Category Archives: EdTech

Hour of Code @Hamlin

Leave a reply

During the week of December 4-8, 2017, The Hamlin School will be participating in the 5th annual Hour of Code, a global movement introducing computer programming to tens of millions of students in 180+ countries around the world, encouraging them to learn how to code. The initiative aims to demystify coding and show that anybody can learn the basics. Hamlin is both proud and excited to use this week, once again, to highlight our coding and robotics curriculum by having every student and faculty member code for at least one hour.

Hour of Code Events

In the Lower School, every class has been scheduled for at least an hour’s worth of coding instruction with Ms. Windell. Girls will use a variety of coding apps that have been selected to be developmentally appropriate for their age/skill level. These apps include Kodable, LightBot, Blockly Games: Maze, Human Resource Machine, as well as resources from the code.org website.

Continue reading →

Technology, Physical Education, and The Hamlin Creed

Leave a reply

Grade 6 students are working in teams to design an app that describes what they are learning in their PE rotations and how those skills relate to The Hamlin Creed.

The apps have four screens — one home screen and one screen for each rotation (climbing, dance, and group sports). Each student is responsible for creating one screen that describes the current rotation. The team works together to make the home screen.

Students brainstormed what the app would look like, considering colors, button types, and font size, while designing a uniform appearance for all four screens.

Below is an example of a screen that incorporates courage and respect from The Hamlin Creed:

Continue reading →

Grade 1 Community PBL Unit

Leave a reply

There is so much I love about this unit. It has happened each year I have been at Hamlin, but as it is exemplary student-centered learning in action – it’s as different every year as the students who make the learning happen.

This year Rachel Davis did an incredible job in documenting the work and reflections of the Grade 1 students and their teachers, enjoy –

Thanks to all the teachers that came together and designed this learning experience!

Hamlin Students Win Technovation Pitch Challenge

Leave a reply

On June 5th, Charlotte K. and Elanor M. won the regional Technovation Pitch contest. Girls ages 10 to 18 learn to identify a problem in their community and create a mobile app solution to address that problem, and then learn how to communicate these ideas and translate them into a fully launched business. They pitched their idea to panel of judges that included venture capitalists, technology executives, design consultants, and coders.

Details about their app:

Walk4Water is a mobile app that provides an incentive for young teens to stay fit and healthy using competition and social features while doing good in the world. When a user takes a thousand steps, 12 cents will be donated to charity: water, an organization that gives poverty-stricken communities access to clean, sanitary water closer to their homes. Girls in these communities won’t have to spend their time walking to find water; they can pursue an education. Teens worldwide can improve their daily lives and someone else’s while enjoying the competition and challenging their friends to go the extra mile.

The competition was very intense, Charlotte and Elanor worked many long hours on developing the business idea and coding a working app. They are now semifinalists for the World Pitch. On June 8th the 6 national finalists are announced to go to the World Pitch in August.

Watch their pitch video here:

To learn more about Technovation, please visit: http://technovationchallenge.org/

To learn more about charity: water, please visit: https://www.charitywater.org/

Hamlin Travels the World with Google Expeditions

Leave a reply

Today, Hamlin students had the opportunity to travel virtually to places like Chichen Itza, Mount Rushmore, and the village where Nelson Mandela grew up, through the technology of Google Expeditions. The immersive experience served to enhance both Spanish and Social Studies curriculum.

Google Expeditions enable teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space. Expeditions are collections of linked virtual reality (VR) content and supporting materials that can be used alongside existing curriculum. These trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° panoramas and 3D images — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools. There are 600 expeditions to choose from.

Students used virtual reality headsets with Android phones to bring images to life. While the girls explored various places, Hamlin teachers provided narrative information about the locales.

Hamlin faculty member Rachel Davis states, Google Expeditions give students an opportunity to explore an area through immersion, they get to be involved in the whole experience.

Hamlin 5th graders loved Google Expeditions. We liked how we can see structures from both a side view and from above, it was like going on a learning vacation without getting on a plane.

