This endeavor began accidentally on the second day of school in 2013. Dr. Ursula Wolz (parent) proposed an opportunity to participate in a technology agenda supported by MIT and Carnegie Mellon University. After careful consideration and a bit of, Je ne sais quoi, on behalf of Principal Dr. Sack, Tech Coordinator Carm Sullivan, technology teacher Sandy Egan and STEM Coordinator Daniel Taylor, we took the plunge.
We knew immediately after introducing it to Sandy Egan's Game Creation class that we were on to something extraordinary. The students loved it! There was an invigorating display of learning; collaboration, real problem solving and genuine curiosity.
Over the next 8 weeks Dr. Wolz and Mr. Taylor loosely organized the students to "Come and Explore!". We quickly generated a group of 40 "Finchers" who later became the peer tutors for the CS Ed Week activities in December 2013. See the website.
Many of these peer tutors later brought our accomplishments to a larger community.
We also involved the school staff, exposing them to the activities that were planned for CS Ed Week, in an effort to build more support and understanding. The result? Smiles, excitement and enthusiasm. Months later the students are asking to play with the Finches again.
The Finches have since become a mainstay in our school. In addition to offering after-school "Finching" opportunities, the use of Finches has now become a part of our electives. This year (2015-16) we offered a class named, "Game Creation with Robots." The goal of this elective is for students to learn programming and then conceptualize and build a game using the Finches. The game is then played and critiqued by peers, providing valuable feedback so the game creator can iterate their creation.
We knew immediately after introducing it to Sandy Egan's Game Creation class that we were on to something extraordinary. The students loved it! There was an invigorating display of learning; collaboration, real problem solving and genuine curiosity.
Over the next 8 weeks Dr. Wolz and Mr. Taylor loosely organized the students to "Come and Explore!". We quickly generated a group of 40 "Finchers" who later became the peer tutors for the CS Ed Week activities in December 2013. See the website.
Many of these peer tutors later brought our accomplishments to a larger community.
We also involved the school staff, exposing them to the activities that were planned for CS Ed Week, in an effort to build more support and understanding. The result? Smiles, excitement and enthusiasm. Months later the students are asking to play with the Finches again.
The Finches have since become a mainstay in our school. In addition to offering after-school "Finching" opportunities, the use of Finches has now become a part of our electives. This year (2015-16) we offered a class named, "Game Creation with Robots." The goal of this elective is for students to learn programming and then conceptualize and build a game using the Finches. The game is then played and critiqued by peers, providing valuable feedback so the game creator can iterate their creation.