Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning “Spatial thinking is integral to everyday life. People, natural objects, human-made objects, and human-made structures exist somewhere in space, and the interactions of people and things must be understood in terms of locations, distances, directions, shapes, and patterns.” (National Research Council, 2006, p. 5) What Is Spatial Reasoning? “Spatial thinking […]
According to Gary Stager, Seymour Papert described Mathland as a place inside of computing where one could learn to be a mathematician as casually as one would learn French by living in France Papert and his team developed LOGO, a programming language, in 1968 to engage youth in mathematics and to program computers to […]
Coding Improves Academic Performance Math: Coding helps kids visualize abstract concepts, lets them apply math to real-world situations, and makes math fun and creative! Writing: Kids who code understand the value of concision and planning, which results in better writing skills. Many kids even use Tynker as a medium for storytelling! Creativity: Kids learn through […]
Computational Thinking can take on a variety of forms. As a generalization – it means to solve problems using technology – either with existing technology, or by creating technology to do things we haven’t done before.
As we continue to shift the ways in which we instruct lessons, we should be mindful of shifting ways in which we assess and evaluate. Here are ISTE’s 5 tech trends for this school year. What does it truly mean to “fail” at school? How can we support risk taking, trial and content creation? How […]
Today I learned about Hubbub – a game of chance played using stones or other everyday objects that have two sides. The game was brought to my attention by two teachers enrolled in my Trent University Math courses. After much research, I have found there are a variety of implementations of the game depending […]
The notion of “embracing failure” has me questioning the definition of it. Has it changed? If failure is a good thing, how do we evaluate it? Do we evaluate it? Is failure necessary to learn? What is your definition of failure?
This weekend was incredibly productive. Not only did I continue finishing my new front deck (yes, there is a math lesson in there) but I also learned about a really neat tool that stimulates curiosity, inquiry, critical thinking and collaboration while providing video feedback. I’m changing the course slightly with this post (what, not […]
In this example we will program a particle sprite with Scratch to move at random across the Cartesian Grid. Our goal is to simulate the change in behaviour of particles when temperature increases or decreases and to teach a little Geometry in the process.
Genius Hour can be the catalyst for change. I was given a choice in high school that forever changed my path in life. I hope to provide the same opportunities for my students. I know this is a quick post, but being reunited with a former teacher of mine will forever be one of my […]
Sometimes I just like to have a little fun. What started as a quick way to simply reflect on my learning (and faster than blogging!) I threw together my first Carpool Karaoke Edu video back in January. Ironically, I drove alone in this “carpool” edition, but hey, whatever. I never expected to it to […]
![Beyond the Hour of Code [Connect 2017]](http://brianaspinall.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-02-at-11.10.12-AM.png)
Last week I listened to 14 educators from Ontario who were brave enough to stand in front of 100+ and give a five minute Ignite Talk. I am truly inspired by the passion that radiates from these fine folks. Members of the audience travelled from afar, some even came after work just to listen […]
This week I was reflecting on my experience with Genius Hour and whether or not a scheduled one hour per week was sufficient. If you are familiar with the work of Seymour Papert, he didn’t much care for computer labs as scheduled events. Papert would make claims like “we don’t go to the pencil […]
Why not. I hope to capture my learning as well as the reflections of others across the country and beyond. A few have reached out via twitter to offer a passenger service and some have even emailed. If I am going to be in or around your city, let’s go for a drive! Subscribe to […]
It really is amazing what you can accomplish with a simple idea, a few alligator clips, tin foil, some curiosity and a sense of wonder. Check out the Makey Makey Whack A Mole game!
We love seeing the things educators and their classes invent – they bring us closer to a world built by everyone exploring their ideas and reinventing the things around us. Makey Makey is perfect for the classroom. Students can invent projects that combine the tactile materials of the classroom with the coding projects they’re […]
Avusta helps me communicate my feelings. Button A – I am happy Button B – I am sad Button A + B – I am anrgy
Here are a few materials you might find of interest. Please share.
The Reggio Emilia Approach is an innovative and inspiring approach to early childhood education which values the child as strong, capable and resilient; rich with wonder and knowledge. Every child brings with them deep curiosity and potential and this innate curiosity drives their interest to understand their world and their place within it. Source: http://www.aneverydaystory.com/beginners-guide-to-reggio-emilia/main-principles/ […]
Follow me on a year long journey exploring coding in Canadian schools. This video is a part of the requirements for my MPED Capstone project at Western University. This documentary will recount a full year in review from my perspective (and recording on my phone) and will explore the grassroots coding movement across Canada from […]
When Back to Black landed 10 years ago today (October 27, 2006), some dismissed Winehouse as little more than a novelty. Here was a tatted-up, boozed-out Brit bringing hip-hop vernacular into vintage American R&B. Even her name — conveniently abbreviated to “Wino” by the U.K. press — made her appear a cartoon character, a switchblade […]
Well, there you have it. Once toted as a ‘game changer’ for education, it is time to say goodbye to Vine. Here are a few “best ever” in the kids category according to someone other than me.
In this activity we will code an unfair coin to demonstrate probability with the MicroBit. It was announced this morning that MicroBit is launching an educational foundation and educators across the globe will be able to get their hands on this gadget. As such, we will build a quick app to demonstrate an unfair coin. […]
In this activity we will build an app that 1) generates the first 10 perfect squares and 2) prompts the user to determine the square root of one of them, chosen at random. To begin, create a variable. I have named mine counter. Set counter to 1 to begin and setup the loop structure as […]
In this activity we are going to code an interactive map of Canada. Thanks to Ryan Smith (@ryan_psmith) for the lesson plan. This. Totally This. https://t.co/bDapD4WPxM — Brian Aspinall (@mraspinall) October 16, 2016 The Scratch app will detect what colour your mouse cursor is hovering and reveal the appropriate Province or Territory. In […]
In this activity we will build an app that determines the hypotenuse when given side lengths of a right angle triangle. Check out the activity below:
Makerspace is a growing trend in education that requires aligned pedagogical beliefs and philosophies, but unfortunately gets implemented without much foundation, research or understanding of constructivism. Maker culture leans heavily on the idea of constructivism – that is, the notion that learning is best done through doing. “I am convinced that the best learning takes […]
In this activity we are going to mod a Ms. Pac Man TV game, iCade, batteries and wire to make a tabletop arcade. Materials: Ms. Pac Man Plug N Play TV Game iCade Speaker Wire Speaker Paint 5″ LCD Monitor To begin, I had to disassemble the Pac Man toy. I was careful not to […]
In this activity we are coding a particle theory simulator using Geometry that shows how particles speed up when heated. Source: http://static.nsta.org/files/ss1403_10.pdf Big Ideas: Computational Thinking (Debugging, Logical Reasoning, Spatial Sense) Geometry (Location & Movement) Science (Viscosity, Flow Rate, Particle Theory)