Makerspace : I-create lab

I-Create Lab (Makerspace)

 5a: Evaluate and use CS and CT curricula, resources and tools that account for learner variability to meet the needs of all students.

I was curious about the Cricut and loved that it is available to use in the I-Create lab. For the Heritage Park event in October I will have students do an activity using the drone while learning about bee's and how they are important. Bees are on of the world's most important pollinators for food crops. In fact, out of every three bites we consume relies on pollination! The drone (bee) will land on a honeycomb cutout  I was able to create using the Cricut. Take a peak of the honeycomb cut out below👇

Everyone who participates in my activity will learn about some common bees here in Texas. The four are: Carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, and mason bees. I still need to work on creating the video then a QR code. Once they scan this QR code and watch the video they will choose one of these four bees and stick it on the drone. They will use two codes I have created and alter it if they'd like too and watch their bee take flight from the honey comb. Another challenge is to land the bee on another honey comb. The Cricut is a great tool for educators to get creative. I would use the Cricut for cutting complicated shapes that could be used for student art projects, bulletin boards, and even make classroom labels. 

As the drone (bee) takes flight from the honeycomb. Students will analyze the code and create the code with their input on height and length. They will compare their first launch and their second launch code sets. While problem solving, they will ask these questions: did the drone (Bee) fly higher the second time because they increased the inches when they put more inches in the fly up code? Here students identify the changes they can make to better understand their experiences with coding.

5b: Empower students to select personally meaningful computational projects.

In this activity, after learning about common bees in Texas students were provided with a choice to choose their own bee. As they create a code to launch their mission, they view the code once again and get the opportunity to improve the height by making it go higher or farther and change the code so the bee and flip backwards or fly in 360. This will encourage creativity, engagement, and joy.