I will be posting here the tasks for each of the sessions so you have access to all or them.
Class 7 (9N 2nd March / 9K 3rd March/ 9M, 9L 4th March)
Welcome back.
Today the summative is due so I am going to leave you the full class to read through the comments and make any changes. I will be on teams and on email so you can ask me any questions.
Task 15: Live session
Here are the times:
9N class 7 will be Monday 2nd March. Online session from 8:15 to 8:45 or later
9K class 7 will be Tuesday 3rd March. Online session from 10 to 10:30 or later
9M class 7 will be Wednesday 4th March. Online session from 8:30 to 9:00 or later
9L class 7 will be Wednesday 4th March. Online session from 12 to 12:30 or later
Task 16: Uploading the summative A to Manageback
Please read the instructions below before you upload to MB.
please make sure to write your name in the file name. I won’t grade you without it because my tablet gets the files mixed and I have made mistakes grading checkpoints, so to avoid this on the summative, please add your name.
upload the appendix, too. Your research should be in the appendix, so I need to be able to access it too.
deadline is 10pm Beijing time.
please upload what you have at this point, even if it is not finished, because if you don’t upload any work will be graded 0.
you will have a chance to resubmit when summative B is due, so this temporary grade will be on MB until then.
And this is it for today. See you on Teams!
Class 6 (9N, 9K 26st Feb / 9L 27th Feb/ 9M 2nd March)
Welcome back. Forth week of online learning. We never thought this was going to be this long. But you are doing well, don’t worry. We are going to have another checkpoint today, for A3 and A4. Please upload to MB and I will give you comments. If you missed the first checkpoint indicate in the documment you want me to also give you comments on A1 and A2 by marking them red and I will do that before the summative. Remember it is a rolling system, so try to go with it, you will have chances to resubmit, as always.
Task 17: Recap
After the first 5 classes you should be done with A1, A2 and A3. If you are not done with them please finish them first since you will need them to complete A4.
Next class (class 7) you will be asked to upload the tasksheet and the appendix as the summative.
Task 18: Finish A2
I sent your questions to our wonderful Primary School Science teachers and they sent you their answers. You can use this as your primary research. Please remember to thank them when we see them around!
Enjoy!
1. what do grade 4s and 5s know about climate change?
2. how can we explain it to them simply?
3. what are the areas of climate change that can interest them more?
3. what kind of games are they interested in?
4. do you know of any educational games that you recommend for this age?
You will need to follow the links and sign into your keystone office account.
Now it is the time to make sense of all the different pieces of research. We did some research in A1, in A2 (should be in the appendix) and in A3 by analysing the work of other photographers. Now it is time to make sense of it and write a design brief.
Remember you are not going to get graded on how well you answer your research questions (in the appendix) but on how well you use them to write a concise but deep design brief. Your design brief should be organized in 4 paragraphs and should not be more than a page, or a page and a half.
Refer to this to write your design brief:
Think of the design brief as the final document, so everything important should be in there. By reading it, anyone should have a clear idea on what you are going to do and why based on the research you have done so far.
Task 20: Live session
I will be online on Teams during class and have a Question and Answer online session so you can have any questions you may have next class. Here are the times:
9N class 7 will be Monday 2nd March. Online session from 8:15 to 8:45 or later
9K class 7 will be Tuesday 3rd March. Online session from 10 to 10:30 or later
9M class 7 will be Wednesday 4th March. Online session from 8:30 to 9:00 or later
9L class 7 will be Wednesday 4th March. Online session from 12 to 12:30 or later
Task 21: Upload to MB checkpoint A3 and A4
Please remember to upload so I can give you comments before the summative.
Please send me any questions or concerns or problems you are having, by email. Thanks and see you soon!
Class 5 (9N, 9M 21st Feb / 9K 24th Feb/ 9M 25th Feb)
Welcome back 👋🏻 How are you today? How is this elearning going? I hope things are going well and you are not getting too overwhelmed. I feel that as we go on, we start getting a hold of things. I moved to a new location and I have a better internet connection, so that is good. If you are having connectivity problems or computer problems, please let your teachers know. We understand because we are going through the same. 🤦 Don’t get frustrated, please. We are all trying our best.
