This week in CEP 811 we looked at something that most teachers do everyday…repurposing. Repurposing happens all the time in education. Take a geoboard for instance, in math it can be used for shapes, area, perimeter, graphing, and probably a few other ways I have not discovered yet. There are many benefits to repurposing, mostly though, it is because teaching is evolving all the time and having the right tools to engage students is so important to be able to have students grasp a concept.
In learning about repurposing this week, and what it has to do with educational technology, the question of “what is an educational technology?” was brought up. The answer that MAET uses, is that there is none and that answered just had me so intrigued. I had never thought that many technologies were not specifically made for education but have been repurposed for education. I better understood this after reading Punya Mishra’s Rethinking Technology & Creativity in the 21st Century: Crayons are the Future. All technology is great but if it does not integrate into the curriculum that you are teaching it is not a purposeful use of instructional time. This is where repurposing technology needs a little creative thinking.
Prior to this week’s assignment I had used Scratch Junior with my students. I use our speaking and listening standards to teach the blocks, and then connect that to writing stories. This week however, I used scratch to toy around with my new Makey Makey Kit. To get use to the Makey Makey I started with their Bongos App and played on those. When I saw scratch listed as one of their Makey Makey Apps I got instantly excited. To get started I watched this tutorial video to add sound.
As I explain in my video I have been working on goal setting with my students. Using language from Peter Johnston’s Choice Words, and Growth Mindset Phrases, I have been trying to keep my students motivated and feeling successful. To try this out with Makey Makey kit I thought I would program some growth mindset phrases that I use with my students to help me feel successful with my weight loss goal I am trying to achieve
Using some tinfoil I connected my scale to EARTH, and using carrots i was able to program phrases into scratch that que up when touched. Depending on what the scale says I am able to stay motivated with the growth mindset phrases. Now if I can get this programmed in my classroom to give my students that instant feedback, we will be in business. Stay tuned for more ways to repurpose my Makey Makey Kit.
How To Use Makey-Makey to Motivate Your Scale
Get your Makey Makey Kit @ http://www.makeymake.com
Using labz.makeymakey.com scroll down to scratch.
Scratch will take you to their creation lab where you can create a new project. Sign up for a scratch account is free.
To use the Makey Makey controls you are going to want to use the events tab which is brown.
That is where you program when the different sounds to play.
Once you have your sounds programmed you can connect them to any insulators. I used carrots.
Plug your EARTH board into you device and connect your insulators to the back side to coincide with the controls on scratch.
Last step is to make a connection between EARTH and your Scale using and alligator clip and tinfoil.
Tap on the carrots or any other insulator and stay motivated.
References
Mishra, P., & The Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Rethinking Technology & Creativity in the 21st Century: Crayons are the Future. TechTrends, 56(5), 13-16.
How to Record Your Voice on Scratch Makey Makey. (2016, March 27). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kobQ83ivLII
Johnston, P. H. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Stenhouse.
Makey Makey | Buy Direct (Official Site). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.makeymakey.com/
Thrifting. (2017, November 05). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-hCrtnqHrw
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