Saugus Iron Works PBU

If you are interested in technology integration chances are that you know about the annual National Education Computing Conference (NECC). NECC is an extension of the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE) effort to provide a forum for sharing ideas on how best to integrate technology into schools. The George Lucas Educational Foundation joined forces with ISTE and HP to underwrite the cost of a professionally produced movie featuring the Ferryway School. We are proud that "Turning on Technology" shows the outcome of the hard work of over a dozen educators working to ensure that urban students have opportunities to use technology. The Ferryway School was featured during a NECC conference session entitled, NETS•S in Action in North American Classrooms. Watch the ten minute long movie on the Edutopia website or here as a streaming video download.

Labels: GLEF, ISTE, NECC 2008, SIW, technology integration

Two months ago the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) production team traveled from California to the Ferryway School in Malden, Massachusetts to document technology integration. The GLEF team has been busy editing, Turning On Technology, where it will be premiered at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Antonio on June 30, 2008. Watch a short (1:44) teaser trailer streaming from the Edutopia website.

***Trailer no longer available***

Labels: GLEF, SIW, technology integration, video

The learning was fast-paced as we entered the second day of filming by the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF). The GLEF crew spent the day at the Ferryway school capturing two major Project-Based Learning initiatives; Biome Breakthrough in grade four and Saugus Iron Works (SIW) Great Adventure in grade 5. Our first stop was Mr. Richmond's computer lab where fourth graders were putting the finishing touches on their biome Powerpoint presentations. Moving on to Mrs. Shelton's class, students were challenged by an introductory lesson that had them making observations about the rainforest and temperate-deciduous forest biomes. Mr. Teixeira modeled the use of a Student Response System (SRS) in which students could each use a remote to register their responses to questions. Mrs. Shelton could show bar graphs depicting the classes results to encourage discussion. Across the hall in Mrs. Urban's room, Mr. Teixeira again helped model the use of the SRS, but this time the task was much more difficult. Students were shown pictures of unknown animals and asked to predict which biome they thought that it lived in by carefully considering the physical characteristics of the lost vertebrate. The entire class successfully returned the poison dart frog to the rainforest.


By mid-morning the crew transitioned to the fifth grade to capture the breadth of teaching and learning throughout the SIW unit. The pace quickened as the team visited Mr. Fitzpatrick's tech shop to learn how students went from paper-based waterwheel designs to prototype construction. Mr. Fitzpatrick demonstrated how to accurately find the center of a circle by using math skills enabling students to properly center a dowel through their waterwheels.



At 11:30 students in Mrs. Briatico's and Mrs. Girard's assembled in the auditorium to watch the waterwheel competition. Beginning in January, with guidance from Tufts Engineering intern, Andy Chang, students working in teams learned about the engineering design process by building their own waterwheels from Styrofoam, PVC pipe, paper cups, and glue. The purpose of today's competition was to test prototype designs followed by a debrief session in which students discussed what changes they would make as they redesign their waterwheels. Redesign is an important step in the design process. Each waterwheel was inserted onto the testing apparatus built by Mr. Fitzpatrick, the water was turned on and cups began to fill causing the wheels to spin. Excitement and the noise levels increased as the string attached to the weight platform tightened. The moment of truth was at hand as only the most efficient waterwheels could lift the weight of bricks and tiles. The day's most efficient waterwheel lifted an astounding 5.5 kilograms (over 12 lbs)!
Next up, the GLEF crew went to the fifth grade classrooms to record a lesson on rocks and minerals where students used concept mapping software (Inspiration) on the wireless HP laptops to create rock and mineral profile page. Each student was asked to create a page for a class book on rocks and minerals.
Mrs. Tomadakis, the 5-8 computer teacher led a rocks and mineral lesson using the online SIW Project-Based Unit (PBU), Inspiration, and the HP laptops. Students worked in teams to develop concept maps to identify and classify rocks and minerals found on various websites embedded in the unit. Students taught one another how to use Inspiration features such as hyperlinking and symbol formatting. The GLEF crew then recorded a new lesson on photojournalism taught by Mr. Simpson. Teams of students received a digital camera and an assignment to capture photos representing one of six categories, such as simple machines and colonial life while on the Saugus Iron Works field trip. After returning from the SIW students downloaded their pictures to a laptop and then had to decide which three photos best represented their assigned category. The photos were saved and uploaded to a classroom SIW wiki for review. The final part of the assignment is to write a descriptive caption for each of their photos.
In a separate room, the GLEF crew wanted to document a teacher professional development session on using a Student Response System. Mr. Teixeira led the meeting in which fifth grade teachers were given remotes and a brief introduction on the teaching and learning potential of real-time formative assessment.

