ANALYST

Good evening! I'm Alicia, and as the Analyst for this task, I'm here to reflect on how we've been working as a group during these last two weeks. So without further ado, let's get started! 🥒🌸

As soon as our "journey through Task 10" began, we met on a Zoom video call so we could discuss how should the activity be presented. Honestly, I believe we ended up talking more about organization rather about the ideas about which topic should we go for, as we were aware of how time-consuming this activity would be, taking into account that we would be also creating a demo with all the artifacts children would be required to create, if these activities were taken to a real classroom. Having said that, we continued the conversation a couple of hours later on our WhatsApp group, in which we suggested some ideas, being the most voted ones photosynthesis and the Solar System, although we ended up going for the later one, as we wanted to correlate all three activities and we felt like this topic would allow us to do exactly that, due to the wide range of knowledge it encompasses. In the end, we came up with the conclusion that it would be for the best that we formed mini-groups, formed by the same specialists that worked on the last time, during UDCMM. By doing this, we could expand our horizons by learning new ways and tools beyond the ones we used back then, which I believe to be truly enriching.

Nonetheless, we always made sure we were keeping everyone informed whenever we made some progress with our own group, as the purpose of this task is also that everyone learns to do each one of them. Therefore, communication was a key part of this activity, although, in truth, it always is, especially in these situations in which we cannot physically meet, so it is important to check that everyone knows what is going on, by updating them with our process. I feel like this is heavily related to the hidden curriculum, actually because as future teachers, we must learn to cooperate with others and work together, taking into consideration others' points of view and opinions, while also reinforcing ours. For instance, during our "Tutoring Action" classes, we have learned how essential it is for students to learn to be a person, to learn to live together and to think.

Focusing on the second one, we learned how schools are not just a mere socialization agent, as it is through the interaction among individuals within the school that knowledge about how to live together is acquired, like direct experience, observation, verbal aspects such as instructions given, and personal feedback are essential. I am making this connection here because it is always important to take this into account, and I am positive we have managed to do so in the activities we have designed. Moreover, and this is something that I would like to highlight, we have also lived this during these past weeks in our Resources and ICT lessons. For instance, using this task as an example, we have interacted with the activities by designing them and actually performing them through the demos; we have witnessed how they work and back at UDCMM we could see what we were asked to do, so we have had that influence our teacher provided us with; we have received verbal instructions from her; and finally, as this task will be added to our final portfolio, today we had a lesson with her in which she went through all the groups, giving us the necessary feedback in order to improve our designs.

Sadly, I feel like, despite the considerable amount of time we have already spent working together, we have not managed to find ourselves in the perfect working environment, which has certainly been the worst part of the activity. Of course, on the one hand, I am well aware that this is such a complex thing to do, but on the other hand, I had low-key been hoping for some improvements to happen, in this sense. Anyway, it is completely understandable, as everyone has their own personality, temperament, schedules, and priorities, among all the different traits that affect how an individual will react in these situations. Overall, as far as I am concerned some members have gone through an amazing enrichment journey that is clearly noticeable, and I would like to include myself among them, but at the same time, it is true that everyone shines in their own way, just as stars, so it is inevitable that everyone's shine will be displayed in one way or another, especially when it comes to different roles or task that need to be accomplished. Nonetheless, on a quick and more personal note, it has certainly been a pleasure to be part of this group.

Fulfilling this task has been proven to be quite an entertaining experience, and I would even say that it is been greatly enjoyable. Thus, the best part of it has probably been working on developing the activities themselves, due to the freedom we have had in terms of letting our creativity flow. I think that is truly what we needed right now, to "disconnect" even though we are still being engaged in a project. This can also be taken to other dimensions of this context, such as the exams videos, for instance, which provide us with the urge to learn how to sum all the relevant information we have discussed throughout the specific subject of course, but they are also a guarantee of freedom, in the sense of being as creative as we want, trying to relate concepts in other to acquire a deeper knowledge and all in all, going beyond the classroom itself, which serves as one of the different relationships within the classroom. Nevertheless, it is true that I feel like this freedom can also make us fall, which is fine of course, as "freedom is not worthy unless it comes with the possibility of making mistakes," as Mahatma Gandhi once said. Thus, we can learn from our errors and fix them up, improving as individuals.

