It seems in my absence from school that my charging cord for Glass has gone missing. Which unfortunately means Glass is on a little vacation. I must have power for my last videos and pictures to upload onto Google+, so until my new charger arrives to hopefully just be a duplicate our blog posts will be on a small vacation.
Today, we figured out how to translate using the Glass App Word Lens. We had a student in our class write a sentence in Spanish on the computer screen and used the app to translate it. We tried really hard to get a picture of what it looked like after translation, but we weren't successful. It was awesome! The word literally changes to the language of choice right before your eyes.
Before we knew what we were doing, we tried to pointing it at people's faces. We thought it would create subtitles of what they were saying. Unfortunately that was not the case, but as a result we got some interesting pictures of our attempt. Today in physics we compared experimental and expected values of acceleration. We showed that the acceleration of a glider down a slope is dependent on the angle of the slope. The students hooked up our Pasco photogate probes to the computer and collected 15 different trials at 3 different angles. As they progressed through the lab, the students formed a nice routine, one collecting data, one moving the cart, and another making sure the photogates were recording properly. You can see a glimpse of the lab be Seniors in physics are required to complete a physics research project. The project allows student choice in topic, but within the physics field. Students are required to come up with a list of testable questions, research them, and design new questions. After they have determined their focus questions, they complete a literature review and methodology. The second semester of the year is spent on data collection, analysis, and conclusions. The final step will be sharing their results virtually. We spent a class period trying to collect data on a "small scale" example of what a rocket might do. Our first attempt (on a previous day) happened within a minute of lighting it. However, on this particular day our experimentation just didn't ignite. That's science folks, but we'll get it figured out. More to come on this project. On a side note: We are on spring break until Wednesday, April 23rd so this blog will continue again on Wednesday. By: #GlassExplorerColten Today we had presenters from our field trip on Wednesday. They had us test the three soils from pits dug on site. We used a soil pH kit with little pills (chemical pill) and water containing nutrients from the soil pits. From these tests we determined the pits all had a pH of 7.0. The tests also gave us information about the amount of nitrogen, phosporus, and potash in soil. During this activity, I used Glass to take pictures of the activities that we were doing on this day. I think Glass is fascinating and helps other people understand what we are learning about. By: #GlassExplorerAnderson I love the rawness of the below video. It really shows the classroom dynamics; Some students working, some not. Interactions between students that you don' t normal see as they censor themselves around the teacher. I wish I had a pair of Google Glass for each group of students. There would no longer need to be a student evaluation rubric for group work. It would all be visible digitally. This type of footage really gives teachers a necessary perspective that we don't normally get. In physics today we completed rounds 2 and 3 of our Cutthroat Water Propelled Rocket activity. Most of the rockets did much better than round 1 as students added less water to their bottles. The below photos and videos from Glass show the results of the competition. We took Google Glass on our science field trip to Warm Springs today. Only problem was someone accidentally left it on and we only had 30% battery. So, the result is three pictures and one video. Oh well, lesson learned... My physics students have been working on a project we like to call "Cutthroat Water Propelled Rockets." The project forces students to apply physics concepts, all while using critical thinking and design skills. This is not your normal rocket challenge. Students were given a set amount of money ($10,000) and a 2 L bottle. They were required to have a nose cone and fins. They came up with a design, but the design was subject to change...that's right, there's a sabotage element to this project. Students were given a chance to bid on 13 sabotage items. Items consisted of: (1) not being able to use their dominant hand to build the rocket (2) only being able to use glue sticks (3) having to add 50 pennies to their rocket (4) decreasing the psi of the rocket, etc, etc, etc. Each sabotage item determined the fate of their rocket. For instance, one team could not have a nose cone and another team had to completely build their fins and nose cone out of paper. It was challenging, sometimes frustrating, but always fun! They actually spent a majority of time talking smack about other peoples' rockets. Check out our @SciencePCHS Twitter page to see their first round results, the rules, and their Tweets of their designs and hashtag smack talk. It's quite humorous. Below are pictures and videos from the first round of rockets. Only 6 out of the 7 rockets made it out of this round...and they all learned a valuable lesson: Less is more! We shall see how this knowledge helps in round 2. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Google Glass and I traveled to Boston for the National Science Teacher Association's Conference. My first attempt at using Glass was on the moving walkway in the Salt Lake City airport. I wanted to record the walkway as it is a great example of vector addition for physics. I recorded, although it wasn't that good because I chickened out and didn't speak through it. I was getting some interesting looks. Since the video didn't really work out, here's a picture of the walkway #throughglass. My second attempt at using Glass was recording and taking pictures of the airplanes coming in and out of the Salt Lake City airport. Really it wasn't any different than recording them with my phone, except that it was from my perspective. I like the below picture because it My third attempt was during take-off of our airplane. I was a little braver with this one as I was sitting in my seat with my husband and no one else was really paying attention to me. Here's the result: While at the conference, I used it to record a couple of activities. Before I was recording, I made sure to ask those in my groups if they would be okay if I recorded using Glass. All were open and curious about the device. When I offered to share them, a few jumped at the chance, while others were reluctant. This happens with any new technology, so nothing I wasn't used to. Here are a few videos of activities we did during the conference: It wasn't until Friday that I met someone else at the conference that was actually wearing Glass. Heck I didn't see a single person in the Salt Lake City airport, in the Logan International airport in Boston, or at the conference wearing them except for this guy. Although, I do have a Twitter friend who has Glass and was at the conference, but he was feeling a little chicken also. Really, I don't blame him either. Here's the picture I took of him with my Glass while he wore his. One of the fortunate things about Glass is I could record group collaboration between other teachers and I during a workshop on satellite imaging. I didn't have to stop what I was doing to record the activity and I could catch all the interactions the group was having. I made sure to ask all members of the group if it was okay if I recorded before taking this video: Video by: #GlassExplorerHunter and #GlassExplorerColter Learn how Hunter, through the voice of Colter, used Minecraft to create a polluted, confined aquifer. It's amazing as a teacher to see how students use what they are passionate about and apply it to their learning. This is a prime example of this! By: #GlassExplorerAlye I used Google Glass today to record our Kahoot session on groundwater. It was a lot of fun recording but I still have issues with getting the whole thing to work. I’m sure that I’ll eventually get it to work for me if I use it more. I didn’t have any problems with the recording and I think it turned out really well. I had a lot of fun with it and when I finished, I handed it off to my friend Ryann so she could record the next Kahoot session. I think she did great with it. By: #GlassExplorerRyann Google Glass, there is no other way to explain it besides AWESOME!!! From the looks they look as if they would be hard to use but they are extremely easy. They are the future of our world. If you get a chance you should try to use them because they will put a new prospective on the future of sharing videos and pictures. Google Glass was a good investment for our science class. By: #GlassExplorerAnderson Today is April 1st, which traditionally means pranks. When uploading photos to Google+ today from Glass we noticed something a little unusual. Check out how #hoffsome this is! Having Glass in our class has really pushed us to share what we are doing. I also love the ability to see first-hand what students are thinking, what they see, and how they interact with other students in class. Really gives me that second dimensional view. |