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Problem Based Learning

Featured Resource: Puzzle Hunts

Post Author: Celia Powell, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader

Teachers have embraced the breakout boxes both physical and digital in recent years to help students solve problems, think critically, and develop engagement in the classroom. Alex Rosenthal and his colleagues have taken the principles of a breakout box several steps further in their annual puzzle solves. Check it out for long-term projects and challenges for students.

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Spotlight: Digital Breakouts at Calvin Smith Elementary

Third Grade Students in Kimberly Cretsinger’s classroom at Calvin Smith Elementary worked collaboratively to solve clues in the Digital Breakout challenge they were given. Digital Breakouts are a newer component of the already well known Breakout EDU web site. Instead of physically unlocking boxes by finding and solving clues, students unlock digital levels of a breakout mystery. Questions contain a variety of content aligned challenges. The storyline for this Digital Breakout explained that students had accidentally been locked into their classroom and would miss the bus if they didn’t solve all the clues to Breakout.
Students worked in groups using their classroom Chromebooks to solve the mystery. Watch the short video above to see these 3rd Grade Problem Solvers hard at work Breaking Out!

Spotlight created by Teresa Bruin, District Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader. This post originally appeared in our January 2018 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers.

Teacher Spotlight: Katie Ricks, Driggs Elementary

Hour of Code with Katie Ricks’s 3rd Grade Students

Katie Ricks, a 3rd grade teacher at Howard R, Driggs Elementary School, is one of many teachers participating in the Hour of Code throughout Granite School District. Most of the 3rd graders at her school have the opportunity to program while using Chromebooks. Programs such as Code.org, Tynker, and Khan Academy are some of the sites where Ms. Ricks’ students learn how to drag and drop programming commands. She says that the students are really excited about Hour of Code, and that she sees it as having great benefit for increasing problem-solving skills as well as an overall learning of basic programming.

Spotlight Author: Kristen Johnson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist

FIRST LEGO League in Granite School District

Granite School District’s Ed. Tech. department sponsors 30 FIRST LEGO League teams. In the FIRST LEGO League program children learn about coding, programming, and problem solving to prepare their robot for the robot games and to solve a real life issue or challenge.  In the course of creating a solution to this real-world issue and designing a robot, they also learn and apply the social skills of teamwork, collaboration, respect, and persistence.  Educational Technology is proud of our devoted coaches and our super awesome FIRST LEGO League kids.  This video shows the team from Stansbury Elementary hard at work with their teacher/coach, Karen Tinsley.  We would also like to invite you to drop into our Robot Games and Regional Qualifying event, January 17th, at Granger High School. Come see all the fun (and learning!)

Spotlight Author: Cherie Anderson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist