This series of posts is all about my magical, mystery tour of Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington state, USA. You can follow the feed of what happens over the next week by using the official #msftpil or the unofficial #chickengates.
I have been extremely fortunate to be selected to attend Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Institute where 50 top educators from all over the world will attend a weeks training with Microsoft and have the opportunity to share good practice and develop future collaborative projects.
This is the 10th post of the conference and is about what I have been working on today creating a Learning Activity project in collaboration with another teacher. My LAP (Learning Activity Partner) is Vince who teaches 3180 miles away just outside of New York in Mineola Middle School. He teachers Science and Maths and we have just set up a project today called Reach for the stars
Here is a brief extract from our project outline:
“Students will learn about the forces experienced through the phases of a rocket launch from lift off, launch, glide and descent. Students will learn about the stability of rockets and the importance of knowledge of the center of gravity and center of pressure. Students will use Math (trigonometry) to calculate the height of the water rocket. Students will interpret the research for their rocket design & use the Bottle Rocket Handbook. Students analyze the information from the test phase launches and the feedback from other students. Students evaluate their design team’s final designs and success at the final launch.”
Here is the technology context:
“Anatomy of rocket, Data Collection from launch results, Create Windows Live Movie in order to explain design rationale of rocket design, Collaborative reflections & feedback between 2 countries using OneNote, use Mathematics 4.0 used for height data collection. Excel used for graphing launch data”
I am so excited and can’t wait to get back to school in September and start it!
To find out more about Vince check out his video entry below into the US Innovative Education Forum where his project will be competing this week for a place at the Worldwide forum in November to potentially win a worldwide innovative teacher award.