Category: stem
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Opening Reflections on Tinker, Make and Learn
Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and I have joined over 1000 other educators this month and upcoming spring semester (for North American learners) in the free online Canvas course, “Tinker, Make and Learn.” I am a fulltime grade 4 and 5 STEM teacher, and Shelly is a self-contained 3rd and 4th grade teacher. Both of us are extremely interested in…
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Exemplary MinecraftEDU Water Challenge Build
One of my 5th grade STEM students this semester, Phoebie, did a great job in the MinecraftEDU station of our Maker’s Studio this month. Students used the “Water Challenge Remix” world and project in MinecraftEDU to create irrigation canals and cultivated fields where they could grow wheat and make bread to survive. Phoebie did an awesome…
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Great Videos To Show Students About NASA and Orion
Today was a very exciting day at school for several reasons. One was the successful launch and recovery of the unmanned spacecraft “Orion” by NASA, which some of my STEM students watched and experienced in real-time. The launch was at 6:05 Oklahoma time (7:05 Florida time) and the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean happened 4.5 hours…
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STEMseeds is BACK on Saturday – Join us!
Join Amy Loeffelholz and Wesley Fryer on Saturday morning (Nov 22nd) for a Google Hangout conversation with Arizona science teacher Bethany Ligon, who was featured in the November 1, 2014 Classroom 2.0 Live show, “Technology Integration in Jr. High School.” Bethany has collected a variety of outstanding engineering design project lessons for her students, which she will…
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Amazed by Edgar’s Design Creativity in Minecraft
Earlier this week one of my 4th grade STEM students, Edgar, visited me in my classroom after school with his mom. He brought his Android tablet computer, which he’s been using for the past several years to build a variety of different objects in Minecraft Pocket Edition. He gave me a tour of several of…
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Great STEM Conversations About Perimeter in MinecraftEDU
Today was a great day in our grade 4-5 STEM classroom. Last year I used MinecraftEDU with my students for several different lessons, and I tried a “perimeter and area building challenge,” but this year I’m much more pleased with the quality of conversations I’m having with students about these geometric concepts in a simplified and…
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Free MinecraftEDU Server Remote Control Options for Mac Users
Next week I’m starting a three part, six day MinecraftEDU lesson with my 4th and 5th grade STEM students which will be a mathematical “building challenge” similar to but a little different than what I had students do last year. Last semester I had students work in groups to complete a “permeter/area building challenge,” and students worked…
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Applying STEM Skills with Robotic Sphero Balls (Donor’s Choose Project)
Thanks to encouragement and stories from other teachers last Saturday attending EdCampStilly in Stillwater, Oklahoma, this week I posted my first fundraising project to the website, DonorsChoose.org. The name of my project is “Applying STEM Skills with Robotic Sphero Balls.” by Wesley Fryer Give to my classroom by October 1, 2014 and your donation will…