Roller Coasters in the Media Center!

How do you keep 6th graders engaged, collaborative, and problem solving?  Try a Kinex Roller Coaster kit!  What started out as hundreds of pieces and little sense of direction, has turned into a 3 foot tall working roller coaster built by a group of 6th graders during WOW.  Sue Kraus brought the Kinex in and the group of students got to work.  What do you do if you are missing a piece?  Problem solve and discuss where you can exchange another to make it work.  What happens when the car doesn't make it all the way around?  Look at the design as engineers and together come up with a plan to make it work!  Great extension activity in the Media Center at Oak Ridge!

 

Busy in the Media Center or should I say Indus Valley?

With all the activity in the Media Center it is hard to keep track of everything, but tracking down students in the Indus Valley became almost impossible in Alex Hajek's 7th Grade Social Studies class. Student's set off on their journey through the Indus Valley creating games, Prezis, Google Presentations, and video using the green screen.  From songs and interviews, to debates and newscasts, the Indus Valley and its' history were thoroughly covered by the students.  Below is a picture in which the students shared all their facts by song, then added the images to match their information using the green screen app Do Ink.