Overall Reflection of the Design and Build to Learn Module.
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The initial stages of production.
I feel ‘Design and Build to Learn’ is a term which
is indescribable. The Design and Build to Learn module has completely opened my eyes
to interactive technology. I mean no disrespect when I say I feel it in
describable in that I don’t have enough paper or time on these four pages to
decribe adequately the computation devices which we were privileged to use such
as the BeeBot, Lego WeDo 2.0 kits, Makey Makey kits, ipads and of course the
invaluable experiences we had engaging with these computational devices
primarily the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits with the children from St.Patrick’s Boys N.S.
Drumcondra and Scoil Mobhí.
My partner and I working on the Lego WeDo Speed project.
Design and Build to Learn has thought me to be open
minded towards the resources I use in my classroom in the future and given me
the first hand knowledge that children love new and exciting ways to learn
alternatives to school books and worksheets. Children comprise of many
different types of learners now a days and it is vitally important as teachers
we ensure every learner type is catered for. Design and Build to Learn is an
innovative approach to allowing children to explore, experiment, gather
information and analyze information before presenting their findings whether
they are right or wrong once they understand that the speed decreased rather
than increased because they made the car heavier rather than lighter. The whole
idea is to allow children to synthesize these devices and seek help if need
during a set task. This allows children to fully understand the concept rather
than learn it off by heart for the sake of learning it off by heart but not
actually understanding what it does or why.
My partner gathering information to see if the modifications made the car go faster.
Design and Build to Learn is the learning style
that will give schools and classrooms the face life they need. Children as I
have seen in the Lego WeDo session with the St.Patrick’s boys N.S. Drumcondra
and the RTÉ session with the children from Scoil Mobhí are immediately
attracted to these computational devices, they build social skills if grouped
or paired which most tasks will be. They stay focused on the task as opposed to
if they were learning or reading from a book and they challenge themselves when
it comes to the extension activities. Design and Build to Learn is 21st
Century Learning, it’s real life problems and Curriculum areas in the form of
computational devices. They are given and task and require to complete it and
extension activities to show the true depth of their understanding in relation
to the Curriculum.
I loved working with the BeeBots and also the Lego
WeDo 2.0 kits but something about the Makey Makey kits brought me back to when
I was a child. I really feel Makey Makey has a huge potential in the classroom
and we haven’t yet seen half of its potential. I definitely feel I will work
with all three computational devices in my classroom in future however Makey
Makey is the one that seems to excite me the most. I am quite an artistic
person and I feel Makey Makey could be used to help kinesthetic learners with
phoning difficulties understand sounds but perhaps that’s my year of Speech and
Language Therapy in City University London’s experience prior to studying this
Bachelor of Education course. I love how diverse and broad Makey Makey is, you
can literally use anything from an old cardboard box to tinfoil from your
sandwich at lunch. I love how Makey Makey could link teaching Science with also
recycling or reusing unwanted or old materials. Makey Makey really excites me
as a student teacher to go out on placement and make an impact by designing my
own learning experience.
Another groups xylophone from the Makey Makey construct an instrument session.
It is undeniable that this module has considerably
altered the way of teaching and learning. For fear of sounding ridiculous, I
want to say my opinion has totally changed however at first when I embarked on
this course I thought that there was only one way to teach things whether it be
the times tables, I thought just like my own personal experience the only way
to learn these was to get the tables book and say it so many times that you can’t
get it wrong, but my god was I wrong. This module has shown me that you can
teach everything a number of ways and rote learning is just one way which is
considered off putting and boring by many students now a days. The module has
shown me how to make concepts such as maths exciting again through the use of
the BeeBots. How to make Science Stands such as Energy and Forces come alive
like the Lego WeDo Pulling project.
Children using BeeBot to count and gain mathematical skills.
Although I really enjoyed the BeeBot and loved how
these could be included in many different Curriculum subjects my three
highlight of this module had to be firstly my favourite was interacting with
the children and the invaluable experience I gained watching how enthusiastic
they were about the Lego WeDo 2.0
projects and also how they tackled the tasks they were given in terms of
learning and the teaching or help they required, second of all I absolutely
loved Makey Makey but in particular the fact we were given the freedom to chose
our instrument and materials to construct it out of and finally my third
favourite thing about this module was the Lego WeDo Frogs Metamorphosis
project. I thought it was absolutely fantastic, all the projects were but I
just thought it captured the perfect froglet and gave users the extension task
of turning it into an adult frog which isn’t actually easy. Therefore removing
the tail and adding front legs. I thought this was a fantastic and really worthwhile
module both from a teaching point of view and also from a learning and
experience point of view.
My highlight of the Design and Build to Learn module.
A video of my second favourite element of the Design and Build to Learn module.
My final major highlight of the Design and Build to Learn module.
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