Lesson Plan
READY: Introduction/About STEAM (5 minutes)
Tasks: Quick Question
What’s “STEAM?” It’s an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, arts, and math,” this is the newest trend toward incorporating creativity into STEM learning. Since mid-'80s educators have been aiming STEM proficiency, however, reports shown that many American children weren’t mastering these areas. The STEAM initiative aimed to inject Art into the traditional STEM programs, bring together all the facets of the things we find interesting in the world in a way that’s tactile and packs educational punch.
SET: Introduction to Scratch (30 minutes)
Tasks:
Learning Objectives for Middle Schoolers (California Department of Education):
Information & Communication Technologies
Knowledge & Performance Anchor Standards
4.0 Technology Use existing and emerging technology, to investigate, research, and produce products and services, including new information,
as required in the Information and Communication Technologies sector workplace environment. (Direct alignment with WS 11-12.6)
4.1 Use electronic reference materials to gather information and produce products and services.
4.3 Use information and communication technologies to synthesize, summarize, compare, and contrast information from multiple sources.
4.4 Discern the quality and value of information collected using digital technologies, and recognize bias and intent of the associated sources.
4.5 Research past, present, and projected technological advances as they impact a particular pathway.
4.6 Assess the value of various information and communication technologies to interact with constituent populations as part of a search of the
current literature or in relation to the information task.
English Language Arts (Common Core Standards)
RI.6.7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
W.6.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
SL.6.5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.
W.7.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W.8.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
WHST.8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
GO: Team work/ Hands on exercise (30 minutes)
Activities:
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
Team Presentation (15 minutes)
Reflection/Debriefing (5 minutes)
Lesson Materials & Resources:
Assessment Strategy & Tools
Informal Assessment: The students will participate in-class discussions, research, writing, and publishing exercises.
Formal Assessment: The students will be assessed on the completion of the following:
1. Understanding of basic scripting concept
2. Understanding of gaming concept
3. Skill level at creating and improving art work
4. Skill level at editing scripts, and solve challenge creatively
Originality
Content relevance
Use of graphic tools
Use of scripts
Naming and documentation
5. Presentation skills
6. Team work and collaboration
Rubric
Link to rubric. Please refer the section on teacher's resources for more details.
Tasks: Quick Question
- Introducing: STEM vs. STEAM
- Linking Scratch to STEAM - digital arts , problem solving, and critical thinking
What’s “STEAM?” It’s an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, arts, and math,” this is the newest trend toward incorporating creativity into STEM learning. Since mid-'80s educators have been aiming STEM proficiency, however, reports shown that many American children weren’t mastering these areas. The STEAM initiative aimed to inject Art into the traditional STEM programs, bring together all the facets of the things we find interesting in the world in a way that’s tactile and packs educational punch.
SET: Introduction to Scratch (30 minutes)
Tasks:
- Introducing Scratch to students
- Teaching students to explore all basic functions in Scratch
- Demonstrating how to create a simple maze game
Learning Objectives for Middle Schoolers (California Department of Education):
Information & Communication Technologies
Knowledge & Performance Anchor Standards
4.0 Technology Use existing and emerging technology, to investigate, research, and produce products and services, including new information,
as required in the Information and Communication Technologies sector workplace environment. (Direct alignment with WS 11-12.6)
4.1 Use electronic reference materials to gather information and produce products and services.
4.3 Use information and communication technologies to synthesize, summarize, compare, and contrast information from multiple sources.
4.4 Discern the quality and value of information collected using digital technologies, and recognize bias and intent of the associated sources.
4.5 Research past, present, and projected technological advances as they impact a particular pathway.
4.6 Assess the value of various information and communication technologies to interact with constituent populations as part of a search of the
current literature or in relation to the information task.
English Language Arts (Common Core Standards)
RI.6.7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
W.6.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
SL.6.5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.
W.7.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W.8.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
WHST.8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
GO: Team work/ Hands on exercise (30 minutes)
Activities:
- Students are divided into teams to work collectively & cooperatively together.
- Students design and code their own maze game.
- Students are mentored throughout their project.
- Students will post their game to class project discussion board.
- Students will present their work to the entire class.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- use existing and emerging technology to investigate coding, research it's basic functions, and to produce their own simple maze game.
- use electronic reference materials to collect information, synthesize it and successfully create their own product (maze game).
- demonstrate their understanding gaming concept, basic scripting, creating and improving art work, editing scripts, and solving challenges creatively.
Team Presentation (15 minutes)
Reflection/Debriefing (5 minutes)
- The students will reflect both within their team and with the whole class through an engaging discussion & presentation.
Lesson Materials & Resources:
- Access to a computer/internet
- Basic scripting
- Creating a game with Scratch
- Create a maze using Mazegenerator
- Video instructions/demos
Assessment Strategy & Tools
Informal Assessment: The students will participate in-class discussions, research, writing, and publishing exercises.
Formal Assessment: The students will be assessed on the completion of the following:
1. Understanding of basic scripting concept
2. Understanding of gaming concept
3. Skill level at creating and improving art work
4. Skill level at editing scripts, and solve challenge creatively
Originality
Content relevance
Use of graphic tools
Use of scripts
Naming and documentation
5. Presentation skills
6. Team work and collaboration
Rubric
Link to rubric. Please refer the section on teacher's resources for more details.