“How can we, as educators, bring avoid turning our students into zombies through the use of purposeful play and physical computing?

This session will present the layout for a hands on integrated approach to learning through the use of LEGO and micro:bit as participants design an interactive homestead to protect against a Zombie invasion. Along the way participants will disucss methods, tools, protocols used and shared to ensure that we don’t turn our own students into zombies.

This Deep Dive will challenge participants to use skills and materials that they may not have used before. This deep dive will have them think through their work in a new lens that will lead to action back in their schools. Additionally, with a constraint of materials, participants will have to work together and collaboratively to create an interactive homestead to protect against a zombie invasion. Participants will be working collaboratively to not only design and build their products, but to also reflect deeply at the end about how the process can be applied in their classrooms to meet their standards and academic requirements. Participants will have to think critically to understand how computer science and physical computing can be layered into any key content area and how computational thinking should play a role in all learning areas. This will push our academic mindsets to explore our classrooms through a different lens. Finally, as Alvin Toffler states, “The illiterate of the 21st Century are not those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” This full day exploration of coding, making, building, and tinkering, participants will have to not only learn, but unlearn and relearn how all the essential learning elements go together to create new learning experiences.

We will combine all of our builds and elements of the homestead integrated and woven together into an interactive and immersive experience full of animation, sensors, electronics, alerts, and more. Each element of the homestead will have a display via a posterboard or computer that will further connect how the coding and making connections to any subject area that we teach.

Workshop Schedule

30 minutes:

Welcome and unboxing of materials

45 minutes:

How does it all work? Hands On Investigation Understanding LED, sensors Loading the software to code Cardboard Techniques Mechanism builds with cardboard

15 Minutes:

Form Groups and Work Stations Chart Paper – Elements of homestead Participants will add post it notes describing layout of homestead and problems it will solve

Connect to ideas of other groups and whole group collectively

Decide which group to work with to bring ideas to life using SCRUM Sprint Cycles

120 minutes:

Prompt Build and Project Work Time Groups will create their solutions and ideas 30 minutes:

Display & Connections Create display showcasing audience how our entire design will lead to action back in their schools Record video to Flipgrid

30: Setting up Homestead and Displays for Exhibition