Thinking about Universal Design or UDL for lesson plans is just good planning. The design that helps some students with learning disability is a method that helps out all students or at least won’t impede learning. Many of these functions are built right into an Apple MacBook or can certainly be found on any computer or tablet for free. My previous lesson had elements that brought learning to students through multiple avenues. The lesson used prior knowledge to scaffold earlier concepts of electricity and apply it to a newly taught idea. I added a shared document so the student could have the information on his or her own computer. This could allow them to see it better with magnifications and filters or plugged in noise canceling headphones, to play back instructions. Students would take notes on their pages to show understanding and practice literacy. They would have this copy to save thoughts and mark important concepts with a highlighter and virtual post-it. Students would be able to save this document to share their formal learning with their parents and sibling at home.
The addition of an interactive website provide many helpful features for self-learners and learners needing additional help. The website, I believe is UDL friendly, having links to additional learning for students with curiosity and students needing word support. There is an assisting character the student creates, which adds to the interesting factor and customizing that student’s love. There are assessments throughout, which check for understanding but make it more of a game where the students are able to move objects around and interact with the circuits instead of just multiple-choice questions. The site provides base knowledge for the current hands on activity that was always in the lesson. Students will get the chance to try ideas like making a circuit multiple times using multiple resources. Students need different ways to learn and the reinforcement of seeing a concept shown at a later time. The site also provides advanced students more information they could do on their free time or at home.
The lesson always had an aspect of collaboration. Students work with the teacher to learn how to use the new interactive site. Students are reinforcing their use of UDL online tools with the teacher in Google Drive. Students work as a team in the warm-up to learn that they just demonstrated a flowing circuit. Students work in groups of four to solve the problem of making their circuit complete and operate a working game. Students will be able to play to their strength and help students in their group that might have a language barrier. Hands-on activities are a good way to show understanding without having to use a language.
The lesson has hands on learning using real circuits that prove to the students they have hooked up theirs circuits correctly when the student-made buttons, make the intended actions on the computer. This activity goes beyond the traditional lighting of the light bulb as the working device; where little lights on the maker board and the controlling of games on a computer is student’s favorite pastime. The ability to play a game in a new way is high motivation and links to the student’s personal interests outside of the classroom.
Lesson Plan: Creating and Exploring a Circuit Using a Makey Makey
Added information will be in the color green
Subtracted information will be in the color orange (apparently not showing)
Students will build a simple electric circuit using colored dough, thick rubber band, and a Maker kit (includes: 1 circuit board, 5 alligator clips, 5 extension wires, USB cable plug from kit). and computer as a power source and to run the A classroom set of computers for the websites Google Drive, Bubbl.us, learningcircuits.co.uk, and Tetris software. A prepared Drive document of instruction, projector, speakers, microphone for teacher, and the Internet. Materials will also include a paper clip, a pencil
Fourth grade Michigan content expectations for science:
▪ S.IA.04.12 Share ideas about science through purposeful conversation in collaborative groups.
▪ S.RS.04.11 Demonstrate scientific concepts through various illustrations, performances, models, exhibits, and activities.
▪ P.EN.04.51 Demonstrate how electrical energy is transferred and changed through the use of a simple circuit.
▪ P.PM.04.53 Identify objects that are good conductors or poor conductors of heat and electricity
Learning Objectives:
▪ Students will be able to explore the Makey Makey to create a working simple circuit.
▪ Students will work in groups of four to create an operating Makey Makey board working in conjunction with a responding game controller.
▪ Students will use their Makey Makey to perform keyboard instructions that correspond to the game play of a Tetris game.
▪ Make a hypothesis about which material with work to complete the circuit.
▪ Students will describe what a good and poor conductor (insulator) is by using a pencils, paper, Play-Doh and self as the exploring materials and record a reason why they believe the different materials work or do not work.
Procedure
Warm-up:
Students will preform an example of a conducting path for electricity using their bodies and physical movement showing how electricity uses a nearby path to travel. Students will stand in a circle facing inward, linking their arms behind the neighboring peers’ shoulders. Students will be asked to follow the lead of one student who is chosen for the teacher. The lead student with bow at the waist and therefore the nearby students will have to bow as well. The lead student will create wave motion. All students will quickly be preforming the same motion. Next students will be standing next to each other and not linked by their arms. When the lead student is asked to bow, the leader will not pull down the nearing students. Discuss with the students how the first example is a how conducting material preforms with electricity and the second example is a poor conductor or insulator.