On a quick note, I would like to add a clarification. In order to be as objective and fair as I could with the marks for this task, I felt like the best idea to evaluate everyone would be by asking them individually and through a private message what did everyone else who belonged to their mini-group do, as just as I have explained before, we have been divided this task in smaller groups when it came to working on their design. With the replies, I have contrasted the opinions and I have written the correspondent reviews on the analyst's rubric.

All in all, these tasks and the whole course, actually, has been of great help for our development as teachers. I am aware that this might be my last time writing something here unless we decide to create a farewell entry at some point... But for the time being, I feel like this is it. Thank you so much for reading us until now, we will be grateful forever.

☆ Please, take care, and have a lovely week. See you again at some point, perhaps! ☆

HISTORIAN

Hello, it's Martha here, welcome to our blog! We, the pickles, are happy to have you here to read our blog. I am going to give you an overview of what happened this week for our last project.

https://www.space.com/when-did-the-universe-wake-up.html

We agreed on one topic, which was the universe and planned three activities using Augmented Reality, stop motion and robots. Similar to the project we did with the students that came over to our faculty before the pandemic started. Sadly we cannot do these activities with students this semester, but once we are teachers we might use them in class! :)

We thought we could be the most effective if we divide into 3 groups, one for each activity. I asked members of each group to give me a summary on how they planned and communicated.

https://es.123rf.com/photo_111923710_stock-vector-group-of-pupils-vector-school-discussing-brainstorming-talking-communication-mix-race-chat-bubbles-f.html

I'll be starting with the Augemented Reality:

The AR group focussed on the solar system. First of all, they looked at the official standards of primary education and agreed on focussing on 5th grade. They looked at different tools and choose the app "The amazing space journey".

Also, they made a videos to visualize the project and make it more approachable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWxFalQNNSM

Then they started planning the activity and divided it into 5 sections which are:

1. Augmenting my system
2. Getting to know my system and seasons
3. The hidden face of the moon
4. Our solar system book
5. My own solar system

Alicia did an amazing job in explaining what exactly the students to in which step, so you should go and check it out!

Now I'm going to talk about the robot group. Carlos gave me a summary of how they proceeded:

They started off with a brainstorming call on Monday to organize the activities, deciding on a topic and the tools they wanted to use. They chose the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 module for their activity, because they wanted to make them revolve the idea of creating a moon boogey. In the call they decided that everyone should do some research finish the planning and organization of the activity. On Tuesday they posted everything on the blog, including the demo.

They also looked at the official standards of primary education for this subject.

First of all they will be giving a scientific introduction to the activity, so the students get a rough idea what they will be working on.

Then they will continue with the following steps for the activity they planned:

1. Designing our own moon rover

2. Building time!

3. Fueling the motor for takeoff

Carlos also did a really good job in explaining how exactly each step works, so go find it on our blog! :)



Finally I will give a summary of what the group I was in, the Stop Motion group did. First of all, we made a WhatsApp group to talk about what to do and Alex and Ben had the idea to explain the different phases of the moon using stop motion.

 To do this we would be using different objects made by children and their parents. Same as in the other two groups, we would start off with giving an introduction to the topic so the kids know what the activity generally is about. Afterwards, we would start with the production of the objects the kids make. There would be different roles: directors, producers, camera men, sound technicians, scriptwriters and decorators. When the whole project is finished, the class can perform the play they created infront of the parents.

We devided the work into two parts: Celia and I did the theoretical part, which means we wrote down the topic, the main goal, the age/course, a diagram of the sequence and the duration / hours per week.
Ben and Alex created the stop motion video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQbh6kr7LCs&t=36s

Thanks so much for reading my post! See you! :)

FACILITATOR TASK 10

 Hi everyone, this is Marta and this week I am the facilitator.

