Technology @ Hebron

The students in the Functions and Applications class recently embarked on an exploration of the graphs of sine and cosine. They used the ratios that they had been studying during the unit on right triangle trigonometry to physically measure and then graph the appropriate values. Taking a hands-on approach to this topic helped students reach a better understanding of why the graphs of sine and cosine look the way they do, because they were in fact, creating them from scratch! The exploratory process was documented on the iPads and later synthesized as a stop motion video. Creating the video enabled students to step back, look at the project as a whole, define the important points, and find a creative way to share it with others through the video.

Ms. Bonis, Math Teacher

The French I students have been learning basic vocabulary to describe the world around them. During the Spring Trimester, the focus of this vocabulary acquisition is the “City” and what better lieu to use for our study than the shining queen of all cities, Paris!

Each student researched a well-known sightseeing site in Paris. Then, armed with a catalog of 3-D images of well-known buildings and aided by Mr. Crofton, the students produced a “map” of these places using shapes, textures and pre-built models in the 3D modeling tool SketchUp. The students added streets, sidewalks, buildings, plazas, fountains, trees, and even the winding Seine to their map. This was a great way to practice their vocabulary: les rues, les trottoirs, les batiments, les places, les fontaines, les arbres, et la Seine.

Hopefully, the ultimate goal of this project will be met in the near future when these students walk by the fountains of Trocadero, climb la Tour Eiffel, stroll through Musée D’Orsay, and wonder at the marvels of wonderful Paris, now knowing more about these places than they did before!

Ms. Reedy, French Teacher

This year’s Modern Storytelling class listened to episodes of a variety of podcasts, getting a feel for how stories are effectively told through this audio format. After listening to a collection of programs, we had a Skype visit from T.M. Camp, creator of the mythology podcast Find Your Gods. The students then used the skills they learned to create a single episode of their own podcast. No instructions or restrictions were given regarding the content or theme of their episodes. The results were remarkable!

Mr. Covey & Mr. Paul, Modern Storytelling Co-Teachers

Grade 7 Math students spent the past two weeks working on a survey project, with each student picking a topic of interest, creating a survey based around this topic, collecting data from the school community and then analyzing and reporting their results.

They worked through the following steps, using a range of different apps in the process:

1. Define research question (Google Docs)
2. Create survey (Google Forms)
3. Distribute survey (Gmail)
4. Data collection (Google Sheets)
5. Data manipulation (Google Sheets)
6. Data analysis (Google Sheets)
7. Report findings (Google Docs)

Creating Google Forms and working with data in a spreadsheet were brand new skills for most of the students, which we took even further by creating custom templates when designing the surveys and manipulating the data collected using calculations and formula. The students also created several different types of charts and presented their findings to their classmates.

Here are some screenshots of their surveys and photos of the students working hard on their Chromebooks and presenting their final reports:

And a selection of their finished reports are embedded below (click the square icon in the middle to view the documents full screen):

A technology integration project that was recently completed in 8th grade Art was claymation stop motion videos. This is when you turn a succession of individual still images into a movie by stitching them together and playing them at high speed. For this project the students’ ideas (brainstormed and sketched out in a storyboard) had to be based around using clay models that could be moved a tiny bit at a time, as well as their own drawing skills and any other appropriate props such as cardboard, paper, etc.

To start with we discussed the workflow for creating these ideas into a finished movie, including setting up their workspace, using a MacBook cameras and Photo Booth to take the images and how much movement should be added with each new image (the focus here was getting the students to realize how many still images they would need to take even for just a 30-second film).

Once they had completed the filming we then looked at how to get the images into iMovie, how to remove the automatic Ken Burns effect that iMovie adds and changing the clip length for each image to less than a second. They then added some basic editing effects including titles, transitions and a background music track. The final piece was then to present their finished movies to the entire Middle School during morning meeting.

The completed films can all be seen below as well as a few shots of the class filming in the art studio:

During the experimental schedule last week the Freshmen Conceptual Physics class worked through a design challenge to create unique mixed-media (and functioning) musical instruments, drawing on their knowledge of sound waves. At least one part of their instrument had to designed in Tinkercad and printed on the 3D printer, with the rest of the instrument created from materials in our maker-space.

