates is a good balance between giving students creative freedom and providing structure. 

Working in teams, students can choose a template, and the app guides them to create a close-up shot, or a group shot, or an action shot, etc. The result is a well-timed, well-edited, well-scored trailer.

Once students make their trailers, we were ready for a more challenging project: using iMovie to create short videos about the theme of Antigone, the play we had spent a few weeks studying. There were many steps to planning this project. The filming and editing took place over the last two or three days, depending on the group of students.

Conceptually, in completing this task, students learn to:

work in groups

share their designs/themes and decide which was the strongest

storyboard their film. 

write scripts 

determine the roles individuals will play

identify props required and source them

As outlined in ACARA, in Design and Technology, year 3-4 students:

create designed solutions for each of the prescribed technologies contexts. 

explain needs or opportunities and evaluate ideas and designed solutions against identified criteria for success develop and expand design ideas and communicate these using models and drawings including annotations and symbols. 

plan and sequence major steps in design and production. 

identify appropriate technologies and techniques and demonstrate safe work practices when producing designed solutions.

Buddy2Buddy provides students with the opportunity to build a solar light and send it to another student in a part of the world experiencing energy poverty. This encourages students to explore many of the organising ideas within the cross curriculum priority of Sustainability, with strong links to Science and HASS (depending on how the class teacher designs learning experiences around this project). It also provides students with direct experience of the way individual and community actions can make a difference.

These activities will help children mix colours but also match the colour words.  They will fill the rainbow arches with the corresponding colour.  Once they fill the primary colour arches they will mix those two colours on the right arch to obtain the secondary colour. Activity 1:  Colour Recognition Skills - Colours of the Rainbow - Colour the Rainbow Colours are everywhere and the rainbow has all the colors that we see around us.  Activity 2:  Colour & Art Appreciation - Colour Mixing Activity It is a wonderful experience for children to see and experience how colours mix and form other colours. Purpose:  Demonstrate to children how the primary colors:  red, blue and yellow mix and form the secondary colours:  green, orange, and purple. 1. Print or view from the screen the Colour Mixing Poster - Primary & Secondary Colours.  Review the primary colours and show how the colours combine to form the secondary colours. 2. Print the Colour Mixing Activity Page 3. Skills: Colour Mixing and Letter Matching Materials: primary colour paints, Q-tips or brushes, damp cloth or paper towel for each child. These activities are a lot easier and fun with finger paints. Provide a damp/wet cloth or damp paper towel to each child so they can clean their fingers and switch colours.  

As outlined in ACARA, in visual arts, students:

become aware of visual conventions and learn to notice the visual detail

explore how and why artworks are created and ways to use and apply visual conventions, such as line, shape, colour and texture

learn how their ideas or subject matter can be developed through different forms, styles, techniques, materials and technologies

learn about how and why artists, craftspeople, and designers present their ideas through different visual representations, practices, processes and viewpoints.

This idea will probably end up being several lessons including the collection of found objects/waste materials and the making of instruments. I’m not going to focus on that part in this post, but the link to Pinterest contained here gives plenty of ideas for the types of materials and recycling them to create instruments. This post will instead focus on the music lesson component once instruments have been made.

The value of music and movement in connection with learning is well documented. In many cultures, explorative learning through percussion is a natural way of connecting with the community and develop skills. Movement through music, furthermore, helps stimulate the brain and integrate the right and left hemispheres

Since the action of drumming comes easily to children, exploring percussion is an obvious way to open the door to a broader appreciation of music and achieving the benefits that music has to offer.

Having made their own instruments, here are some ways to introduce percussion instruments and percussive music to the class. 

Play the Room –  allow children to explore the room with drumsticks. Tap the floor, tables, chairs, desks, doorknobs, and shelves. For discussion, ask what makes a loud or soft sound, and what object kept the longest sound. Have children sit in pairs, taking turns “playing the floor” and listening, to help make the connection between vibration and sound.

Design Copycat Rhythms – Clap a pattern and have students echo-clap back to you. Encourage other children to be the leader for the group “conversation.” Copycat rhythms can be created by stomping feet, jumping, or with drums or shakers in the circle. Connect rhythm to what children know by singing familiar nursery rhymes and clapping to the beat.

Play the Jungle Beat – Start with pictures of different jungle animals and talk about what kind of sound characterizes that animal. With stomping feet in hard or soft, slow and fast beats, practice together how an elephant or rhinoceros sounds. How is this different from the sound of a monkey walk, or a tiger stalking its prey?

Use Found Objects – Objects everywhere from the kitchen to the junkyard can be used to make a sound. Ask children to bring something from home that they think makes a good sound (pots and pans, lids for cymbals, graters or scrapers) and have them introduce the sound in the circle. What rattles, clatters, or jingles? Talk about the qualities of the sound, and then conduct the group in an orchestra of stuff!

Introduce Instruments that Children can Easily Play – Instruments such as the xylophone, tambourine, maracas, triangles, glockenspiels and bongo drums are ideal for their ease of play and varying percussive qualities. Allow time for children to explore the qualities of their sounds, or have a set space in class so that children try making their own music with instruments that they choose.

Listen to Great Traditions – The music of many cultures has particularly rich drumming traditions. Locate the music of other cultures to expose children to these percussive rhythms.

As outlined in ACARA, in Music, students:

become aware of rhythm, pitch, dynamics and expression, form and structure, timbre and texture

explore sounds as they learn to listen to and make music

learn to discriminate between sounds and silence, and loud and soft sounds

learn to move and perform with beat and tempo

learn to listen as performers and as an audience.