At T&L Live New York in October, students from Fair Haven (NJ) School District presented at the "Rethinking Learning Spaces" session. What follows are reports in their experience:
Tech & Learning Conference
By Fiona G. Griffin
What really is going on in the technology world? Well, I recently had the opportunity to visit a tech conference about that exact question. I really learned so much about everything that happens out in people's brains, and then the real inventions. This conference was hosted by Tech & Learning magazine, an amazing way to keep up on the tech world even if you don't have the privilege of visiting one of these conferences. There were many vendors, each presenting its own new tech company or cool new device. One of these amazing companies was B & H. They showed us all the amazing things they sell and wow, there were a whole lot of new things I had no idea had even ever been hypothesized!
At this conference I learned that tech a can be used for many things. I saw one woman who was teaching people about a way to use string to carry electricity from a battery to a light that will light up if stitched properly. Another table in the same room presented a boy who used a Makey Makey kit to hook up to a computer and then a steering wheel on a cardboard box to play any sort of racing game using the steering wheel, the computer, and a foot pedal also connected to the wires running from the Makey Makey kit. The last teacher in this room was a woman who had brought three 3D printers with her. Now this was something I personally already knew about because we have two in my own school, but it was still very cool. As she talked, she passed around some things she had made through the printers. These were little plastic pieces, but they really show just how much our world is evolving. This was an amazing opportunity and if you get it I suggest you take it!
Tech and Learning
by Robert McCormack
I presented recently at the Tech and Learning Conference in Tarrytown, NY. While I was there, I demonstrated some ways to use the Makey Makey Kits and I explained how these kits work. They are interesting to me because they can be used to conduct electricity through a lot of different objects and they turn those objects into things like a keyboard or game controller.
People at the conference asked for information on our Innovation Labs and wanted to understand what I have been learning in this class. I explained that students can do coding, use Raspberry Pis to make music, build and refurbish electronic devices, use a 3D Printer to create parts for our building projects, and that we are given the option to choose the activities that interest us. The class is set up so that we are challenged with learning quests and we keep a Quest Log that summarizes the traits used to complete the quest, images of our Quest, and our opinions on our progress and our projects.
While I was at the Conference, we were able to get information on other schools that are teaching technology to kids our age. I was very interested to see all the ways kids can learn through technology!
Tech and Learning Experience
By Kylie O’Toole and Mackenzie Sullivan
On October 23rd we had the experience to go to the Tech and Learning conference in Tarrytown, New York! We got to present what we had been doing in Knollwood School’s Innovation Lab. It was such a great experience because we got to talk to about thirty teachers and tell them how Innovation Lab works. First we got to look around and meet different companies presenting their things. After we got to look around for a while, we went into the main room for presentations and watched as teachers from all different schools presented about their school and how they use technology. It was really fascinating to see how different schools bring technology into everyday learning as a subject. Once the teacher were done presenting to us, we got to set up a station and tell them about our school’s program. More teachers came in and we taught them all about Innovation Lab. Most of the teachers thought it was really cool how our school did a program like Innovation Lab. It was also fun to have us, as students,teach teachers.
We showed our slideshow we made about everything we do and they thought it was pretty cool! We also showed taking apart an iPhone, and how to use Raspberry Pis, Sonic Pis, and Makey Makey kits. The other stuff we had was our website, podcast channel, and minecraftedu.
After a fun day of explaining the fun we had a delicious lunch and dessert and we started to head home. We think that every school should have the opportunity we have this year because of how it teaches us a different way to learn and to learn more about how other schools incorporate technology into their learning community.
