Tuesday 26 July 2016

See my Classroom in 360

I like to take photos of my classroom for my own professional development records, to share with other teachers and for my own records. Usually I just take some photos, but this term tried an app called Photosynth by Microsoft. You just stand in one spot and rotate, allowing the camera to capture the empty spaces, then share. What is great is you can scroll around 360 degrees to view the classroom; try it out below.

How else could we use this fun photo app for teaching and learning?

Below: You can create a stitched 360 jpg image.

I have since learned that Microsoft have retired this app, which is a huge shame. The only other equivalents I found are paid like 365 Panorama.

Monday 18 July 2016

Scratch Coding Maze Game - Self Guided Lesson

Coding is fun, but it's also a challenging critical thinking exercise that requires persistence. There are  many learning benefits to coding that stretch across the curriculum; however if you need convincing read this great infographic: 5 Reasons to Teach Kids to Code.

Last year I taught a Gifted and Talented group Scratch, and since have been teaching my own students, although finding a way for all students to follow was my challenge. So this year (holidays :-) I created a Scratch coding lesson that can be self-driven by students, although you can use each section as a guided lesson too. It is an introduction and scaffolds students knowledge on the basic coding, along with the thinking, planning and problem solving. I tried to give it a Maths focus with the games being based on basic facts. It is still in it's beginning phase, I hope to put it on a website for teachers and students, plus add quizzes and support material, as well as re-doing the screencasts when I find time. I would love you and your students to try Maze Game and give me feedback with your game links in the comments.

Teachers please feel free to try this Maze Game coding with your students. I suggest you sign up for a Scratch account with your school email so that your students can share their work with you. I suggest you can take the lesson yourself and decide if you want the students to do it alone, or use it for guided lessons where you can focus on a particular teaching point.



Below is the finished Maze Game that has been embedded into this blog; the link will take you to the Scratch project page. https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/116495873/