On November 3rd, my coworker and I had the privilege of presenting "Engineering with Legos" at the CMC conference in Palm Springs, CA.  It was a distinct honor to share the potential of these types of lessons with a full room of educators.  Our goal was to share the story of the journey in developing the idea, the professional development days we have offered teachers, and the experience of bringing these lessons to students in classrooms.
The conference's major emphasis was the Common Core Mathematical Practices.  If you are unfamiliar with those practices they can be summarized as 1.) Perseverance in problem solving, 2.) Reason abstractly and quantitatively, 3.) Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, 4.) Model with mathematics, 5.) Use appropriate tools strategically, 6.) Attend to precision, 7.) Look for and make use of structure, and 8.) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.  The Lego lessons allow focus on each of these, but practice number 4 - Model with mathematics -is what we highlight most.  Modeling means bringing real-world problems into the classroom and making the mathematics relevant.  I find as I present these lessons to students that they don't know what an engineer is and yet math educators frequently use engineering as an example of a mathematical career. The engineering with Legos lessons invite the students to become engineers and experience how various aspects like simple machines allow us to complete tasks, work efficiently, and apply mathematics and problems solving.  These lessons are about creating an experience for the students, not about memorizing facts, figures, and formulas. What can change if we make math meaningful, relevant, and fun?
The educators in the room were engaged in the activity we presented.  Even as we tried to make the most of our time and move on with other pieces of our presentation, there were some who were so intrigued they were lost in the experience.  My hope is that if I can introduce teachers to a dynamic way to reinvent their mathematics lesson, if they can experience the engagement of the activities and have fun, that it will translate to a powerful learning environment for their students.  You will not hear students saying, " Math is boring."  You'll find them talking about their math lesson during lunch, recess and all they way home from school!

Second Round of Day 1

On October 5th, we were able to offer a second round of Engineering with Legos Day1.  Though the group was small, they were very eager to learn about modeling mathematics in their classrooms through engineering concepts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We began the day creating vocabulary books to introduce four key vocabulary words - Engineering, Simple Machines, Wheels, and Gears.  Most of our day was spent on investigating the math applications from gears and gear ratios.

Before beginning the first Lego activity we briefly went through a math lesson using fraction strips.  The conceptual idea emphasized was to understand the idea of multiplication and division of fractions.  One of the key focus questions was " How many 1/3's are in 3?"
Participants then worked through an activity called "Reel Changes" in which they discovered the effects of different size gears and their placement as either a driven or driver. 

We checked for understanding of the gear ratio activity by having groups create "Mystery Machines."  They used any combination of gears and then created a cardboard box cover.  We set up various stations and had other groups figure out what driver and driven gears were used by looking at the rotation of the indicator on the machine in either degrees, fractions, or decimals.

 To further the experience in the classroom.  We modeled a "Number Talk" with origami.  Through the folding of the project we talked about shapes, shape attributes, symmetry, rotation, and fractions.  Origami is a great method of teaching and reviewing mathematical concepts with students.  For this origami project we created wheels that turned into gears. 

 We ended the day with a catapult activity.  Participants worked in groups through an activity in which they first made predictions of the effects of a catapult by changing the position of the fulcrum.  They then built two varieties of catapults and tested the distance of the projectiles.

We ended the day by informing everyone of a Day 2 coming in the Spring that will continue to discover the rich potential of making mathematics real through engineering.

Engineering with Legos PD Day 2

To end a great school year, teachers were invited to come for a full day of professional development in Engineering With Legos.  We encouraged those who had come for the first day to return since the activities would be all new.  We had about 20 teachers present including the 3 who returned from our day 1 PD.  We started off the day with a short share time of using the kits in classrooms and how engaging these STEM lessons can be for students.  Then we dived into the first activity.  We were honored to have Jennifer Coull a VAPA consultant from Fresno County.  She helped with our first activity called Programmable Piano.

Jennifer helped lay the foundation with interactive lessons that taught beat and rhythm. 

Teachers created a rhythm maker and developed their own notation.  Jennifer helped relate their notation to standard music notation and to mathematics. 

The second activity was creating slot cars.  Each participant created one of two different cars and investigated the difference of each build and how it affected the car's performance. 

Finally, participants created their own test tracks and were able to alter their cars to improve overall performance.  Teachers really seemed to take pride in their work through this activity.

We also discussed how students could not only use linear measurement in this activity, but that in the creating of test tracks students could use different types of angles ( acute, obtuse, right).  The origami buildings were also a great way to integrate mathematics.

The day ended with some investigation in stable structures and culminated with a Big Boom Competition.

 Participants worked in their groups to create the largest and most efficient boom given certain parameters.

The day was both fun and intriguing.  Every activity incorporated the eight Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice.
 The change that the Common Core Standards will bring does not have to be scarey for teachers, it can be a welcoming shift to true learning by doing.  Many thanks to the teachers who came for Day 2.  We hope to offer Day 1 again in the Fall!  Have a great summer and thank you for all you do for the students of Fresno County!

Future Engineers

Wednesday marked my first experience teaching a fourth grade class with a Lego kit per group of two. I learned many things and was amazed on how accessible and engaging the lesson became. Seeing students discover truths about gears and collaborate in building a described machine that needed to accomplish a certain task was inspirational. Yes, it did take longer than the typical 30-45 minute lesson, but I truly believe that it is a future investment. The students transferred their work with gears to fractions at the end of the lesson and this helped create a clear connection to mathematics. I hope that the photos will speak a thousand words and inspire more to make these kinds of opportunities common place in the classroom.

Gears and Catapults

We had a wonderful time today at the first "Engineering with LEGOS!"  The focus of this PD was Gears.  The lesson developed integrated the ratios of gears through vocabulary foldables, fraction strips, and the use of video.

 The first activity looked at the rotation of gears and how the consecutive gears change rotational direction.

Then we moved on to Reel Changes, an activity that investigated the relationship between different size gears and which gear is the driver gear or the driven gear.

 Using fraction strips we developed the idea of the ratios of related gears to each other and how it could be taught conceptually to students.

Finally we created catapults and experimented with the distance of the projectile compared to the position of the pivot.

It was a wonderful day- one in which I hope translates to enjoyable learning for the children in these teachers classrooms.  Thanks for taking this opportunity!

To see all the photos from today use this link

https://plus.google.com/photos/114070881976309519645/albums/5707691815289847681?authkey=CJHlkpuKt56CmgE

Introduction to Engineering with Legos

LEGOS have been one of the favorite toys of children for years.  If you are like me, you remember playing with block shapes of various dimensions.  But the LEGOS our children play with now are made up of a variety of amazing pieces.  These possibilities include sets which allow them to learn about problem solving, engineering, science, and robotics.  A few months ago I found the LEGO Education website and while at first I thought of my own daughter and how she would love learning with these sets, my thoughts soon turned to the many classrooms full of students who would love to learn in this fashion as well.  With the support of my department, I am so excited to help deliver the first of which I hope are many "Engineering with LEGOS" professional developments for teachers.  For our first PD we will be using the Simple Machines Set and the AIMS Brick Layers II book,  which create a combination that is an excellent avenue for introducing elementary students to key simple machines. Teachers will discover how they can introduce basic physical science concepts such as gears, pulleys, levers, wheels and axles through observation, reasoning, prediction, and critical thinking into their classrooms while also incorporating technology, mathematics, and the arts. My hope is that this blog will become a living portfolio and resource to teachers who have taken the opportunity to bring this innovation to their students.