They Came, They Saw, They Conquered.

I have been exploring ways to support learning with technology & Web 2.0 tools this year. I recently had a great success to share.

My school district requires using Investigations for our math curriculum. In the current unit, students build structures out of snap cubes and draw the structure from the top, left side & right side. It is supposed to teach geometric perspective and 3-D thinking. Boring with a capital B.

I recently finished an online course about Google Tools and learned Sketchup, and I saw the potential for engaging students in geometric perspective, but I wanted to stretch the lesson a bit. So I infused the geometry with ideas on how to learn.

I posted the following question on the SmartBoard. "How do you learn something new?" Some common answers were: I listen very carefully to the teacher - or - I really pay attention. So I posed this situation: In three hours of laptop access, I want you to create a 3-D drawing with a computer program that you don't know. The challenge is that I (the teacher) don't know it either.

Students came up with strategies to learn without me. Learning from peers, give it a go, learn from mistakes. I was surprised that not one child mentioned tutorials, directions from the program, or googling for strategies.

I was amazed at the collaboration that began to take place. I could have gone out for coffee that day in math class, and no one would have noticed my absence! They taught themselves SketchUp with minimal intervention from me. At the end of the class, I pulled up a tutorial video from YouTube and we watched it together.

Several students went home that night, downloaded SketchUp and kept on working. My inbox filled up with emails from students with SketchUp drawings attached.

The second day, I began the day with the SketchUp tutorials and students learned about tutorials and other resources for learning and help with technology. Everyone was creating 3D buildings with people, furniture, textures, even swimming pools by the end of the second hour.

Today, I had a sub. But, in reality, by today, I know my kids were directing their own learning and a teacher was superfluous. Tomorrow, I'll tell my students that I actually DO know the program and teach them a few extra tips.

Not all technology ventures are successful in my class. This idea was so completely successful that I wanted to share.