Learning Goes Above and Beyond

Grade 5 student, Aggie Beck, proudly exclaims her favorite explorer is Michael Collins, command pilot for Apollo 11 in 1969. Her classmate, Arthur Dubois, chimes in that the Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson is his favorite because he was the first to set foot on North America ahead of Christopher Columbus. “He had quite an interesting life spending half of it in exile.” Nearby, another classmate, Allie Lindbom, declares British Royal Navy Officer Captain Robert Scott as her favorite explorer. He was the first to reach Antarctica. “Sadly, though, he didn’t survive the way home,” she says.

From the far regions of the earth to the moon, these Grade 5 students are immersing themselves in their latest lesson on exploration. More than just learning about what Magellan and Ponce de Leon discovered, these students started with compass reading, and then used technology to make it a more engaging. “We wanted to start with the basics and connect the students to the explorers and their tools,” said FIS teacher and Grade 5 Year Head Jennifer Mango. “They started by learning how to build and read a simple compass.”

For the first time, the Grade 5 team, under the direction of the Elementary School’s Science and Makerspace Coordinator, Catherine Walton, introduced students to geocaching. Geocaching uses GPS-enabled devices, such as iPads, to navigate specific coordinates and attempt to find “treasures” at hidden locations.

By layering compass skills with map reading and an understanding of latitude and longitude, the students gain a deeper understanding of not just who the explorers were, but how they navigated to their final destinations. Together in small teams, using Google Maps on the iPads, Grade 5 students embarked on an egg hunt through the FIS campus – each egg providing new coordinates for the next clue.

“With explorers across time, from Marco Polo to Neil Armstrong, new technology enabled them to go farther than they could before,” Ms. Mango said. “With this activity, we wanted students to experience that feeling of not always knowing exactly where you are.” The students explained even though they were in a familiar location, using the longitude and latitude to determine where to go took them outside their comfort zone. “We had to write in the coordinates, then find where they were on the map, then had to figure how to get there from where we were,” Allie said. “It was fun to experience this as a game and understand how explorers might have felt.”

Bringing STEM to Young Minds
These FIS Grade 5 students are not the only ones benefiting from additional STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) projects in their lessons. Ms. Walton is working with the entire Elementary School team – from Grade 2 to 5 – to organize and prepare science and technology activities to enhance learning experiences, as well as introducing technology as a learning tool.

“Science activities take time,” Ms. Mango said. “Ms. Walton acts as a coach, attending team meetings and understanding our lesson plans, and then she can connect us with the right tools to make the lesson fun for the students.”

Students already use shared iPads and laptops in school, but Ms. Walton is integrating new tools. Whether it’s incorporating the science makerspace lab, microscopes, EV3 robots, or the virtual reality goggles into a lesson, Ms. Walton is making it simpler for the teachers and more engaging for the students. “I like to teach through engineering. With hands-on activities, students become creative in a different way,” Ms. Walton said. “What I love most about what I do is working with an amazing group of professional teachers and administration who do not put limits on student learning engagements.”

Ms. Walton explains, specifically, the Makerspace engineering projects allow students to problem solve with limited supplies. For example, Grade 3 students were tasked with building water-cleaning devices. Using the tools in the Makerspace lab – a physical location where students can come together to problem solve in a hands-on, collaborative environment with an assortment of random materials – the students designed and developed simple devices moving the water from a cleanliness level three (full of dirt) down to level one (less dirt) with the materials available in the lab.

“It is so cool when a design problem that has been particularly frustrating is worked out through evaluation, testing and redesign,” Ms. Walton said. “It is also great to see how scientific explanation or learning engagements lead to further student inquiry, and when we work together to satisfy students’ curiosity.”

Immersing Young Scientists in the Virtual World
One of the latest cutting-edge educational tools in which FIS has invested is augmented reality through Virtual Reality (VR) goggles. Earlier this year, Grade 3 and 5 students had the opportunity to use the Upper School’s VR goggles to visit land formations and ancient civilizations. “The VR goggles are amazing because the students are immersed within the learning experience,” Ms. Walton said. “I think they are the perfect tool to introduce students to some of the limitless opportunities they will have in their future.”

With a quick tutorial of the equipment, students quickly traveled to locations of their choosing, such as Yellowstone Park, the Great Barrier Reef, Afghanistan, Spain, and New York City. They located places on the map, zoomed in, flew over mountains and skyscrapers, and with a click of a button, were standing in Mount Vesuvius or on top of the Himalayas. “You are literally standing at the tallest point in the world! But it’s not cold,” said one Grade 5 student. Another classmate sighed and said, “This is the coolest thing ever. It’s like you are right there!”

Later in the year, Grade 4 students will travel through the human body and its systems as part of their “Who We Are” unit. Gillian Königer, FIS teacher and Grade 4 Year Head, said the VR technology enhances her students’ understanding of the lessons with deeper questions. When students have the opportunity to be inside the body to see how the systems work together, it becomes a “game changer,” she said.

“Using the VR goggles, in particular, is a special activity for these young scientists and one they look forward to as part of the lesson. While they do not replace some of the traditional pedagogy, they can transform learning in the classroom,” says Bryne Stothard, Upper School Geography and TOK teacher and Grade 11 Year Head, who also is the school’s resident VR expert. For these young students, the short interactive experiences, like navigating the human body or flying to the Great Barrier Reef, bridge the gap between simpler experiences to truly immersive ones that students will likely use as a learning tool once they get older.

“I think that we need to view VR as a classroom tool, much in the same way that laptops are viewed today,” Mr. Stothard said. “The real power of VR comes from its potential to help promote student choice, new types of design, collaboration and student-led discussion. VR also presents us with an opportunity to transform students from consumers of high-end tech into producers – a very exciting notion!”

Throughout its four grade levels, the Elementary School team has covered expansive subject areas over the past few months with STEM projects accompanying many of them. Parents interested in exploring and better understanding STEM, including the Makerspace lab, can see projects and displays at the STEM Expo during the upcoming Elementary School Conference days in March.
 
Linda Kerr
FIS Parent