Teaching with Legos

On Monday, September 22, 2014, the students from the EDU 4511 technology class went to Liberty Drive Elementary School, where we met with the teachers in the High Point University Stem Club. These are teachers who are currently taking technology classes taught by HPU professors. The senior elementary education students are in the process of teaching additional classes to the Liberty Drive Stem Club teachers.

This week the topic was on Lego Story Starters and Lego Movie Maker. During the previous weekend, the teachers traveled to HPU where they learned about Lego Story Starters. This was especially helpful because we had a lot to cover within the hour that we had the teachers and it was convenient that they already knew about one of the Lego programs and how it works. When we went to the school, Megan, Gabi, and I were able to jump right in to the lesson. We explained what the project was, how it works, showed them a model, and then told them what to do. While the lesson was completed, there certainly were some challenges and successes along the way.

One of the problems we encountered right off the bat, was that there were less teachers than we were expecting. Our group of three HPU students only had two teachers to work with. This made it slightly awkward because we all wanted to talk to the teachers, but it certainly wasn't necessary. At times we were accidently interrupting one another as we all tried to speak.This was a result of not being completely prepared with what we are going to do and say. Since our class doesn't spend much time meeting, we must meet up outside of class time, if extra preparation time is necessary. I learned that we should spend a little more time preparing what we are going to teach, or at least all drive down together that way we can talk about what we are going to do once we have the teachers.

The other issue was that we didn't have very much space to work with. This is certainly something that is bound to happen every once it a while, but it definitely presented some issues. The tables were too small for five people to sit at and to build. Once again, I learned that teachers always have to be flexible because we never know what materials we are going to be supplied with. This is also a great reason why teachers should always have a back-up plan, along with being as prepared as possible for the situation given to you.

The one thing that went really well, is the fact that our teachers got the chance to record their own voices on the videos that they were making. I'm very glad that they got the opportunity to practice working with it this way because I noticed that most groups only used the pre-recorded sounds and didn't try out making their own recordings. By introducing our teachers to as many features that the app offers as is possible, the teachers are more likely to feel comfortable implementing this technology within their own classroom.

Once more, I was also reminded that students will always be able to teach their teachers something new, if you keep your eyes and ears open for it. The Liberty Drive teachers actually showed us how you can set the clip length to be the same length as the voice recording. We didn't know that the app could do that, and it certainly is a useful feature that I'm glad the teachers discovered. By learning how to use this, it will be helpful in reducing the amount of time students spend editing their videos. This feature will also be especially useful for the students who don't have the patience to play around with all the editing features that are included.

Overall, this experience has been very positive. I feel that the teachers and I have both learned more about working with Lego Story Starters and Lego Movie Maker. I think that this is an excellent opportunity for our class, as university students, to share with teachers the knowledge that we have gained. Our knowledge can be passed to students much more quickly, since we are sharing it with teachers who have current students. I am looking forward to learning about Hopscotch Programming in the coming week and once again meeting with the teachers of Liberty Drive Elementary School.