Task 16: A3
We are going to look at other educational games to get inspired for our own designs. You will need to look at 4 educational games. You can chooses them from the list below or come up with your own.
In the tasksheet you have this table:
Please use the questions to know what you need to reflect on. Do not need to write a lot. Each page should only take one page. You should spend 15-20 minutes by game.
Here a list of suggestions: (if you find great ones send them to me and I will add them to the list)
1/ Tipping Point presents players with real-world climate questions in fun, semi cooperative game.
2/ Ekotys is a brand that uses sustainable materials to build their games and toys.
3/ Solar robot. Learn how to make a moving robot using solar panels and motor skills.
4. Wingspan. You play as a bird enthusiasm and your goal is to attract birds to your aviary.
5. Pandemic: Iberia. A Disease-combating game where each player must take a specific role: nurse, sailor or railwayman and travel around Iberia (currently Spain) cooperating to find cures for four diseases: malaria, typhus, yellow fever and cholera.
7. Weather station. This weather station from KidzLabs is a great easy way to learn about weather and the greenhouse effect.
And that is all for today. Send me any questions by email!
Class 4 (9N, 9K 18th Feb / 9L 19th Feb/ 9M 21st Feb)
Welcome back 👋🏻 Here we are, continuing this e-learning education with many challenges. My daughter wants to cry most of the time, so I know how you feel. But please don’t be discouraged, I am here (Beijing time), and I am connected during class times, so I should be able to respond right away.
Task 13: why A1 seems more difficult this time?
I have been giving you comments on the checkpoint and the main difficulty you are having is choosing the WHAT: the one thing you want to teach primary kids about climate change. I know, it is hard. 😓 But I promise you that I you are able to do it now, your life will be so much easier later! 🌈
One thing we are learning is that we don’t really know a topic well until we have to teach it to someone else, especially someone younger. Don’t feel defeated if you did not get it perfect the first time. It is normal! Part of the learning. You are doing great, considering the circumstances!! 👍
📧 If you want to double check send me an email and I will check for you, but don’t be rushed, everything will make more sense after we complete A3 next class.
I found a great example I want to share with you, from Baker in 9K:
I am going to design an educational game about climate change for primary school students (grades 4 and 5). The client of this project will be the primary school’s teachers or parents. I consider designing a game to teach about climate change for kids important because after my science essay and research on the cause of landfills and the connection of landfills with climate change, I’ve noticed that just buying products online with delivery could really contribute to the change of our climate, especially during shopping festivals such as Black Friday and Single’s Day(11.11). I believe most of the people do not realize that; and even they do, they have no idea how severe it is. Thus, this project, which would be able to educate primary kids about climate change is necessary and vital.
In 2017, during 11.11 shopping festival, China produced over 300,000 tons of waste packaging, over 1.5 billion express packages were sent. (Liu Qin, 2018) In the past 5-10 years, about 80% of items and plastic packaging during the Black Friday will end of being wasted, meaning being thrown and dumped in a landfill. (Hamill, 2019) These wastes all contribute to the landfill, which ultimately causes climate change. By having a toy that would be able to teach students the severity of the issue, I believe they would think more carefully before they click the bottom on TaoBao for buying anything.
Citations: Beijing struggling to contain its growing garbage problem. (2018, July 3). Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2153308/beijing-struggling-contain-its-growing-garbage-problem. Hamill, J. (2019, November 29). The dark side of Black Friday: Counting the real cost of deals and bargains. Retrieved from https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/29/dark-side-black-friday-counting-real-cost-deals-bargains-11238714/.
Task 14: revise the research questions
If you uploaded work, you got comments on your questions, otherwise check this self-evaluation for inquiry questions:
1. Inquiry questions need to be big enough to invite research (what makes a good game?) But not so big that it is going to get the whole day to find the answer (how to make a video game?) At the same time yes/no questions are not good inquiry questions.
