GoAnimate

This week, we dove right into using the tablets with web 2.0 assignments. heat transfer.  Conductor and insulators are big topics in this unit.  In order to get the students to showcase their knowledge, most teachers have students explain in writing what each of the vocabulary words are.  With tablets, we can make that activity much more interesting.

 In science, 6th graders are studying
My students used the website GoAnimate to create cartoon situations where one cartoon would have to explain to another what conductors and insulators are and give examples.  Since the students have never used this site before, I set up a tutorial on sophia to walk them through the steps, show them what to do, explain what is expected and give them a rubric on how they will be graded.
On the amplify network, I sent out the link to GoAnimate and to Sophia.  The students clicked the links and worked through the tutorial as they created their account on GoAnimate.  This was a great way for students to be independent and practice following step by step directions.  In groups of two, students worked together to research heat transfer and write a dialogue to showcase their knowledge about the topic.  Most students choose a teacher/student, student/parent, or student/student relationship to have one person explain to the other what the different aspects of heat transfer are and how they work.
This lesson was a huge success!  The students loved to work together in groups and to create their own project.  Most of them have never gotten the chance to create their own web project.  The students actually went home and created their own cartoons in their free time because they had so much fun!
Since this project kept their interest, allowed them to prove their knowledge, and was a good time, we will be doing a lot more fun projects like this!  Click here and here to see some student examples.