This week I have to say many things. These last two weeks we have dedicated them to carry out task 10. This has meant a greater organization, a greater commitment and responsibility since this task had to be in the portfolio if we could not leave it abandoned.

In addition, this task is the last of the subject, with which we almost dismissed the resource and ict subject with which we have spent a whole four-month period.

This week carrying out the responsibility of organizing and distributing tasks as well as keeping up to date with updates on social networks has been exciting for me and I have carried it with a bit of regret as we said goodbye to the roles, which have accompanied us during four months.

In addition, these weeks have been somewhat special since we have been burdened by the bombardment of tasks and final portfolios of other subjects, which together with these, we have sometimes felt that we could not finish everything. But I think my team has known how to get ahead of the situation and carry out a task that, although it remains to be perfected, we have taken on time and have presented our colleagues and teacher before, which has given us feedback with which we sincerely are very agree.


Now we are ready to change the details and aspects that the teacher has told us to improve and to start full with the final portfolio, with all our energy to close this subject with a flourish and thus not be able to regret the '' we could have done more '' if we cannot say: we have given the maximum.

A tour through the dark side of the Moon - Robots

Good afternoon readers of PickleRICT's blog! I'm Carlos, bringing the lastest news on this feed! So, back in March we had the opportunity to be working with real students in UDCMM (Un Día en el Cole de Mi Maestro), a wonderful experience project organised by our teacher of Resources and ICT, Linda Castañeda Quintero. But, due to this odd situation, we had to stop this activities right in the middle of them. That is why right now we have to plan new activites for our come back! In this case we will explain how robotics will be used in our example. So, let's begin! 🥒✨

 Our focus on this activity is to explore our universe, how to recognise all the different planets and astral bodies, and to encourage students to be fascinated with the cosmos. So first of all we have to establish the environment we are going to be working on, setting the necessary standards, in our case for a 5th Primary grade class:

SCIENCE:

Part 1: Introduction to the scientific activity.

Evaluation criteria: 

• 2. Establecer conjeturas tanto respecto de sucesos que ocurren de una forma natural como sobre los que ocurren cuando se provocan, a través de un experimento o una experiencia.
• 4. Trabajar de forma cooperativa, apreciando el cuidado por la seguridad propia y de sus compañeros, cuidando las herramientas y haciendo uso adecuado de los materiales.

Learning standards:

2.1 Manifiesta autonomía en la planificación y ejecución de acciones y tareas y tiene iniciativa en

la toma de decisiones.

4.5 Conoce y respeta las normas de uso y de seguridad de los instrumentos y de los materiales

de trabajo.

Part 5: Technology, objects and machines.

Evaluation criteria: 4. Realizar experiencias sencillas y pequeñas investigaciones sobre diferentes fenómenos físicos de la materia: planteando problemas, enunciando hipótesis, seleccionando el material necesario, montando, realizando, extrayendo conclusiones, comunicando resultados, aplicando conocimientos básicos de las leyes básicas que rigen estos fenómenos, como la reflexión de la luz, la transmisión de la corriente eléctrica. 

Learning standards: 

4.3. Conoce y aplica estrategias de acceso y trabajo en Internet.

4.4. Utiliza algunos recursos a su alcance proporcionados por las tecnologías de la información para comunicarse y colaborar.

 

SOCIAL SCIENCES:

Part 2: The world we live in.

Contents: El Universo. Sistema Solar: el Sol. Los Planetas.

Evaluation criteria:  

• 2. Describir las características principales del Sistema solar identificando diferentes tipos de astros y sus características.
• 3. Localizar el planeta Tierra y la Luna en el Sistema Solar explicando sus características, movimientos y consecuencias. 
  

Learning standards: 

3.2. Identifica las fases lunares.

Well, our first duty was to choose a robot to work with. Because we want to do activities that will focused on the construction and programming of a car, we have choose LEGO Mindstorms EV3, but we wanted to share our other options. Also we had already worked with Codey Rocky in UDCMM, but we wanted to take this chance and explore different tools. So we gather some information about robots that can be used in our activities, and this are our best choices:

1. Zowi: Like Codey Rocky, this robot is focused for children to start programming and getting interested on coding a robot. It has its own app on the App Store, that can help them code faster and more instantly, because Zowi connects via Bluetooth. Also can be dismantled to customize it as much as possible! A good charasterisic about Zowi is it price, being cheaper than other robots on the market, costing 79€, more affordable with a bunch of cool features.

2. RaspBerry Pi: Being a small, programmable computer can help us in a more personal and specific way, with a little research we can be able to do a lot of things. From making an arcade machine, to creating a proper robot; anything is possible! In our case we would be looking for a RC car set, that costs around 100€. If you click on the name tag, you'll be redirected to a demonstration of power of the Raspberry Pi. 

 

3. LEGO EVO (Mindstorms EV3): LEGO, famous and worldwide-known toy company, wanted to advance on how we play with their toys some years ago. From that idea Lego EVO was born, a programmable module that can be hook up with our computer to be coded. The company also created a great amount of peripherals, like motors, wires, repeaters; in order to let children's imagination flow as possible. It has had a lot of revision through the years, but the prices for this has never went down. They are pretty expensive, but it's worth each penny; it can costs from 150€ to 400€.

As we had previously said, we will be working with LEGO Mindstorms EV3, a versatile tool in order to achieve our ideal project of activities. But, what are we going to be working to? Now, we are going to be immersed in our activities, through a journey to the dark side of the Moon. 🌚🚀

☆。*。☆。ACTIVITIES;PLANNING  ☆。*。☆。

• Topic: "A tour through the dark side of the Moon" (Moon's phases and learning how machines are designed, assembled and programmed).
• Age/Course: 5th grade of Primary Education.

1. Designing our own "moon rover".

• Main goal:
• To know the creative process behind machines (in this case cars) and what to consider important in their design.

• Tools:
•  A digital board for displaying a video of a moon rover in action and the blueprints of a real moon ro.
• Paper, color pencils, markers; for the creative proccess.

 

 

Moon rover's video (both URL and QR code): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az9nFrnCK60

• Duration: 
• Variable; it depends on how much time we spend explaining the activity to the students, the creative proccess should consist of 40 mins approximately.

•  Steps:
•  Make group of four students. After watching the video and having for reference an actual blueprint of a moon rover, they will start debating which features are more important to count on when they will assemble their vehicle. They can draw and share their designs with their peers, trying to get creative and useful results in same amounts. Those ideas will be concieved or scrapped in the construction part.

 

 

2. Building time!

• Main goal:
• Learn how machines have to be built in order to work properly, relying on their common sense and trial and error.

• Tools:
• LEGO pieces for building the moon rover: tires, motors, servoconnectors, etc.
• Their own blueprints and sketches from the previous activity.
• The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 module. 
• Video made by the teacher to help students assemble their vehicle.

• Duration:
• 60 minutes (one session); if it is necessary, it can be extended for another session.
  

• Steps:
• Each group will have a set of LEGO pieces and module for programming. They will start building the moon rover with the help of their manuscripts and drawings. As help for the students, the teacher should have experimented with this tools before, in this case they can add a video about how they assembled their own boogey. At the end of the session, the vehicles should be ready to be programmed.

 

3. Fueling the motor for takeoff.

•  Main goal:
• Learn the basics of programming; how variables interact between each other, adding or subtracting values changes the outcome, how to troubleshoot with malfunctioning parts... 

• Tools:
• A computer with LEGO MINDSTORMS EDUCATION EV3 program installed.
• Each lunar vehicle ready to be programmed. 
• A mobile device with LEGO COMMANDER app installed. 

 

 LEGO MINDSTORMS EDUCATION EV3 program page

 

 

 

  LEGO MINDSTORMS COMMANDER app

• Duration:
• 120 minutes (spaced out in two different sessions). 

•  Steps:
•  Students will begin to play with the coding program while their teacher is explain how the variables work, how to send numerical values through Bluetooth and how they can interact with different parts of the vehicle. 