2. Inquiry questions need to provide you with the information you need, to make decisions. You are the designer, you decide. So questions asking for someone else to give you the answers (what kind of game should I design? What materials should I use?) are not good inquiry questions.
3. When answering the questions you need to use at least 3 different kinds of sources. Not all can be answered using the internet. Try to use real people (send me questions for Ms Lewey, Raul Alvarez or find some primary school kids or parents) books or magazines or other games as sources. Also make sure you have primary and secondary research.
4. Make sure you cover different areas of research. Ideally you would have one question per area. Minimum you should have at least 4 areas of these below:
– Area 1: Understanding the terms in the design task. Questions such as: what makes a good game? What is the difference between toys and games? Since game not only means video game, what potter opciones are out there?
– Area 2: Climate change. Any question to help you understand more about your topic
– Area 3: Audience. What do grade 4 or 5s know about climate change? What kinds of games they like to play? What degree of complexity can they understand? How long can they concentrate for? (also from Baker)
– Area 4: client. How will parents know if their kid is learning with a game? What are then favorite educational games by parents and teachers? Why do they want their kids to learn about climage change?
– Area 5: the connection to the real word and the global context: consumerism. What is our responsibility as designers (see Victor Papanek for this) or who is doing real things for then environment (see the work of Raul Alvarez for ghost fishng)
– Area 6: making. What do you need to research further or learn in orden to make the game you want you make? or How to make a board game? (have a look at this link Jerry sent)
Task 15: research time!
The class time today will be spend on doing the research. Remember you need 6-10 questions and you should spend 10 minutes per question, so 80 minutes should be enough to complete this.
Please complete the research in the appendix. Write the question, MLA citation of the source and the answer. And please note that you are not going go get graded for this research (that is why we ask you to move it to the appendix) but you will be graded in A4 to see how well you use this research to write the design brief.
And that is all for today. Send me any questions by email!
Class 3 (9N, 9M 13th Feb / 9K 14th Feb/ 9L 17th Feb)
Welcome back again. Today is an important day because we have a checkpoint! Please check MB and upload the tasksheet and the appendix. Please save the task sheet with your name on the file name: “Angela-taskA”.Don’t be nervous, we are just doing this so I can check how you are doing and offer you help and suggestions before the summative. Here are the things you will need to prepare:
Task 10: A1
Complete what you started next class, please be concise and choose one thing you want to teach primary school kids. In some of your responses on seesaw you mentioned many things, but it will be easier for you if you concentrate in only one.
GRASP:
Goal: to design an educational game about climate change for primary school students.
Role: you are a designer that needs to consider your social and environmental responsibility.
Audience: primary school kids (grade 4 and 5) // Client: primary school teacher or parent.
Scenario: Toy companies are also responsible for producing unrecyclable and unsustainable waste. Some leading toy manufacturers are moving towards more sustainable materials. Toy companies also may need to consider creating toys that educate our children.
Product: You need to design an educational game to educate kids about climate change. You will need to carefully pick your materials and design a game that not only teaches something, but also may be promoting sustainability in toy manufracturing
Standards/expectations: You will need to create a prototype based on the client needs and audience preferences and safety considerations, that shows your design and can be tested by primary school students.
Please explain in 200 words WHAT we will do in this project, WHY it is important to educate primary kids about climate change and what is the one thing you want to teach them, and you can also mention the global context (globalization and sustainibility/ consumption). Finally, also indicate who is the AUDIENCE and who is the CLIENT.
If you want to get 7-8 you will also need to justify in 200 words why this work is important. You will mention what is that one thing you learned and want to teach them. (What you did in task 1). Please present some preliminary research and data (including the sources) to back up your justification.
If you are still not sure about this, please visit this link with resources. Choose one big area and use the resources to extract data for your justification.
Please remember that writing more does not mean a higher grade and that we are including word limits to prepare you for personal project and DP. If you exceed substantially the word limit, your work won’t be graded and you will have to redo it. In Design, less is more.
