A technology conference at Caribou Community School looks to hook kids on learning through creative technology. Brian Bouchard has the story.
While this may look like your average English classroom on a Monday morning, these students aren’t just learning about I before E, but instead are learning about creative technologies that can be used in conjunction with their imaginations to open up new worlds.
“Our students in Grade 8 and fortunate enough to be able to learn some tech tools to learn how to tell us their own stories.” says Kim Barnes – 8th Grade English, Caribou Community School
Maine Learning Technology Initiative or MLTI Ambassadors from Maine Department of Education paid a visit to Caribou Community School both in person and virtually for an event called MLTI Days, to give the students lessons on various technologies that can be used to tell stories.
“You know, students today live in a much more technological world, and we kind of look at them as digital natives, but very often they don’t know how to use that technology in a way that would integrate into their classroom.” says Holly Graffam – MLTI Ambassador, MDOE
During the two day event, students are introduced to digital animation, 3d modeling in Virtual Reality, 3d printing, drones and robots. The first day is made up of classes covering surface level knowledge of the technologies.On the 2nd day, students get to choose which one appeals to them to get more in depth and hands on learning.
“I really like the stop animation. I like how theres different levels of how you design, you can either draw it yourself or use other images and really be able to be very imaginative with it, almost like you’re telling a story.” says Maggie Bell – 8th Grade, Caribou Community School
Which all plays a part in how the students will show their understanding, combining their chosen technology with their concurrent studies on poetry and storytelling to bring their stories to life in a culminating project.
“We are asking students to use this technology to tell their story. So some students might choose to tell their story using stop animation, and some students may choose to tell their story in a virtual world. Its using the tech available to tell their stories and to see that the integration into other content areas and into technology helps them share what they know” said Barnes.
As far as how the students are receiving it? 8th Grader Maggie Bell sums it up pretty well:
“I think that everyone’s really excited for a new experience”
The event continues until Tuesday, March 22nd.
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