Term 2, Week 1

Mental Edge

This morning we discussed 'futurism' and 'being a futurist'. We then watched a clip from 1974 where Arthur C Clark was discussing his ideas behind 2001: A Space Odyssey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRZebE8O84

It appears that he is predicting the internet and PC's. The ODC students then put their 'Thinking like a Futurist' hat on to predict where they think technology will be in 38 years time. Here are some of their ideas.

* There will be voiced controlled computers that have their own voice boxes. The internet will continue to improve: faster, more information and more readily available to everyone.
* Pantry Pads. A pantry pad shows what food you have in your pantry. You tap it and it will bring food to you. It will put food away for you and bring you what ever you tap on it.
* I think 'Willy Wonka' type technologies will available.Food will be transported through televisions, especially fast food, that will be the food of choice in the future. I also think food will also be in a pill.
* Computers will continue to get smaller and they will be completely voiced activated, but it will only recognise your voice for security reasons.
* Technologies will  will be developed and available to the people faster and will upgrades to new technologies will happen automatically.
* Human body transplants will continue to evolve to the point where there will be human brain transplants.
*Holograms is a wasted technology that I think will evolve more in the future. People will use holograms for work conferences that they are unable to attend.
* You will be able to be transported physically into a game using the technologies that were used in the Hydron Collider.
* You will be able to visit virtual worlds using glasses and move and interact within them as your own physical being.

Concept

 Oobleck is one of those things you just have to see (and touch) to understand. Sometimes it acts like a solid, sometimes it acts like a liquid. It all depends on how much pressure you put on it.Today we used it to test out some of our debatable truths about CHANGE.

All CHANGE has a cause and effect

CHANGE can be influenced

The speed and impact of CHANGE can vary (a new generalisation)

CHANGE can be positive, negative or neutral.

 Oobleck is a material that is also known as a dilatant. A dilatant is a material that gets thicker with an increase of pressure. Oobleck is a liquid until pressure is applied to it and then it solidifies. It seems to defy Newton’s Third Law of Motion that states that every action will have an equal and opposite reaction. Here is a great way to test this … take two pie pans, fill one with water and one with oobleck, take both outside and slap them with an open hand. The water will splash while the oobleck stays put on the bottom of the pan. Water is a Newtonian fluid because it obeys Newton’s Laws of Motion. Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid because it defies Newton’s Third Law of Motion. 

Once we had finished making and playing with oobleck, we linked our experience back to the debatable truths. 

Have a go at making it at home and see if you can work out how the debatable truths fit in with its non-Newtonian form.

What you need:

• Cornflour
• Water
• Mixing container

What to do:

1. Place 1.5cups of cornstarch in the container.
2. Add 1 cup of water and stir well.
3. Add more water or cornstarch until you get a mixture which “tears” when you quickly scrape your finger through it and then “melts” back together again.

Squeeze it! ... Smoosh it! ... Scoop it! ... Pinch it!

 Some other fun things to observe about OOBLECK:

• Oobleck is a solid and a liquid at the same time. 

• If you make a ball and throw it up in the air, it loses shape and becomes flat in the air. 

• Oobleck can be molded in a container and when taken out does not keep shape. 

• If you fill a balloon with 0obleck, the air presses or forces the Oobleck back out. 

• When you leave Oobleck in the sun, the color evaporates, it turns hard like cement on the top and like jelly on the bottom. When heated this also happens and it is sticky. 

• Oobleck does not bounce.

Term 1, 2012

Goodness me, it is the end of term already! What an incredibly full on learning time we have had! ODC is always action packed, but this term has seemed to go past particularly fast.
Our concept for this year is CHANGE, so much of what we have been discovering is about that.

DEBATABLE TRUTHS for CHANGE

CHANGE may be positive or negative or neutral

CHANGE has a cause and effect

CHANGE is inevitable

CHANGE may be influenced

CHANGE  can be natural or man made

CHANGE can be revolutionary or evolutionary

Much discussion has been had around the debatable truths especially around the concepts of evolutionary and revolutionary. What is the difference?

Mental Edge

This term we have unpacked CRITICAL thinking.
What is critical thinking and what does it mean to think critically?
There are many areas to critical thinking, but we focused on;
PLANNING THINKING-to identify central issues, to consider all factors and viewpoints
FORECASTING-to consider causes and consequences, to recognise others' points of view
PROBLEM SOLVING-to identify problems,
DECISION MAKING and EVALUATING-to present justified arguments.
We practiced these skills by using Tony Ryan's 'Thinkers Keys'. The Disadvantage Key. What are the disadvantages of a school bag? We had a lot of fun with this one, especially when we looked at it from different points of view! The creative minds here worked over load! What are the disadvantages of a school bag from the point of view of a lunch box? An ant? A shop keeper? The carrier?
We also used our critical thinking skills when we had to come up with the learning space of our dreams. This activity was inspired after we watched  a Ken Robinson interview. We weren't looking at the physical layout of a learning space, but how we would run our learning space and the implications that would go with it.

Talent Clubs

Readers/writers have been creating fantasy worlds. Much has gone into the planning stage of this writing so not many people people have begun to write. The kids are really enjoying having the opportunity to unpack their worlds, characters and plot. Writing may begin next term for some it may not. Ask your child where they are in the planning process and about their fantasy world.

Mathematicians

We have been working at various levels on mathsmate. Everyone loves this  programme for its variety and individual levels. There will be the option to continue this next term, or move on to The Khan Academy.

Exploring Talents

A variety of exploring has been going on. Some have chosen to continue on with their talent during this time, others have done some exploring. I have had some students exploring; minecraft, ALICE animation, ACID music Studio, claymation, circuitry, science experiments and photography....phew!!! Busy times!

Concept
 We have been doing intro tasks around CHANGE this term and unpacking the many different types of change. We used the creative thinking tool 'SCAMPER' to create squiggle creatures. We had to use SCAMPER to CHANGE our squiggle by making changes; substituting, combining, adapting, magnifying/minifying, eliminating and reversing our original squiggle. Photos of these to come.

 A variety of pictures of this term.

 

Working on circuits

 Working on our squiggle creatures

 Experimenting with colour change. One of the intro tasks for our CHANGE concept

 Finding pictures that represent CHANGE. This was harder than we thought. Another intro task to CHANGE activity.

 Using the creative thinking tool SCAMPER to come with with a new design for sunglasses

 Looking at CHANGE in science. What happens when salt is added to oil and water?

 Scampering sunglasses

 Experimenting with chemical change

 Chess