 

 

 LEGO MINDSTORMS CODE DOWNLOAD

 

•  This is an easy program to make a vehicle, entirely created around giving numerical values, comparing and acting in response. When our students have this program done, they will need to connect their module to the computer and install the program onit by click on the box on the right down of the screen. There they can select their module and it will be done for the computer part. Here you can download it for your convenience: click here!

 

• Now on the mobile app, we should go to the custom robot option. Don't forget that Bluetooth has to be activated!

• We will be greated with a screen in which we have to click on the lower right side of it, in the sign of the wrench. It will start search any LEGO Mindstorms module to connect, so it is have to be on! If everything has gone successfully, it will be connected and waiting orders.

• In those cells we can choose which type of controller we want to use: vertical and horizontal sliders, buttons, tilt switches, contact and infrared sensors... We are going to choose the joystick.

• In this screen we need to choose which motors are we going to be sending the numerical values through Bluetooth, and in which directions.

• And if everything is done correctly to this point, we would be able to control our own moon rover!

 Here is a diagram of the sequence of the whole activity:

 And this has been our organisation of the robots part of the activity, hope you like it! As always, keep yourelf save and see you next time. Pickles out!
🥒✨🥒✨

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

TRANSLATOR

Hello everyone! I'm Molly and this week I'll be the translator. I will explain 5 key terms that summarize the way that we put our different tasks together.

Solar System: One thing that we wanted to do was make sure that each lesson followed a certain theme. We thought that the solar system would be the best for this idea. There are so many paths that we can take with this theme.

Cooperation: One thing that each group's task focuses on is a cooperation between the students. They all have to work together in order to complete the lesson. This also supports the importance of project-based learning! We believe that the students will learn the most through this method and the activities that we have created.

Accessibility: One thing that we've focused on throughout the semester is the accessibility of technology and the democratization of knowledge through technology. This week we needed to make sure that we found materials that almost any school could use, whether that be a free app or an inexpensive but durable robot. 

Experimental: Because the activity of this week is to present 3 similar activities to the ones from UDCMM, we need to be creative willing to take risks. They could not be the same as the previous ones, and we wanted them to stand out. Every subgroup worked together in order to create fresh ideas that stayed within the theme and premise of the assignment.

Evolution: As this is our last task, we have a chance to reflect on how far we've come as a group. We've matured together and were able to come up with three engaging activities. We started off as a slightly random group of people (some people knew each other, some people didn't, and two international students). Throughout the semester we've gotten to know each other quite well and we've had fun completing all of the tasks! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post!

Curator task 10

Hi! I'm Celia and this week, I'm the curator.

The information we have used for task 10 has been taken from the following webpages:

Castañeda, L. (2020). Task 10. Recuperado de https://aulavirtual.um.es/access/content/group/5438_G_2019_N_N/Bilingual%20Group/GlobalP3Youractivities.pdf

QR codey generator. (2020). Recuperado de https://www.qr-code-generator.com

Velasco, M. (2020, abril 20). 17 aplicaciones de Realidad Aumentada. Recuperado de https://twitter.com/Manu___Velasco/status/1252224756901916678

Star Walk. (2018). Recuperado de http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html#sthash.5afGvA48.dpuf

Amazing Space Journal. (2012). Recuperado de https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ro.digitalexpression.AmazingSpaceJourney&hl=es

Sky ORB. (2020). Recuperado de https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.realtechvr.skyorb&hl=es

Zap works. (2020). Recuperado de https://zap.works/


Finally, I'm going to show you our conceptual map:

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM - Augmented Reality

Good evening! I'm Alicia, and today I'm here on behalf of all the Pickles to talk about how we are organizing our UDCMM learning games, although I'll just be focusing on the Augmented Reality activity, as otherwise, this entry would be quite extensive and anyway we've decided that each one of the three games will have some specific presenters.