Below is a video of Hamlin 3rd graders exploring Mount Rushmore:

To learn more about Google Expeditions, please visit: https://edu.google.com/expeditions/#about

 

 

Project Based PD: Designing A Mini-Golf Course in 2nd Grade

Leave a reply

Under the leadership of Mark Picketts, Hamlin’s Director of Program Innovation and Professional Development, teachers have been exploring and learning this year through inquiry projects that they personally design. As action researchers, teachers use data, research, and reflection to investigate, modify, and improve their teaching practice. All teachers who participate in the Inquiry Project Year will share their findings with their colleagues at a year-end celebration of learning.

As part of her inquiry year, physical education teacher Terry McDonald created a dynamic project that allowed 2nd graders to design their own miniature golf courses. With the help of funds from Hamlin’s Raise the Paddle, Ms. McDonald was able to purchase mini-golf starter kits, she then partnered with Urban Putt in San Francisco so students could conduct research at their facility, while playing a round. The golf project integrated disciplines, combining technology, student-made video tutorials, tracking the design process via their iPads, while incorporating the geometric angles of math, all within the context of sport. Through the project, students were able to learn about golf, golf etiquette, while collaborating to make their courses as challenging as possible.

 

Watch this amazing integration project with second graders documented as part of Hamlin’s Project Based Professional Development program:
(link for internal users only)

Inquiry Project Year and Environmental Stewardship

1 Reply

Under the leadership of Mark Picketts, Hamlin’s Director of Program Innovation and Professional Development, teachers have been exploring and learning this year through inquiry projects that they personally design. As action researchers, teachers use data, research, and reflection to investigate, modify, and improve their teaching practice. All teachers who participate in the Inquiry Project Year will share their findings with their colleagues at a year-end celebration of learning.

As part of her project year, Ms. Ray (Lower School Science Teacher) developed a K-4 environmental stewardship field trip strand to inspire an appreciation of biodiversity and give students opportunities to take action to create positive change in our community. The strand begins in kindergarten and first grade by exploring local habitats and learning about plant and animal adaptations for survival. These concepts develop a sense of place and community for our youngest scientists and expose them to the idea that everything is interconnected on our planet. Second, third, and fourth grade scientists further develop their understanding of interconnections leading them to want to take action in the form of environmental stewardship.

Continue reading →

Lower School PBL and Tech Integration …

Leave a reply

Project Based Learning pedagogy states that the project is focused on real world problems and that important knowledge, concepts, and skills are taught within the project.  Here at Hamlin girls integrate their learning of technology to support solving problems.

In these clips see how lower school girls use technology to interview community members, create podcasts, use green screens in their newscasts, and sharing their work with the entire lower school:

These girls are working hard to develop a comprehensive set of skills to meet the challenges of their increasingly digital times!
We are thankful to integrator Ms. Davis for the creativity she brings to work every day.

Middle School Students Enhance Learning Through Creative Technology Use

Leave a reply
See how Hamlin Middle School Students are using technology to show how they are creating art, making ebooks on different biomes, speaking in Spanish to students in other countries and coding to create new apps:

Always reflecting and revising our work we are preparing students who use technology not solely to consume information but also to create.  These girls will have the skills to meet the challenges of their increasingly digital times!
We are thankful to integrator Ms. Davis for the creativity she brings to work every day.

Project-Based Professional Development

Leave a reply

This year we are experimenting with a modified faculty evaluation model; it is “project-based PD*” or a year of in-depth inquiry for experienced faculty.  During the Inquiry Project Year, Hamlin teachers will be able to dig deeply into an area of their own practice that they have identified. As action researchers, teachers will use data, research, and reflection to investigate, modify, and improve their teaching practice.

One teacher’s project sought to give her students more freedom to explore during their visit to SF MOMA.  Our wonderful middle school art teacher, Ms. Feldman worked with technology integrator Ms. Davis to design a digital docent for her collaborative work with the museum:

Continue reading →