iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

According to a recent Forbes article, data storytelling, which involves weaving data and visualizations into a compelling narrative, has become a sought-after skill in the job market. Today’s variety of online tools and resources offer an opportunity to prepare our students to interpret their research in new and creative ways and to effectively communicate data-driven insights.

Do you like graphic novels or comic books? Are you interested in learning to code? If you answered, yes, then you'll love Dystopia 2153! This brand new, three-episode series teaches kids the basics of coding through a digital graphic novel. It connects 21st Century skills with the love of reading. Use code to solve puzzles that help the characters overcome obstacles and escape their dystopian world.

In his 2108 Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, banished PowerPoint presentations from executive meetings and replaced them with “Narrative Structures.” Culture Shock! Storytelling instead of Bullet Points! Yes, you heard right. And if anyone knows a good idea, it’s probably Jeff. Amazon’s executive meetings now begin with participants spending 30 minutes reading stories about ideas and then discussing them. And it’s Bezos’ idea. The man who went from a new retailing idea to the world’s richest man in 23 years is advocating storytelling. And once again he’s right.

"There have been complaints leveraged against out of the box robots like Dash and Dot, Ozobot, Hummingbird, Sphero. The complaints usually revolve around the canned and prescriptive nature of their uses and programs, that they lack creative engagement by the younger users. I personally love the excitement my learners have using these robots. As with all tools and technologies and with creative framing, though, they can be used in creative and imaginative ways.

"Mention robots to many English teachers and they’ll immediately point down the hall to the science classroom or to the makerspace, if they have one. At many schools, if there’s a robot at all, it’s located in a science or math classroom or is being built by an after-school robotics club. It’s not usually a fixture in English classrooms. But as teachers continue to work at finding new entry points to old material for their students, robots are proving to be a great interdisciplinary tool that builds collaboration and literacy skills. (How Robots in English Class Can Spark Empathy and Improve Writing)"

This past term, I had my 2nd through 4th grade students work on their robot-enhanced creative writing and stories. In small groups, students were asked to create a fictional storyline and use StoryboardThat.com to create both the physical scenes and the accompanying narrative. As part of their directions, they were told that they were going to create a 3D setting out of cardboard boxes, foam board, LED lights, and other craft materials; and that they would use Wonder’s Dot with the Blocky App and Ozobot as the characters in their stories. Preparation time was divided between storyboarding, creating the scene, and learning how to use/code the robots. Because of all of the preparation and practice, the recording actually went quite quick and smoothly.

Here is a break down of the learning events that learners were asked to complete:"