July 17 Activities

Your Choice of Activity:

Digital Storytelling

Individually or in pairs, review the 8 Steps of Digital Storytelling Process, and have a go at creating your own 2-3 minute digital story on a topic of your choice. You could create a story to introduce a science / HASS topic that you plan to teach later in the year, or perhaps you recreate a few scenes from your favourite novel or storybook. Why not have a go at sharing a poem, or creating a simple Choose Your Own Adventure style game using buttons to change scenes?

Early Childhood teachers will focus on Scratch Junior for this activity - which has different character and background options compared to Scratch 3.0. 

Game Design with Scratch or MakeCode Arcade

Individually or in pairs, review the Game Design Process page, and have a go at planning and starting to code your own maze game in Scratch, or if you're up for a challenge, take some time to explore the Microsoft MakeCode Arcade tutorials - https://arcade.makecode.com/tutorials. I'd also recommend bookmarking https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/makecode/teach/arcade 

BBC Micro:Bit 

Micro:bit Virtual Pet (Tamagochi)

Use the provided design planner document to design, program, and build a Micro:bit Virtual Pet using a range of recycled materials. You may find this guide helpful: microbit.org/projects/make-it-code-it/microbit-pet/. 

Or Free Choice from Suggested Tutorials/Projects on Micro:Bit Makecode website (Scroll down).

http://microbit.makecode.com

LEGO Spike Prime

Using the LEGO Spike Prime software on your staff laptop in conjunction with PrimeLessons.com tutorials, try your hand at one of the following building and programming challenges.

Design a LEGO Amusement Park Ride - Suitable for EC, MP

Note: These inspiration images (from LEGO Education) use some parts not available in the Spike Prime Kit, so you will need to dive into the box of LEGO bricks to develop your own solutions and work out which parts might be useful. I'd recommend using the provided yellow Technic Base as your ground platform.

Your challenge is to design an amusement park ride incorporating motors, the Hub, and your choice of sensor (e.g. force, ultrasonic) to trigger the movement. 

Robot Theatre / Dance Performance (MP, UP, ES)

Using cardboard boxes, recycled materials, and masking tape you can either create a robot character to tell a story (this could be part of a diorama / set against a backdrop scene). Alternatively, create a robot that dances/moves to music. 

Think about: 

• Use of the Ultrasonic sensor (and the lights around it) for eyes

• Motors and gears for waving arms

• Use of other sensors, such as force sensor to start, or responding to a specific colour, to make your robot interactive.  

• Use of a simple driving base (2x motors, yellow technic base, and wheels) to create a platform for a dancing robot.

Hummingbird Bit

(Requires working knowledge of Micro:Bit) - MP, UP, ES

Free time to explore and tinker with Hummingbird, and if time permits, incorporate the LED lights and servo motors to prototype a robot pet.

See the Hummingbird page for the Birdbrain Technologies website & more activity ideas.