Buildologie Spring Project
What does water mean to people & the societies they live in?
Happy New Year!
I wanted to keep you up to date on our plans for the remainder of this year - it's a little different this year than before! This is going to be a little long, but I want to make sure you have all the info you need. OF COURSE you are always welcome to contact me with any questions, suggestions, etc.
You and your students should be able to find pretty much anything you need on the Student Resource Site.
Before Showcases
Research Project
With that in mind, I've tried to keep it as simple as possible and am happy to support in any way, including coming into your classroom to support small groups, teach lessons, whatever you need.
Teams choose (or you assign) a topic from the Human Water Cycle: how humans FIND, USE (drinking, washing, manufacturing products, producing food/energy), TRANSPORT, or DISPOSE of water.
As usual, I am fairly relaxed with how you decide to guide topic selection. If the kids walk away with a better understanding of our relationship with water, then we were successful.
In their presentation, they should tell (about 1 slide per bullet - nothing too extensive):
- What their topic was
- How people ___ water (e.g., how people use water when manufacturing products)
- If/how it's done in Anaheim. For example, students reporting on transport would discuss the Santa Ana river bringing our water.
- Positive/negative effects on humans and the societies they live in
- A couple ideas on what can be done to reduce negative effects and encourage positive effects
Benchmark may have some text that supports research. Also, I put links to some starter sites on the Student Resource Site to help students research. The resource site is also where students can get their presentation template.
Here is the rubric. You can also find it on the Student Resource Site.
Showcase/Preliminary Judging
Important: If there is a date conflict, please let me know ASAP!!!
Showcases
- Same basic format as the winter ones (unless you have suggestions for improvement - I'm all ears!).
- Only new thing: you and the mentors will choose the top 5 teams, who will present for the judges the following week.
- I do not care how you choose them. You CAN use the rubric, but I think you know which teams have been working well together and have real knowledge of the content, etc.
Preliminary Judging
- The next Buildologie after showcases
- Just the top 5 teams set up/present for judges (to respect judges' time)
- Judges choose finalist & runner-up team
- All other students: watch presentations. They could score along with the judges for fun/engagement if you'd like.
- I'll give you a parent letter to send home w/ finalists. They MUST bring a signature back in order to attend Play|Code|Compete.
- If the finalist team cannot attend, the runner-up team will be invited instead.
The Rest of the Year
- Finalist/runner-up teams polish their project until May 18
- I'm guessing you'll want to just keep working on missions? Let me know.
- The last day, I need all teams to completely disassemble their robots and put EVERY piece back exactly where it goes. I did this myself last year and it took 2 full weeks of my time.
- There will probably be some canceled classes due to testing.
- We'll end about the same time, right around Open House.
Play|Code|Compete: Saturday, May 18 at Ross
I will send more details on timing, expectations, etc as we get closer. I do know, however, that you may not be able to attend since it is a Saturday, and that is completely understandable. Life happens!
Thank you for ALL your support!
Email: hboling@anaheimelementary.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/anaheimelementary.org/buildologiestudent/home
Location: DES
Phone: 4191
Twitter: @hcboling