We've decided to create a big activity that could be portrayed in a classroom of students of the fifth grade of Primary Education. Throughout this activity, students would be able to acquire a large set of values as well as the content-related knowledge that is established within the curriculum of this course. Once the main activity has been presented, it will be possible to use it in several subjects so it becomes the main theme during the week, so actually, it'd be perfect if all subjects were involved at some point. Thus, this huge, main activity will be divided into three smaller ones, presented trough storytelling, robots, and augmented reality. We strongly believe that this would motivate students and get them engaged in all the tasks, as not only will it portray these concepts in a whole new game, but they will also have a direct, active interaction, and as it would only last a week, it'd still be perceived as something new and exciting. So keeping that into account, let's begin! 🥒🌟

The idea behind the Augmented Reality task was to make students understand what the solar system consists of, as well as giving them the right to understand a small part of what is truly out there. In order to do so, we clarified that it'd be essential for students to be aware of what context is surrounding the story's story, so they can focus on the one that is surrounding them as well, this leading to the accomplishment of the following learning standards:

SOCIAL SCIENCE:

Part 2: The world we live in

Contents: El Universo. Sistema Solar: el Sol. Los Planetas.

Evaluation criteria:
2. Describir las características principales del Sistema solar identificando diferentes tipos de astros y sus características.
3. Localizar el planeta Tierra y la Luna en el Sistema Solar explicando sus características, movimientos y consecuencias.

Learning standards:

2.1. Describe las características, componentes y movimientos del Sistema Solar.

2.2. Localiza el Sol en el centro del Sistema Solar y los planetas según su proximidad.

3.1. Define la traslación de la Luna.

3.2. Identifica las fases lunares. 

First of all, we looked around for different tools that could be used in order to design an activity that allowed us to implement all these criteria into a single activity. This was a bit tricky, as at first, I felt like it was going to be a complex task, being oblivious to the wide range of platforms and apps that have already been created with the sole purpose of fulfilling goals that are similar to ours.

My first idea was to simply search "AR tools" on the net, hoping to come across the perfect tool that would build our paths towards the perfect activity... But it wasn't such an easy task, so I searched "Augmented Reality tools in education" instead, aiming to lower the number of results and avoid those that weren't that useful. I found a webpage that had lots of different tools and apps listed down (click here), but I remembered that our Resources and ICT teacher, Linda Castañeda, has told us not long ago that she had found a tweet in which another user, Manu Velasco, had created a list with different AR tools that could be useful for us, so I decided to stalk her Twitter account for a bit hoping to see that wonderful list, even though we had already checked it as soon as she retweeted it. Please, if you're interested in learning more about more possibilities regarding AR, take a look at his list! You can easily access it by clicking here.

I found a bunch of interesting tools that I'd love to highlight today, needless to say, all of them are focused around the solar system or allow the user to create an activity related to it:

1. Star Walk: in order to use this tool, the only thing the user needs is either a smartphone or a computer, as well as the program, of course. The individual just needs to hold their device up and point it towards the sky. This mere action will display all the different stars, planets, and constellations that are there, along with their names. As this device works with the device's GPS it doesn't matter whether the sky is completely clear or not, as it'll work nonetheless. However, the counterpart of this program is that it isn't free, and even though it wouldn't matter if we installed the app on our smartphones or class' computer as teachers, it would be better if each student could have it on their own device. Nevertheless, it's quite cheap (2'49€), so it'd still be interesting to use it at some point.

2. Amazing Space Journey: this app is created for smartphones and it allows the user to see from a third perspective how the Solar System looks, allowing them to jump from one planet to another and turn the models, zooming in and out. One of its issues is that the developers haven't updated it to the last Android version, so it could be kind of laggy. Nonetheless, I tried it on my own smartphone and it seemed to work perfectly fine.

This is a video I filmed while I was playing around with it a bit. As you can see, there's also an "information button" that allows the user to learn more about the planet they're focusing on, such as its radius, rotation period, orbital period, and its distance from the Sun.

