We’re two days into our four-day project and I thought I’d give an update for those interested…

Pre-lesson preparation was nearly perfect, or so I thought. Unbeknownst to me, Mrs. Notaro, the Third Grade classroom teacher, had done this very same project last year. Incredible coincidence or good karma? Don’t know, don’t care! We were instantly on the same page. To get started, before we had our first class, she divided up her students into three heterogenous groups and let the kids know we were going to be doing something really special.

Day 1 got off to a bumpy start in the lab. First, I spent way too much time talking about the project and what we’d be doing all four days. By the time I got through explaining the various web resources we’d be using for research, I discovered the Solar System 3D Simulator I’d installed earlier didn’t appear to be on everyone’s computer. I had to fire up the installer again on all the machines in the lab and walk everyone through the process. We easily lost 10 minutes with these diversions. Once everyone got started the research moved along quickly, until I discovered the form I used for data collection (it’s at school, I’ll upload it later) didn’t specify units of measure and kids were writing down data inconsistently. Awesome. We made a quick decision to standardize on the metric system and had the kids took it all in stride. The websites and Solar System 3D Simulator were perfect; the kids were able to find what they needed and then complete the research form. Mostly…we knew we’d be finishing up on Day 2.

Day 2 (today) was a lot smoother. Kids instantly knew where to go to finish their research. They transferred selected facts from their research forms to 3×5 cards I’d prepared with the name of their planet, a scale image of it (relative to the size of our Sun, an 8″ playground ball). Team three wrapped up first; we asked another stuident to run the Flip Video camera and and headed out to the hallway.

We placed the “Sun” on the floor and began measuring and marking. It moved along quickly, and the kids were very excited, as were various teachers, parents and other staff who wandered by. They could see we were recording and working on something different. Everyone’s smiles spoke volumes.

Everyone except one particular student, who became very concerned about the video aspect of the project as soon as she got in position. She refused to talk, tears welled up in her eyes, and I knew she needed out. I asked if she wanted me to take her place in line, she agreed, and the show went on. In the end, it was all good. As we made our way to the outer planets, you could see the kids figure out the whole distance & scale thing, which is what I was after to begin with. We made our way back to the lab as the period ended and the class had to leave for lunch.

I only watched a little bit of the video (which is 15 minutes long!) but what I saw was priceless. The kids were bouncing off the walls like pinballs, which, although it wasn’t the production effect I was going for, clearly proved to me that they were enjoying themselves and the lesson would be one they’d remember for a long time.

Tomorrow, we shoot Teams 1 & 2, and on Thursday, we produce the final videos using Windows Movie Maker. So far … so good!

-kj-