name: Connie Bryan and Betsy Hunt
school: Lincoln School
subject: bridge design and construction
grade: Third Grade
studentnum: 18
textbooks: trade book, coloring book, grade3-level books, teacher-created experiments and materials
computers: iMacs - 16 situated in a computer room
background:
Connie Bryan is a third grade teacher at the Lincoln School, a K12 all-girls school. Betsy Hunt is the computer tech/teacher for the Lower School.
Late in the spring term (roundabout May), third graders study basic bridge design and construction. They learn about three main bridge types; beam, arch and suspension. They conduct simple experiments in the classroom to illustrate tension and compression, strength of different shapes such as triangles and circles, and learn vocabulary to identify bridge parts. Students learn about famous bridges, such as the Pont du Gard, the Rialto, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
technology:
There is a computer lab next door where there are iMacs for students, an eMac on one end and the teacher's computer is in the corner. The children are usually trained to use computers by first watching a video on a television that is also available in the lab.
The children possess basic computer literacy. Their favorite program is KidPix (a flashier and more powerful Paint), but they can also use MathBlaster, Hyperstudio Stacks (simpler version of Hypercard), and Apple Works. They can navigate websites using a browser, although they sometimes get lost if they cannot go 'back' or if mutiple windows are open.
The elements of the programs that caught the children's attention were:
- a mission (either own or program)
- colors
- characters
- animations
- the ability to create
- fun facts
According to Mrs Bryan, the girls are chatty and will probably only focus on the assignment at hand for roughly 20 minutes.
resources:
Apart from the aforementioned programs, the school has recently purchased two programs. One involves the educational programming language LOGO in conjunction with basic graphics capabilities. However, this is gauged to be at fourth-grade level. The other program is essentially an on-screen version of building blocks. The program comes with a manual in which there is a particularly interesting section detailing how fantasy bridges can be built using the program. This program does not have the effects of gravity built-in, but it was noted that the basic 3d geometry of the program was already straining system resources.
what we do:
Mrs Bryan was hoping that we could do one of the following:
- reinforce the bridge vocabulary visually
- reinforce the concept of load-bearing
- map famous bridges around the world
- track the progression of bridges through time
As a side note, both the teachers and the students were very fond of simple, lushly-illustrated websites that offered the basic interaction of asking/answering questions.
We are thinking of doing the following:
- A map with various pinpoints of famous bridges
- A logical progression of bridges through time
- Testing a load on certain famous bridges
- Vocabulary lessons with numbered parts on a picture
- Fit the bridge to the picture/scenario
- Integrate fun facts and jokes
- Integrate interesting characters and animations
We are looking to combine the bulk of these ideas into one program, however, we must be careful of not over complicating things as this may confuse third-graders. |