Example for the 200 words explanation: In this unit we are going to be creating disaster shelters using 40ft containers (what) because there are millions of unused shipping containers that can be used for relief situations (why). The global context for this unit is sustainability and after studying natural disasters in the last 100 years, I will be designing for after a tsunami in Thailand. My client will be the UNHCR and my audience a family of 3 that will be living in this shelter. (77 words)
Task 11: A2
Today you are going to create the research plan, so you can choose the questions to research and I can check them before you spend a lot of time researching questions that are not relevant. Inquiry questions need to be open enough to invite research.
Please notice that the research plan table we are using is slightly different. We included an extra row where you will need to indicate why it is important to conduct this research.
In order to get 7-8 you will need 6 to 10 questions. If you only have 6 is because they are very deep, good questions.
The questions
Here are some ideas for questions for you to choose from:
BASED ON WHAT WE HAVE DONE SO FAR
1. You could ask a question to continue researching your topic a bit deeper.
2. What makes a good game? You could base your answer on what your classmates posted as favourite games or research further.
3. What makes a bad game? You could base your answer on what your classmates posted as their least favourite games or research further.
4. What is the difference between toy and game? What diffeent kind of games are out there? Have a look in this link. You will see the variety of things you could do.
5. You could come up with questions you would want to ask to a grade 4 or 5 kid, since they will be your audience.
6. Ms Leah Newey, the primary science teacher, will help us on this project. If you have some questions for her please write them in your research plan and we will send them out to her and get a video response.
NEW ONES
7. Think about what kind of game you would like to make and what are you going to need. Do you need to learn how to use the laser cutter? Or the 3D printer? Do you need to learn basic programming on scratch to make a videogame?
8. In marketing there is the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that links to my suggestion of concentrating on only one thing you want to teach. Maybe you want to research this further.
9. Victor Papanek is a designer that can serve us as a guide for this project. I will be preparing resources for you for next class but for now you could add a question to your research plan.
Remember that at this point you are only coming up with the questions. Once you get comments, you can start researching them. The research will be done in the appendix and you won’t be graded on it. Your grade on A4 will be on how well you use your research to write the Design Brief.
Task 12: An example
In a lot of your answers on seesaw you mention the importance of doing things for the environment. Little things make a difference, you write. But often, we become discouraged because we think our actions do not really matter.
However, last week I was fortunate to meet Raul Alvarez. He has an organization called ghost fishing that really makes a difference on the oceans by removing nets that were abandoned.
You can read here more about what he does. Raul will be part of this unit too. He is a professional diver, now in the Philippines, waiting for your questions. He is extremely nice so feel free to ask him anything about what he does or how he started. I would also like to tell you that he makes this as his personal project and as a commitment to the sea he loves and uses his own money to pay for the extraction expeditions. A real example. We are really fortunate to have him collaborate on this unit. You can use these questions as part of your research.
If you are interested in learning more about the organization you can visit their website. Or watch this introductory video to the problem.
And that is all for today. Please upload to Managebac and see you next class.
Class 2 (9M Feb 7th / 9N and 9K Feb 10th / 9L Feb 11th )
Welcome back.
Task 5: email
The first thing I want to ask you today is to know how you are doing. I miss you! And I know how overwhelming this can be, so please send me a quick email telling me how online learning is going so far (positive and negative) and if there is anything I can do to help.
Task 6: getting organized
The next thing we will do today is to get a bit organized so you can understand where all this is going.
– In class 1 we completed task 1,2,3,4 in a document, any word document. Please name that file “Appendix”.
– then I asked you to post those tasks into seesaw. Just a few of you did that. Please make sure to do that before class 3 since we will be giving comments to each other. Upload to your class seesaw, not to the “all grade 9s”.
– if you switched sections you will need to join the class. Email me and I will share that code with you.
