For the past year and half of my job, littleBits have been staring me in the face in the Makerspace. Each time we clean up the Makerspace or restock, I shift the rolling cart of littleBits to a slightly different area, feeling unsure what they are and overwhelmed with all the other materials available that I haven’t had the courage to integrate them into my lessons yet. LittleBits are tiny magnetic circuit pieces which can be clipped together for a series of functions. They are a simple way to introduce circuits into the classroom and get students creating with STEM materials. When I began to think about a design based maker project for my students, I knew that it was time to tackle them. 

I began thinking about ways to integrate littleBits and maker projects into my context. I teach K-5 media, so I get to see students once a week for an hour and have the unique ability to teach in a way outside of standard curriculum. Students spend about half a class period working on literacy and library skills (read alouds, character traits, book checkout, etc.) and half the class period working on technology and computer skills (typing, programming, GAFE, etc.). I am also blessed to have an incredible Makerspace full of materials available to me in my media center. So, I began to think, how can I combine library skills, technology skills, and maker skills into one project-based learning unit?

I was really drawn to the idea of having the grade levels interact with each other, having older kids master a tool and imparting that wisdom to the younger students. The older kids could create, given more freedom to interact and explore, and the young kids could interact with the finished product. This makes the older kids need to empathize with the young students more, and they say the best way to learn is by teaching. I also believe this will give the older students more motivation to create something, knowing who their audience is and that it will be actively used, instead of just put on display. After thinking about making videos, creating signs, and other options, I landed on the idea of students creating board games. 

I want 4th grade to create these board games - either from October-November or January-February. Then, I want 2nd grade to play the games either December or March. I potentially could change the grade if fourth grade creates something too complex, but I want them to stretch themselves to make it accessible to that grade level. I want students to create boards games based on fiction picture books in the library (Mo Willems, Berenstain Bears, Creepy Carrots, Pinkalicious) to tie in literacy. They could create trivia, a linear game, a team game, or other things. This would probably be a unit with time to empathize, ideate, prototype, and test spread out throughout weeks, since I only see classes once a week. 

So now, we have the Circuit Maker Game Unit. It is broken down into 6 parts which directly correlate to Design Thinking. (Read more about Design Thinking on my blog.) 

Below is an overview of the unit at a glance. 

Here is the full slide deck for the unit. In the downloadable version, there are notes on the slides to help with teaching the lessons.

There are many ways to tweak this unit and make it fit the needs of different students and classrooms. Because I only see students once a week, I find that time constraints sometimes stop me from getting as involved as I would like. Because students go a full week without seeing me, they sometimes struggle to get back on task or remember where they left out. I am hoping that the group aspects and design notebook portions of this project help students stay engaged in the unit despite the gaps between. If my students finish their projects early, I generally give them lots of "you can add more," and "how can you make it better?" If I feel a group is genuinely finished and ready to move on, I am planning on having them either explore more with the circuits and play around with them, help another group if needed, or play around in a Virtual Makerspace. (This wonderful Virtual Makerspace was created by Shannon McClintock Miller. Check out her blog for more amazing materials!)

In a general education classroom, this could be a great end of the year project or thing for students to work on as a time filler after standardized testing. You might find it helpful to do a mini-lesson about what makes a good board game before giving them build time. If littleBits aren't available, you could still have them create games and incorporate a different type of technology (Dash robots, squishy Circuits, Ozobots, etc). Game creation can also be used for teaching concepts other than technology, like science or math. There are lots of benefits to game creation as a way of learning. This unit is just one example of ways that it can be incorporated. 

Happy gaming!