I would like to provide my students with opportunities in cutting- edge educational learning activities that would prepare them for the 21st century jobs that will be in their future. This project will provide my students opportunities to develop skills in coding, and my students need to learn how to work on a team. They will develop skills to effectively collaborate and communicate to reach a common goal. This is a life skill that is difficult to teach, but can be accomplished by providing hands on interesting projects.

< Back to Search Grants

 

Learning Real World Skills Through STEAM & the 3C’s: Cooperation, Communication & Critical Thinking

School:
Manatee Elementary 
Subject:
Stem 
Teacher:
Jennifer Hardy 
Students Impacted:
330 
Grade:
K-5 
Date:
July 27, 2018

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

 

Arthur Szu-tu - $524.95

Share

Please share this page to help in fulfilling this grant.

Facebook Twitter email

 

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 220

 The students in my classroom were able to develop video games while working in teams of 3.  The students developed an idea for a video game along the theme of animal food chains.  The students integrated key vocabulary into their games such as herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator and prey.  These vocabulary words were placed within the game as informational blocks for other students to read as they interacted with each other’s games. 

 

Perhaps the most important skill the students worked on developing utilizing the Bloxels was communication with in the team.  Each person developed a “block” of the game; the blocks had to fit together so that the game looked cohesive, the required the individuals to discuss the content of their block.  Students had to have start points and end points that linked with the next persons. Students were learning not to place blame when their developing video game did not work well, instead the students learned to talk about how to fix it utilizing their critical thinking skills.   Communication and critical thinking skills are difficult to teach utilizing books, the Bloxel kits allowed students to work on a project and as a team solve real coding problems.

 

It was amazing to have students come to my room before school started to work on their game, they lined up at my door.  They would come to school early so they had enough time to develop additional blocks of their game.   It was great to see the level of engagement the students had while utilizing Bloxels. 

grant photo

Students planning their video game using a grid pa

grant photo

Students hard at work planning their game utilizin

 

grant photo

Students placing the color blocks on the building

grant photo

Team work makes the building easy.

 

grant photo

Look at those busy engaged students! Success was

grant photo

Now it is time to test out our video game!

 

Original Grant Overview

Goal

I would like to provide my students with opportunities in cutting- edge educational learning activities that would prepare them for the 21st century jobs that will be in their future. This project will provide my students opportunities to develop skills in coding, and my students need to learn how to work on a team. They will develop skills to effectively collaborate and communicate to reach a common goal. This is a life skill that is difficult to teach, but can be accomplished by providing hands on interesting projects. 

 

What will be done with my students

Bloxel Builders allows the students freedom in creating their own digital story which can be fictional or factual or possibly take the form of a science lesson. This gaming technology will allow the students to grow in the area of cooperation, communication and critical thinking which are key 21st Century skills.
My Bloxels project will be introduced to my fourth grade classrooms during their weekly technology classes. As the school year progresses, it will be introduced to the third grade and fifth grade students; in all reaching a total of 330 students the first year. The project will integrate literacy, science, social students, research skills and technology.
The students will initially research a topic such as hurricane preparedness, which is a realistic topic since we live in Southwest Florida, or another topic that interests the team. The team will write a thematic story to base their video game on. The video game will be developed using Bloxels. The students will need to create characters, scenes, and goals for their game. The students will need to collaborate, communicate effectively and come to a common team goal. The development of critical thinking skills will occur when students encounter coding problems in their game. All of the previously mentioned skills are vital in today’s workplace.
As an instructor I would like to be able to monitor my student’s creations, by purchasing the Bloxel Builders directly from Bloxels EDU I will be able to create student team accounts and monitor their progress.  

 

Benefits to my students

Students will will be integrating core subject content into the video games their teams are developing and sharing with each other, what a fun way to learn content. This project will enable the students to develop their communication and cooperation skills when working in a team environment as well as critical thinking skills. All of these skills are difficult to teach unless students are provided interesting independent team projects. Of course, students will be introduced to coding and improving their coding skills. 

 

Budget Narrative

The Bloxels EDU Classroom 10-Pack contains 10 Gameboards and 4,000 Blocks. Gameboards and Blocks are stored in individual trays that make it convenient to use in classrooms, libraries, and makerspaces.
The Educator Handbook helps you get going on the first day with step-by-step instructions, standards-based activities, and answers to questions your students may ask. Bloxels EDU Student Workbooks provide brainstorming techniques, story boards, and planning guides to help jump start students creativity.

Included is one year FREE access to the Bloxels EDU App and Hub for an educator and up to 50 Student Accounts. With the Bloxels EDU App, students can create stories by instantly turning their physical creations into a digital video game. Using the Class Library, students can collaborate by sharing their creations privately with their class, in the Hub, educators can follow, send feedback, and award student work as they create in the App. Using the Hub, educators can create classes, view and download Class Activities, learn from Bloxels EDU Ambassadors, and get first-in-line support for any question they might have. 

 

Items

# Item Cost
1 Bloxel Classroom 10 pack $500.00
2 Bloxel EDU Handbook $24.95
  Total: $524.95

Share

Please share this page to help in fulfilling this grant.

Facebook Twitter email

 

Special Thanks to Our Presenting Partners

Suncoast Credit Union