– from now on all the research will be done on a different file than the task sheet: the Appendix. If you read through what we have done so far, we have been answering some research questions:
Q1: what knowledge would you like to share about climate change? Task 1
Q2: what was your favourite game as a kid? What makes a good game? Task 3
Q3: what are the characteristics of bad games? Task 4
Q4: what are the challenges and what are the benefits of online learning? Task 5
– there will be a checkpoint on class 3 where you will be asked to upload the tasksheet with A1 (we will do today) and A2 (we will do it in class 3) and the appendix. Class 3 will be Feb 13th for 9N and 9M/ Feb 14th 9K/ Feb 17th 9L. You can already see the box on the calendar in Managebac. Upload without worrying if you upload late. I will set the deadline to 11pm.
Task 7
We are going to continue with research. After I read your answers there seemed to be some confusion about what is a toy and what is a game. What is the difference? I also I am curious to know why when you read game, you understand video game. What about board games? Physical games? If you want you can investigate these terms as your Q5.
Task 8
Since our audience is a primary school kid, the logical thing to do is to try to interview a 9-12 year old kid to investigate what they like, what do they play with or what do they know about climate change. Due to the circumstances you can do that if you have a little brother at home, otherwise you can use video call or wechat. Those questions/answers can be added to the appendix as Q6. Remember to show proof (recording or screenshots)
Task 9
Ms Leah Newey, the primary school science teacher has offered to help us in this project. She teaches grade 4 and 5, so she can offer some advice on the complexity of ideas or what this age kids may like. I will be sending her some questions and she will be recording a video with the answers. Please send me an email any questions you have for her. Those will be Q7.
Task 10: A1
Now we are going to try to put all this together. Open the tasksheet and let’s do A1. Before we start you need to read the design task:
GRASP:
Goal: to design an educational game about climate change for primary school students.
Role: you are a designer that needs to consider your social and environmental responsibility.
Audience: primary school kids // Client: primary school teacher or parent.
Scenario: Toy companies are also responsible for producing unrecyclable and unsustainable waste. Some leading toy manufacturers are moving towards more sustainable materials. Toy companies also may need to consider creating toys that educate our children.
Product: You need to design an educational game to educate kids about climate change. You will need to carefully pick your materials and design a game that not only teaches something, but also may be promoting sustainability in toy manufracturing
Standards/expectations: You will need to create a prototype based on the client needs and audience preferences and safety considerations, that shows your design and can be tested by primary school students.
Please explain in 200 words WHAT we will do in this project, WHY it is important to educate primary kids about climate change, who is the AUDIENCE and who is the CLIENT.
If you want to get 7-8 you will also need to justify in 200 words why this work is important. You will become more precise by mentioning what is that one thing you learned and want to teach them. (What you did in task 1). Please present some preliminary research and data (including the sources) to back up your justification.
Please remember that writing more does not mean a higher grade and that we are including word limits to prepare you for personal project and DP. If you exceed substantially the word limit, your work won’t be graded and you will have to redo it. In Design, less is more.
And that is all for today.
See you next class!
Class 1 (9N, 9M 5th Feb / 9K 6th Feb / 9L 7th Feb)
Our new unit is a continuation your IDU on climate change with I&S and Science. In this Design unit you will have to apply what you learned in that IDU to create a game to teach primary students about climate change.
Task 1
Since it has been a while, your first task is to write what is the most important thing that you learned. What was that one thing that if you could share with others could really make a difference? Try to write short and concise, go back to your notes and include data that support you.
Task 2
Read again what you wrote and see if it is appropriate for a primary school kid. Our audience will be grade 4 and 5 students (10-12 year olds). Write it again so they can understand what you mean. Give examples or relate it to things they know about.
Task 3
Transport yourself to when you were 10-12 years old, what was your favourite game then? Write about what you loved about it, or why you loved playing it, include a picture if you can.
Task 4
Go around your house (if you are at home) and take pictures of some toys or games that you only played once or twice. Try to say why do you think that is.
Please post all these tasks on your class on seesaw. We will be giving comments to each other on the next session.
