Bringing Many Skills Together to Experience the Design Process

Do you think 3D printing sounds cool? Well we are doing that in our class now! Recently, we have designed prosthetic arms out of cardboard. We had a competition to see who’s arm held the most grams. The best arm held  475 grams! Now, we are using a website called TinkerCad to design a new prosthetic and then 3D print it! Isn’t that cool?

We are doing this so students know how to code and go through the design process and create new designs. You also have to focus and concentrate on what you have to do. You can’t just give up. You have to be determined. It is also really fun. You get new blocks and add them to your arm and make changes to it. After you are done 3D printing you get to try it out and see if it works. We are trying to make our printed arms fit on barbie dolls! If it doesn’t you will learn what to do next time to make your arm better.

TinkerCad is a great website for designing new things. It it also fun to 3D print your designs! You have to be determined to make your design turn out right. It is a educational website for kids who like to make new designs and 3D print them.

-Andrew

3D Arm Designing

For centuries people around the world have been creating prosthetic arms. Have you ever thought of a student creating a prosthetic arm in class? A 3D arm is typically called a prosthetic arm. In our class we were divided into groups and asked to  work together to design and create a prosthetic arm prototype and then use a computer to draw a version that can be 3D printed. The arms that each group creates will be tested on a Barbie doll. Each group must create an arm that fits and works on the doll.

Every single arm must be able to move up and down. This expectation makes it a challenge for all us students. Everyone in our class has given up a couple of times, but it’s a part of engineering. It’s called trial and error. This taught us to never give up even if your design doesn’t work. In order to be successful we have to keep on going no matter what.

-Ester

"I Can't..."

In our class we have a gravestone. On that grave stone, there are words. In the center of those words it says “I CAN’T”.  All around those words are other words. These other words say and express what we all believe we can’t do. Each person’s “can’t” is different and unknown. We couldn’t watch each other write what they said. I think that by the end of the year, most people will have gotten over their “can’t”. I think that it was a great idea and an easy way for us to express ourselves through anonymous writing that we can all read. This gravestone is on a poster. This poster is always constantly reminding us of what we think we can’t do. Some people are afraid. Others lack confidence. Some just don’t think that they are smart enough, or they just don’t persevere through it. The poster is meant to make us make our “can’t” a can.

The purpose is to make us believe that our “can’ts” are now gone. That they have died away just like an ice cube melting on concrete on a hot summer day. Slowly, but steadily. These challenges will slowly, but surely fade, until the road of learning is as smooth as silk. Sooner or later we will all have gotten over our challenges. They may be holding us back now, but sooner or later, we will all be set free.

- Sophia

Technology and Character Education

In our class we had to do a P.S.A assignment (public service announcement).  The purpose of a  P.S.A is  to educate viewers about a cause or a topic. We recorded ours on an  iPad using iMovie. Our job was to educate people about the P.Y.P (primary years program) Learner Profile attributes. Examples of the P.Y.P attributes are caring, responsible, balanced, respectable, knowledgeable, and risk taker. The assignment was could be about any of the PYP attributes. The video had to be one to two minutes, but no more than two minutes.

After recording the P.S.A video we had to send it to our teacher and then she would share it to our class YouTube channel for viewing. Then the whole class would get to watch our video and learn about it. This process taught me how to edit film in iMovie, which I had never done before. The whole point of doing this P.S.A assignment is to learn about different P.Y.P attributes and get to understand them. The whole thing is very interesting and can be useful. If everyone adopted these attributes the world would be a kinder place to live.

-Luke

Coding in the Classroom

I strongly believe that coding should be learnt by EACH and EVERY student in America! In our classroom, that means that coding on Chromebooks is one of our many activities! For more information on what a Chromebook is and how we use them in the classroom, scroll down on the list of posts to Jake B.’s technology post. Coding is one of the greatest skills that a student can learn in the classroom. Our modern-day world is so intertwined (Yes, I know what that means) with technology that the next generation needs to know how to work with it and create it. Learning how to code also opens a wide array of job options through major and minor companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Sony.

Coders also make the new technology that can change the world, make it better, and let the human race grow and explore new frontiers. Even such a small step as working on a website such as Code.org can infleunce young children (and young adults, too!) to pursue a career in the technology field and help make the world a better place. On behalf of our classroom we hope that you visit again and spread the word about our blog  http://thepackclassroom.blogspot.com/!

Cole

Classroom Jobs

Did you get classroom jobs when you were a kid? We have classroom jobs and they are pretty fun. This gives you responsibility, and it sounds fun to have fake money in the classroom. Right now I am a homework checker. I check if people did their homework or not (obviously). There is 30 jobs in the classroom and some of them pay a lot, some not so much. Our highest paying jobs are president, bailiff, and vice president. They get $150 a week. Our lowest paying job gets $60, and the job is called extra hand. Most of the jobs are done in the afternoon, but homework checker and a few others are in the morning.

The money part of the jobs is really cool. It gives you a reason to do your job. You get fined if you don’t do your job or if you get in trouble. Most jobs get paid around $80 - $90. We are able to use the money to buy/auction stuff in class at certain points of the month. So far we aren’t getting paid, we are just getting used to what to do with the jobs, and remembering to do them. There is a lot of jobs. There is desk monitor, mail carrier, paper passers, floor monitor, pencil pilot, and so much more! It helps out the teacher a lot. Without the classroom jobs, our classroom would not run so smoothly and would be boring.

-Daniel