For one of our last technology classes, we got the chance to visit the School District #5 Design Lab located at Kootenay Orchards Elementary School (basement), and to say it was amazing would be an understatement! It was filled with endless resources for teachers covering absolutely every subject, unit and grade. ALSO, the technology resources that Ryan showed us and what we got to “play” with were fascinating.
Our class got the chance to have an hour to look around and experience some of the technology resources they had available – I instantly went to the laser cutting machine! I feel when I become a teacher, I will be booking in to use this, as I feel you can do so many lessons based around it. Some examples being:
- Art: they can draw out an image then have it printed onto a piece of wood and then paint it.Â
- Math: learn about shapes, proportions. They can even can make their own manipulatives to use when they are doing math as well as make their own rulers.
- Tech: make characters for stop motion videos.Â
- Literacy: they can create a character, print it then write a descriptive sentence about it.Â
The opportunities are endless!Â
LASER CUTTING MACHINE IN ACTION
Some of the Available Resources at the Design Lab:
Models:
hey had a variety of models available ranging from real digestive system (cat) model to the human brain (fake).
Equipment:
There were many types of equipment available such as drums, snowshoes, skies, adventure backpacks etc.
Technology Equipment:
Apps – Minecraft, Science journal, Scratch Jr, Flip A Clip, etc. Other – Computers, iPads, Green screen, Geocaching trackers, Drones, Coding, Robotics equipment, Robots, etc.
In Class Resources:
Variety of books (chapter books, visual, massive books, Indigenous), math kits, science kits, history kits, movies, coding kits, experiments, activity kits.
Whatever you want, they probably have it!
Examples of some resources they have:
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