3. SkyORB: sharing similarities with the previous one, SkyORB is an app that allows the user to look at the Solar System from another perspective as if they were floating on the space. The individual can choose the planet they want and learn a lot of important information about them. They can also receive updates about the current location and status of the different planets and constellations. However, when trying this app, it seemed to work slower than the previous one, so keeping in mind that they'd be used for the same purpose we'd recommend using the previous one. In addition, the free version of the app has many adverts that make it difficult to enjoy the experience. Here's the app's promotional video:

4. ZapWorks: overall, it's an amazing tool for creators who seek to implement their own unique touch to their creations and as educators, it's definitely great to work with children. However, it's quite an expensive tool, as the cheapest upgrade costs 350$ per year, allowing two educators and up to 15 students to join. If the user decided to increase this amount, then the expenses would go up: an extra educator would be 200$ more, while another student would be another 5$. We could try the trial version of this program, which lasts up to 30 days.

Now I'd like to show you some screenshots I took while I was getting familiar with how the program works:

1). As you can see, the home screen works as a  DIY workbench in which you can choose your projects and start one from scratch.

2). The first option would be the way to go, as it allows the user to create their own resources, modeling them by using ZapWorks Studio... which at the same time, is an extremely complex software to work with. Being absolutely newbies on this platform, I chose the third option.

3). I immediately looked for images with a creative commons license that we could use, and I began adding them to our soon to be a project (or at least, that's what I hoped it to become at some point). I installed an app called "Zappar", which is required for these projects to work and I tested it with the first and only image I had added so far:

This made me realize that if we were to apply this with real students, it would be extremely hard for this to work, as they would have more fun working with 3D models rather than 2D images that apparently come to life. So we ended up discarding this idea. However, if the teacher happened to be knowledgeable about modeling and designing, then this would certainly be an amazing tool. Here's a video tutorial in which it is explained how ZapWorks studio can be used to create a Solar System:

Now moving onto the actual activity, we've decided to choose "Amazing Space Journey" as the app that will allow us to work these contents with students, along with other activities that aren't that much AR-focused:

~ ACTIVITIES; PLANNING ~

• Topic: The Solar System.
• Age/ Course: 5th grade of Primary Education.

1. Augmenting my system.

• Main goal:
• To become familiar with the planets and their characteristics.
• Tools:
• Working devices, such as a smartphone or a tablet provided by the center.
• The app "Amazing Space Journey".

• Duration:
• 60 minutes (one lesson).
• Steps:
• Students will work in pairs and they will share a device that would have the app installed. Afterward, they will observe the different celestial bodies and identify the characteristics of each one of them: shape, color, whether they have rings or not, their distance from the Sun, satellites, etc.

2. Getting to know my system and seasons.

• Main goal:
• To distinguish the different movements that the Earth does and the effects they have.
• Tools:
• A working device and the app "Amazing Space Journey".
• The video that is proposed by the teacher (this one).

• Duration:
• 60 minutes (one lesson).
• Steps:
• Students will identify and name the movement they are witnessing. Then, they will look for information regarding the movement that Earth does around the Sun (translation) and they will have to associate it with the existence of the seasons.
• A video about the seasons as a consequence of the translation movement and about the movement the Earth does when turning around its own, tilted axis (rotation) will be projected on a screen in the classroom. This will clarify any doubts regarding how seasons, days, and nights take place, as it can be difficult to understand at first.
• Students will be asked to observe the moon that night.

3. The hidden face of the moon.

• Main goal:
• To understand the Moon phases.
• Tools:
• A piece of paper.
• Drawing materials.
• Duration:
• 60 minutes (one lesson).
• Steps:
• Having observed the Moon the previous night, they will be asked to draw it and comment on how it looked and if it always looks the same, or if it changes. Which variations have they noticed? Why? They will draw the three remaining stages of the moon. They will also be asked to build a "moon box": In the middle of the box, they will put a small, ping-pong ball, whereas a light bulb will be located in one of the sides of the box, pointing at the ball. In each one of the corners, a tiny opening will be made and students will look at the ball from there and according to the side of the ball that is being highlighted, they will identify one moon phase or another.

