3. Field Activity 03

Eco House

I chose the eco house for this field activity. I found the unit very interesting and it fits in perfectly with the topic that I am currently working on with the 11th grade students. The IPO principle can be illustrated very well here. It also fits into the core curriculum of the state of NRW. (I am sorry, I had a longer explanation, but I didn’t get saved again and I don’t have the time to redo it completely).

Testing the electronics!

LEDs glowing with dark LDR

The lesson

It is available on SCOPES DF: https://www.scopesdf.org/scopesdf_lesson/learning-the-ipo-principle-through-a-house-automation-model/

Lesson feedback by pupils

• Good lesson
• Was fun to build
• learned about the IPO Principle
• Too little time
• Conductive tape harder to use than soldered wires or breadboards

Lesson plan feedback by ChatGPT

Please give me feedback on my own designed lesson plan:

https://www.scopesdf.org/scopesdf_lesson/learning-the-ipo-principle-through-a-house-automation-model/

Your lesson plan is creative and engaging, using a house automation model to make the IPO principle tangible. It’s well-structured and interactive. To improve, consider adding clear, measurable learning objectives, brief formative assessments, and guidelines for pacing. Also, include strategies for differentiating activities for all learners. Great work overall!

Do the learning objectives align with the activitiy?

Yes, the objectives align well with the activity. The house automation model effectively illustrates the IPO principle, helping students see and apply the concept. Just ensure that the objectives are clearly stated and include quick assessments to verify understanding.

I will. Are the assessment criteria on the rubric clear in this lesson?

Yes, the assessment criteria on the rubric are clear and align well with the lesson’s objectives and activities. Reviewing them with students can further ensure that everyone understands the expectations.

Are the questions in the kahoot good for the lesson? Do I need to add questions?

The Kahoot questions look well-aligned with your lesson objectives and effectively address the key aspects of the IPO principle. If they cover all the major points you want to assess, there’s no urgent need to add more. However, if you notice any gaps or want to challenge students further on certain concepts, consider adding one or two additional questions.

Reflection Questions

Collaboration: Reflect on how you worked with colleagues or FLA participants during the Field Activity. What steps did you take to involve collaborators? How did this collaboration influence the outcome of your final lesson plan?

I ony collaborated with ChatGPT since starting collaborations take a lot of time and an aligned curriculum. That was hard to find.

Instructional Challenges: What challenges did you encounter or anticipate while teaching this lesson? How did you address or plan to address them? Were there, or do you anticipate, specific areas where students might struggle with the technology or content?

As I had thought, there would be difficulties with the conductive tape. The children also had difficulties with the new components at the beginning. I tried to anticipate this as much as possible by explaining the components and their use in detail.

Diversity: How will you accommodate and support students with diverse learning levels, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds in this lesson?

As always, I tried to repeat as much as possible and warm up the students with questions at the beginning of the lesson. This usually works well. I also tried to use an example that everyone knows (brightness control circuit) and not to choose an example that is too abstract.

Teacher Growth: How has this experience influenced your approach to integrating technology, such as digital fabrication, into your teaching? What new skills or strategies have you developed as a result?

This lesson was special for me in the sense that I always aim for “higher” technology, especially with older students. In this case, however, the project was realized as simply as possible using basic components and a simple circuit. This brings the students much closer to the basic competencies than work with microcontrollers, etc. could.

In the future I will try more often to realize things more simply.

AI Usage: If you used AI, reflect on how it can be leveraged to enhance your teaching. How does collaborating with AI compare to collaborating with a colleague?

I used ChatGPT to create the assessment questions in kahoot. ChatGPT is very useful here because you can quickly generate a lot of questions including plausible answer options. I also designed the presentation with ChatGPT, simple prompts lead to easily structured, clear information on the slides. Here I should ask the AI in the future to make the key points even shorter.

AI also helped me to translate the materials originally written in German into English.

I also asked AI to give me feedback on the lesson. Here, the general question with the detailed answer was the most suitable. It contained both praise and constructive criticism. However, the AI is not yet at the level of feedback that a colleague could give me.