This week, many classes launched their first projects for this school year.  I got to observe students in several classes doing cool things in the context of PBL projects.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it to every classroom.  Fortunately, I’ll have many more opportunities in the upcoming weeks.

 

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In Stephanie Hart’s Environmental Science classes, students are researching famous environmentalists and creating art and writing reflections on their findings. 1-2:  One student drew a very simple, yet layered design that shows the earth inside a droplet falling from a leaf. 3: Another student wants to petition our principal Steve Zipkes to have his design painted in the courtyard using paint that is only visible when it rains. 4: Another student drew a design that depicts humans inside nature.  The branches in his human tree are fingers and the roots are an eyeball.

 

In a Senior Humanities class, I got to observe a really interesting student discussion about the writings of Thomas Hobbes.  I loved how the teachers, Richard Santos and Kirby Young, scaffolded up to the discussion.  Prior to the discussion, the class watched a really funny parody video about Thomas Hobbes.  Then, they discussed a few key Hobbes quotes and gathered a few questions on the board that the students had written for homework.  Then they set up an inner / outer circle discussion that had students in the outer circle asking Hobbes questions of the students sitting in the inner circle.

 

I observed students in an Algebra 2 class using the TI-Nspire app on their Ipads to research parent functions.  They documented their findings in graphic organizers.  I was impressed by how they were able to identify and describe log, rational, and absolute value functions so early in the year.

 

In the Biology/BioTech class, students played a game called “Deer” to learn about Competition and its effects on populations.  In each round, students posing as deer had to acquire students posing as one of 4 resources.  If they got a resource, they got to live and their resource turned into another deer.  If they couldn’t find a resource, they died.  It only took a few rounds for the deer numbers to dwindle to 1 or 2 students.

 

In the 9th grade Physics, students are building roller coasters out of card stock in order to learn about energy transformations and conservation of energy.  Learning from the success of some of last year’s projects,  the Physics teacher, Rikki Foster, advised the students to first concentrate on making a sturdy base for the roller coaster before actually building the roller coaster tracks.  Many teams were able to make their bases today.

 

One of our Engineering teachers, Holly Davis gave a guest workshop on solar car design to the 11th Grade Physics Class.  The top 10 cars built in this project will compete in the Annual Applied Materials Solar Car Race.  In order to compete for a top 10 spot, students need to build a solar car and use Newton’s laws and kinematic equations to analyze its performance.  They will document their data collection and analysis procedures in a lab report.

 

In an Advanced Electronic class, the entire class is collaborating to create a 5 minute video that shows how to safely handle all sorts of tools that the class will use in the machine shop this trimester.  They need to demonstrate how to use the tools safely and cite related OSHA regulations.  Each team is doing their own scene(s) and the scenes will be combined into one video.  In this picture, a student is getting ready to demonstrate how to properly use wire cutters.

 

In the Robotics class, a former student now studying engineering at Texas A&M (Martin P.) gave a talk on what he’s doing in college and what he wished he had done in high school that would have better prepared himself for college.  His talking points are pretty interesting.  I love how study skills is his first bullet point.