• Referring to the storytelling activity, they will reason about what does the protagonist think of the side of the moon that we never see. Were they afraid of it? At home, they will need to research the true reason for this event, as well as why at some points in both hemispheres the days and the nights, last way longer than what we are supposed used to, up to several months, and why the seasons do not happen at the same time in both hemispheres.

4. Our Solar System book.

• Main goal:
• To foster cooperative learning, critical thinking, and to learn more about different planets, satellites, or stars.
• Tools:
• Either the "Amazing Space Journey" app or an image of the Solar System.
• A piece of paper or a notebook.
• Their school book or/and a device with an internet connection so they can look for information.
• Duration:
• 60 minutes (one lesson).
• Steps:
• Students will identify the different celestial bodies in order to create a glossary with the most convenient definitions. They will share it with another pair of students and the four of them will create a chart together. (10-15 minutes).
• "Creation of a collective book." Each student will bring information about a specific planet, satellite or star; it could be either a picture or a drawing. This will encourage them to work both their creativity and critical thinking skills, as they will be original and decide which are the most important elements that shall be included. Furthermore, students will get familiar with "PlugXR", an Augmented Reality program that will allow them to see the information once they create the picture by pointing the camera towards it, seeing all the information on the screen. 

5. My own Solar System.

• This will be the last part of the activity. Students will create a model of the Solar System and present it in class once the deadline arrives.

Diagram of the sequence of the activity:

And that would be it for the Augmented Reality part of our activity!
Here's a video that contains both our Solar System model and our Moon box:

~ As always, thank you so much for your time! We sincerely hope you have a lovely day! ~

ANALYST

🥒 Hello our dearest viewers from all around the globe! This is Carlos from PickleRICT bringing you my weekly post, this time I had the analyst role and I wrote down everything I've observed so far. So let's get into it! 🥒

Firstly, this project has been split between two weeks, and we've been working on everything we could. We were assigned to do an infogram taking into account different aspects about how teaching should be approached and improved in our digital area. This was on Tuesday 28th, and we had to present it on the next Tuesday. So everyone read the text and we came with the main idea of the infogram. As usual of this group, we tend to try to think outside of the box when we're talking about designing a poster or a graph, always trying to make it attractive to the viewer and complete with its contents; so we thought about those tests that came on magazines that had a bunch of questions. And we started working on it! This has to be the best part of the activity!

But there was some complications throughout the way that delayed the final infogram to be made: some teammates had other classes when we tried to join in a call, different schedules made getting all the questions a bit complicated, the fact that Alex did the design of the infogram on her tablet and at some point there were some questions that were similar, things like this were some highlights about the worst parts of the activity. But neither can outstand when we had to change the infogram in order to include more content from the text, because the previous version was lacking a lot of the original thought. That sums up the worst part of the activity.

 Also we enjoyed been with each other meanwhile we worked individually; we calmed down each other by working together and the calls were also a place for having fun! And also we have to take care about trying to hear any point of view that speaks on these calls, being critical on our ideas and learning from others and comparing them to our peers, maybe a marvelous idea awaits someone to hear it.

And we cannot forget what we've learnt this weeks. Being able to keep up teaching in this situation can be somewhat unerving and lackluster, but we learnt that there are some tools that can help us to be state of the art with digital competences. We have to consider a lot of factors that can improve our use of the ICTs, but also our teaching: knowing how to adapt to society, making digital environmets safe and learning-focused, linking ICTs with our knowledge of contents, being able to communicate with their peers to aid them and make an equal environment... This is a crystal clear window to our idilic future, in which all teachers are capable of using the ICTs in a responsible manner, trying to make their students learn throught enjoyment. We have to be able to control these tools and, most importantly, make an analysis of ourselves. How do I teach?; How can I improve this?; How do I include this ICT on this class?; can be some examples of what we really need to know and do to improve as educators of young minds. 

And that's pretty much what we have this time. We are very near of our last sprint to finish the courses of this rather bizarre semester, but we are PickleRICT. We can cope with anything! I hope you've enjoyed this post and see you next time, this has been Carlos, signing off! 🥒