Making Quality Video Collages

I'm new to the world of video and image collage videos, and thought this blog post had some great tips, especially useful in the classroom.

Animoto's Five Tips for Good Videos

Copyright and Using Pictures from the Internet in School Projects

Teaching students that they must respect international copyright laws is an important part of any lesson I teach where students will be using images and videos they find on the internet. Here is a great blog post which comments on the legal issues involved, as well at lists several great sources of pictures that are in the public domain.

Copyrighted images and sources of images in the public domain

We need to remember that although students may use almost any image for educational purposes, if projects containing those images are then posted on-line, a definite grey-area is entered. Also, outside of the educational setting, in copyright laws must be respected, and creating good habits that will carry on into a students' adult life in the workforce is important.

Biodiversity Quiz

The current unit of the grade 3 - 4 class has a focus on biodiversity. Here is an interesting link about biodiversity from Wikipedia:

• Biodiversity on Wikipedia

Students will use Hopscotch on the iPads to create a biodiversity quiz.

Electrical Quiz Boards for the PYP Expo

Students who are preparing projects for this year's PYP expo will be making Electric Quiz Boards in STEM class. The basic idea is to create a set of questions and answers, and a board to display them on, and when the user connects a question with an answer, if the answer is correct, an LED will light up to indicate the answer is correct.

Here are some good instructions of how to build an Electric Quiz Board:

• How to build an Electric Quiz Board with (mostly) household materials

For a few ideas of different board designs, see this video

• Quiz Board design ideas

Here's a slightly different variant of the Quiz Board. One question, but multiple answers.

• Multiple Answers Quiz Board

Look out for future posts of our projects!

Whack-a-Potato and Unusual Pianos with Scratch and Makey Makeys

Today, the Grade 3-4 class will be starting work on two more Makey Makey projects. Groups may choose to do one or the other or both.

The first one is to create a modified version of the traditional Whack-a-Mole game, using Scratch and potatoes and the Makey Makey. Here is the project idea:

Whack a Potato

Here is some starter code in Scratch:

Scratch Whack a Potato Starter Blocks

The second one is to create a Scratch program that will allow you to attach unusual objects to the Makey Makey to create a unique piano, such as the banana piano.

Cool Science Experiments

Here are some really neat experiments and demos we will be trying!

• Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano
• Make a Naked Egg
• Amazing Actions of Surface Tension

Biodiversity and the Pinhey Sand Dunes

In the fall, we had two field trips to the Pinhey Sands Dunes: one to learn from the scientist of Biodiversity Conservancy International about this unique and remarkable habitat found right within the city limits in Ottawa, and secondly to participate in the restoration of the dunes themselves.

Here are some videos from Biodiversity Conservancy International links that focus of the Pinhey Sand Dunes, their restoration, flora and fauna.

1. General Information about Pinhey Sand Dunes. Note the maps on the right hand side that show the disappearing dunes!
2. The Shrinking Dunes  (video)
3. Saving the Sand Dunes (video)
4. Life on the Dunes: Various Species
5. Where have all the spiders gone? (video)
6. Collecting Data on Biodiversity (collecting bugs!) (video)

Invasive Species in Ottawa

There are some plants and insects (and even trees, bushes and probably animals) that are thriving in Ottawa but that are not native to this region, and so have no natural predators. In Morrison Park, and the St Paul High School field, I have seen:

• Garlic Mustard
• Emerald Ash Borer and dead ash trees

Not quite so close to our school, but still within the City of Ottawa, I have seen many instances of wild parsnip, the sap of which can cause very severe blisters and burns.

• Wild Parsnip - safety and control

What can we find growing in Morrison Park this year?

Film Canister Rockets

Many of our students are very, very, very interested in explosions, so we will be tinkering with film canister rockets. Film canisters are not very common these days -- I had to explain what they were the first time I mentioned them to my students -- but I was able to collect many from a friendly photo developing store.

Here are some good links to start researching:

1. Science Kiddo - Film Canister Rocket
2. PBS Kids - Film Canister Rocket
3. Imagination Station - Film Canister Rocket

These web pages all describe demonstrations, but we will want to turn them into experiments by changing only one thing and see what the effect is.

Some questions we may want to answer:

1. What different types of fuel can we develop? What is the least expensive, most powerful fuel we can find?
2. What is the effect of temperature?
3. What is the effect of structural items on the rocket, such as fins and a nose cone?
4. What is going on that makes the rocket go up?

Here's another type of rocket we can maybe try too:

Tea bag rocket

Obstacle Course in Scratch

A fun game to make in Scratch, building on concepts we have studied earlier in the year is an obstacle game. Here is an example, but be creative and make one that is special for you!

Scratch Obstacle Course Game