Technology guides us

"Technology can guide our understanding of the world," this was the central idea that our fifth graders explored into in the beginning of second semester. As students inquired into how humans use their understanding of scientific principles and how technology is used to investigate how the world works, they learned to put together a Rube Golderg machine, which is created through a combination of different simple machines. Students captured their creations on video and demonstrated how their machines work. Watch some examples from these students' digital portfolios:

http://mrchrischang.com/sienna/my-simple-machine/

--- Sienna Chien 簡寀旬, Grade 5

http://mrchrischang.com/jocelyn/2016/02/28/simple-machine/

--- Lillian Li 李麗恩 and Jocelyn Chang張瑋寧, Grade 5

The fifth graders also learned more about different types of technology. Each student chose one type of technology and did some further research on its history, its innovations, and what they think would be in store for the future.

http://mrchrischang.com/sophie/the-television/

--- Sophie Wu 吳苡瑄, Grade 5

http://mrchrischang.com/monica/229-2/

--- Monica Sun 孫巧凌, Grade 5

As part of their summative assessment task, students had to orally present the technology of their choice and its impact to society and on the environment through HSTRY, which is an online timeline tool that they've learned to utilize. They were given the freedom to choose around the campus who their audience would be. Their presentation skills AND confidence were definitely put to the test! View our featured student work here:

https://edu.hstry.co/timeline/hyperloop

--- Enoch Yang 楊以諾 and Alex Huang 黃寬悅, Grade 5

https://edu.hstry.co/timeline/television-past-present-and-future-d107​

--- Lillian Li 李麗恩 and Jocelyn Chang張瑋寧, Grade 5