As the day ended, the GLEF crew transformed Mrs. Briatico's classroom into a studio in order to conduct on camera interviews. GLEF's senior series producer, Ken Ellis, conducted interviews with Mrs. Briatico, Principal DeVito, Mr. Teixeira, Dr. Fiducia, Mr. Simpson, and ISTE's Director of Professional Development Services, Bob Choquette, who had observed the day's events. The common themes that emerged were the importance of team work and collaboration amongst educators who offer a diverse set of skills, the need to create 21st century learning environments for our students, and further support for providing high quality training focused on effective technology integration.

We would like to thank the Ferryway School community for helping make the GLEF site visit a success. If you would like to share your thoughts why not leave a comment on this post.

Labels: biomes, GLEF, SIW, waterwheel competition

A gorgeous spring day greeted Ferryway School students on the first day of filming by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Half of the Ferryway fifth graders traveled by bus on a Target sponsored field trip to the Saugus Iron Works Historic Site. Students were immediately met by the GLEF camera crew who diligently recorded every facet of the field trip experience. The first activity had student groups calling upon their research skills to identify a wheel barrow full of simple and compound machines provided as part of a hands-on science lesson. Ranger Curtis White stated, "the program addresses the Massachusetts curriculum science standards for fifth graders and especially connects to the TRITEC district project in Malden." He went on to say that the classroom preparation really makes the field trip experience meaningful. Ranger Curtis then led the students through the reconstructed buildings that truly make the Saugus Iron Works unique. The restored blast furnace building featured a set of large bellows with new leather and nails, hand cut planks for the roof and repairs to the waterwheel assembly. Watching the water rush over the blast furnace waterwheel causing it to rotate certainly captivated students.
A group of twelve students were given an extra assignment as they toured the site with digital cameras in-hand. They were photojournalists charged with capturing images that represent categories from colonial life to engineering. Students worked in pairs deciding what to photograph and where on site. These photojournalists would later return to school to download, organize, and select the best three photos based on their assigned category. Students will share their work on a classroom wiki. Tomorrow, the other half of the fifth grade will have their chance to investigate the iron works.
We would like to thank the Target field trip grant for making this experience possible.

Labels: GLEF, SIW, Target field trip grant, TRITEC, waterwheel

If you've been following the SIW PBU blog since its launch in the summer of 2005 you are familiar with the many successes we have had in promoting the unit as a model of technology integration. Now we are pleased to announce that The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), one of the preeminent non-profit educational organizations in the U.S. wants to highlight our work. In January 2008, the GLEF contacted Thomas DeVito (Ferryway School Principal), Paul Teixeira (E.L.L. Teacher), and Robert Simpson (Teacher Learning Center Director) after viewing two movies that were produced in-house to showcase our 2007 HP Leadership grant project. Ken Ellis, GLEF's senior producer, indicated that the high level of student learning associated with the implementation of both the SIW and Biome PBUs would make an excellent topic for the foundation to highlight in a film. The film will be professionally produced and published on the GLEF's Edutopia website.

Last year, we expanded our technology integration efforts to include the pilot-test and revision of a grade four unit named the Biome Breakthrough. The Biome PBU uses a student inquiry approach that allows elementary students to make observations about the world's biomes and to investigate the physical characteristics of animals. Students navigate a teacher-created interactive website recording observations on a set of unknown animals with the ultimate goal of helping them return to their home biome. Additional technologies include concept mapping software (Kidspiration), PowerPoint Presentations using a Student Response System (Qwizdom) and Microsoft Excel.

The GLEF project team will arrive at the Ferryway School on Monday, April 14 and filming will occur on 4/15 and 4/16. The movie's premiere will coincide with the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, TX from June 29-July 2, 2008.

Labels: Biome, GLEF, HP Leadership Grant, NECC 2008, SIW