Activity:
- Students will open the Google Drive document called Simple Open Circuits that was shared with them or can be found with the provided link. This document will provide students with their own copy of the activity and provide a place to highlight important information and create comments to additional thoughts.
- Students will be placed in groups of four with a Makey Makey kit.
- Students will be shown the Tetris game and be told they are going to make a new way to control the game with a controller they make.
- Students will be introduced to the interactive website called Learning Circuits. The first part of the site is to make it more personal to the student by creating their own character by gender and race and change facial features. Students read about electrical sources. The students will be encouraged to use a text-to-speech software like My Study Bar to aid with learning. The text has linked words to vocabulary for additional understanding of new ideas. The teacher presenting the first page will model the text-to-speech. Check for understanding. Students can be asked questions out loud or asked to add their understanding to the Google Drive. A question could be added on the board in text as it is given out. These questions could be previously added to the shared document if the teacher chooses.
- The first part of the circuit website will ask students to move pictures that belong in one of two categories. The teacher should go over what the different icons for machines are before the students make their placements. This previous information will be prior knowledge. The next portion is an introduction to simple circuits. The teacher will tell the student to click on all the blue links and to look over this part individually. The student builds a virtual circuit by clicking and dragging the wire to the correct location to make the light bulb function. A quick four answer test will be given by the website. The students will not be able to bypass this part and will be given the correct answer if the choice is worng for self assessment. Students will stop at this point in the website to use the knowledge to apply it to this new maker board.
- Challenge the students to use the Maker Kit to complete a circular path for electrons to follow and complete the circuit. Students should be given the time limit of ten minutes. Conditions of Learning (Robert Gagne) states that learning should be achieved through multiple steps. The steps apply to the complete learner building upon the prior step.
- Students will make a prediction for what materials they think will work well in their operational closed circuit. A suggested pencil, a thick pencil line on paper, paper clip, rubber band and Play-Doh
- Students will be given an introduction of how the Makey works. How the singular wires can be added to the back of the board. That the clips can be clipped to the space bar and click and directional holes. Students will be told that earth is a ground.
- The students will go back to the interactive site to complete section three on circuit diagrams. This activity uses the items that is tangible and links it seamlessly to an abstract diagram version of the same part. The links from the earlier reading with help with this part. Students that are unsure will be able to check the abstract meaning when their mouse is held over the picture. This will be the final assessment that they will use this site for. For students that finish earlier or are interested in learning additional concepts associated can complete the next optional step four: Switches.
- Students will be told to play with their hardware of the Makey kit to create the circuit trying out the different materials to bridge the wires connected into the Makey. Students will be informed now that they are apart of the circuit of the Makey. There goal will be to use their Makey and play the Tetris game located on the website http://www.freetetris.org/game.php. Makey will play this game using the new controls that they created from Play-Doh. These controls will make it easier for students that have trouble with the motor skills of the hand and eye movements. Students will be given a choice of two other teacher chosen online games that the students could try if they find that the Tetris its to their exact liking. Pictures to these two other games will be shown on the overhead for students to make better choices.
Sources:
Jayahimsa. (Photographer). (2012, May 04). MaKey MaKey Diagram [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/49822796@N00/7167030308/in/photostream/
Michigan Department of Education. (2014). S c i e n c e v.1.09 grade level content expectations. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Complete_Science_GLCE_12-12-07_218314_7.pdf
Drescher, B. (2003). Simple electric circuits. Manuscript submitted for publication, K-STATE RESEARCH AND EXTENSION, Kansas State Universtiy, Wichita, Retrieved from http://www.kansas4h.org/doc7886.ashx
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind Experience and School. National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.
Jenneration. (2013). Learning circuits. Retrieved from http://www.learningcircuits.co.uk
Neave, P. (Designer) (1985). Tetris n-Blox [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.freetetris.org/game.php
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