During the 2.5 hour class we spent some time discussing the types of musical instrument, how they work and what the cross-section of the main body of different instruments actually contains. Students then had 30 minutes to prototypes their ideas, 30 minutes to create precise technical drawings of their designs (either on paper or using a sketching tool like Notability on their iPads) and the final hour was spent in the Science computer lab creating their 3D parts.

In a couple of weeks, once all the parts are printed, students will construct their instruments together, and then as a group create some kind of musical performance piece. A selection of photographs and screenshots of their work from the day can be seen below:

During the winter months of snow, rain, sunshine and sleet, the French II class escaped to the always sunny world of French fairy tales, les contes de fées. The students read Charles Perrault’s tales of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), and Les Souhaits Ridicules (The Silly Wishes).

In keeping with the fairy tale theme, each student researched and reported on a French castle of their choosing; they also wrote original fairy tales incorporating an extensive list of “fairy tale vocabulary.

The chef d’œuvre of this thematic unit was a group production of stop-action animation films of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (les garçons) and Cendrillon (les filles). The students worked together to produce vivid back drops, charming figures whose “motion” was “stopped” and all participated in narrating these stories.

The finished products are delightful!

Mrs. Reedy, French Teacher

A collaborative writing project the Freshmen recently completed last semester in their English and Humanities classes was the creation of an Ancient Greek newspaper. The students were split into groups and each was responsible for one section of the newspaper, from local news to sports and opinions – complete with professional design and a range of article content.

When crafting their section the groups had to follow these design rules:

• Use color only in pictures (can use greyscale shapes)
• Limit font use in your section (can use bold/italic)
• Maximum of four columns per page
• Need to include your section heading on first page
• Local News section needs to include the masthead (name, date, price) and index information
• Each article needs a headline, lede and byline
• All photos must have a caption
• Can use appropriate newspaper-style graphics, e.g. barcode, weather icon

All initial writing was completed and collaboratively edited in a shared Google Doc and then, after the group had decided on template design for their section, each student had to use the layout options in Pages to create section pages from their own writing. This meant that students all had to contribute content for the newspaper as well as learn hands-on design skills on the iPad.

Below are a few shots of the students working on their iPads, presenting their finished work to the class, and examples of the different page layouts:

And the finished newspaper, with all the sections stitched together to create one complete document, is published below via ISSUU (with a direct link here):

Many years ago, my husband and I read Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth before we traveled to England. That book gave us an excellent background on gothic architecture and it helped us gain a better understanding and appreciation of these man-made marvels. When I traveled to France for the first time in 1988, my visit to Chartres Cathedral was the high point of the trip.

When I began teaching French in the 1990’s, I decided to teach my students about gothic architecture so that when they one day visit France, they, too, will look knowledgeably at these miraculous skyscrapers of long ago. They will recognize the cruciform floor plan where the north-south nave is crossed by the east-west transept. They will appreciate the flying buttresses giving support to the vaulted ceiling. They will admire the pointed gothic arches surmounting the tracery of the stained glass windows, including the magnificent rose windows.

And it worked! I received this e-mail last summer from a previous student of mine:

“I am in Malta on vacation and doing sightseeing. I’ve visited three different neo-gothic cathedrals and the knowledge from our project helped alot and it was great.”

While the French III students were reading an excerpt of Les Misérables,“The Bishop’s Candlesticks”, in class, they each researched a gothic cathedral. They were required to draw and define a number of architectural terms, research the history of their own cathedral, and do an oral presentation, partially en français, to their classmates.

This year, with the help of Mr. Crofton, we added something new and exciting to the project! The students used Tinkercad and the 3D printer to make models of their cathedrals. To do this, each student had to look carefully at the cathedral – Where do the flying buttresses intersect with the roof? – Are both of the towers exactly the same? – How does the interior floor plan compare to the exterior design? By the end of the design phase, the students really knew their cathedrals. I so hope that someday these students will visit these cathedrals!

Mrs. Reedy, French Teacher