Which design shall reign supreme?

Which design will reign supreme?

Talk about some amazing designs!  I've been very impressed with the creativity and personality many of you have put into your blog template sketches!  I can clearly see that the majority of us have included some of the important functions and features we feel will make our blogs successful such as clearly defined menus, user friendly gadgets and colorful backgrounds and themes!  So many choices!

Now that we have a better idea of what possibilities are available to us, we'll need to begin the process of narrowing down all of our ideas to find the design(s) that will potentially be the most successful.

The question becomes... How do we do that?  What standards or methods should we use that will help us separate and choose the best design and theme?

Our Design Specification

In our last blog post, we chose a number of criteria that we felt helped make blogs be more successful.  These criteria are the specific characteristics our blog must have to be successful... and we call them our Design Specifications.  We feel, in order for our blog to be successful it needs to fulfill the criteria we chose.

We can use these criteria to measure and provide some comparison and contrast to our designs.  We can use them to help rate and rank our designs strengths and weaknesses. Simply put, our best choice would be the design that meets our criteria or design specifications the best.  Each of has selected our own criteria from the class criteria we compiled. (Green, Blue and Red.)

Which criteria did you pick and which of your designs meets your design specifications the best?

Your Task:

Demonstrate your thought process of why how you created each unique design by publishing a new blog post.  The post should provide evidence of your evaluation of each of your designs in comparison to your design specifications, the functional blog requirements (from our last task) and your own personality (likes and interests).  Each of your designs should be shown as an embedded or linked screenshot of your scanned sketches.

Finally, you'll need to recommend one final design as the best possible choice and share your feelings as to why you have chosen it.

Due Dates:

Remember, you should have your blog post completed and published for review in class on:

• December 3rd, 2014

How to earn a 7 or 8:

Finally, if you would like to earn a 7-8, please be sure to pay close attention to our task specific rubric including:

• For each blog template sketch you provide a detailed comparison of it against the design specifications
• For each blog template sketch you share how the design will support a quality user experience or detract from that experience
• You select a final blog sketch and explain your decision based on how well it meets your design specifications, our functional blog requirements and matches your personality (likes and interests)

Here are some great examples from students past who have successfully evaluated their designs against their design specifications and chosen a winning design!  Oddly, they both seem to like horses!

• Emma
• Gianna

And so it Begins!

Everyone ready to get started with their first blog post?!?!

This is the final task of the investigation phase of this portion of the project.  On your blog, you'll be completing a reflection using the three tasks you've participated in leading up to this.

In your first blog post, you'll be typing out your reflection answers to the following group of questions that will clue us in to what you have learned so far during this project and how you intend to use your blog to answer our unit question.

• How can we use our blogs to share our ideas online (in a responsible and safe manner) in order to have a positive effect on our community and ourselves?
• How will you use what you have learned to make an excellent blog that is personalized to you and represents you and your learning at Le Jardin Academy? (What learning experiences do you think it would be appropriate for you to share?)
• What features and characteristics of blogs do you feel will need to be present in order for your blog to be successful. (Use your section's Awesome Blog Group doc to help you answer this: Green, Blue, Red)
• What strategies will you use to ensure your blog is dynamic?

To earn a 7 – 8, please check out the task-specific rubrics (here and here):

• the student writes a blog post rough draft that answers the suggested questions in a concise manner and includes supportive and relative media and links

Remember:

• Your reflection should include at least 4-5 paragraphs.
• Your reflection should be saved in your Design Google Drive Folder.
• You reflection should include only answers, not the questions and be conversational in tone.
• Each paragraph should be written so the reader can understand the question (without including the question).
• You are writing for an audience that may not be in our class, make sure to describe things so that anyone could understand.
• Be sure to follow the class Netiquette Guidelines while writing your blog post.
• You might want to consider using multimedia to support your ideas (images or videos) including links to relative resources (like your idea map, our class blog, etc.)

In class we'll discuss some of the formatting choices you'll need to make to complete this assignment including linking to the documents you've been working on, correctly labeling the post and inserting images...

Abigail, Eva and Ameilia did an amazing job with this last year.  You can check out their sites to see an example of how they wrote their blog posts. (It doesn't need to be this long FYI... make it concise.)  Will yours show up here as an example when all is said and done?

Images:
Teacher in Classroom  Stock Image - iStockphoto.com

What makes you special?

Blogs allow us to share our ideas, perspectives and the things we love with the world!  Each of us is unique and our blogs should reflect what makes us who we are.  Chances are, there are others out there in the world who share your interests and would benefit from your knowledge and participation in the global conversation. Blogging helps us to grow by strengthening our collaboration and communication skills through the connections we make with others.

Your blog is an opportunity to share your take on the world, however, as we've learned in class there's certain information that's not appropriate to share online, especially in a space when anyone in the world can see it.  When posting to our blog or giving feedback on someone's comments we should remember the messages we learned from the videos we discussed in class.

Your job is to determine what information is interesting and appropriate to share with your global audience.  Before we begin blogging, we'll focus on following a set of blogging guidelines developed by our blogging partners at YIS in Yokohama, Japan.  These guidelines will ensure that we don't end up like the students in the videos linked above.

To help us generate ideas for what topics we'll be posting on, we will be creating idea maps using Google Draw.  These idea maps should be well organized and easy to understand as we'll be posting them to our blog in the near future!

To complete your brainstorm for homework:

Continue to finish the mind map we started in class to demonstrate you thoughts on what your blog will be about.  You can include ideas on what your hobbies are, what sports and activities you participating in, what you like learning about and what you're experiencing in your classes.

Be sure to make your idea map match the rubric by drawing out clear, well-organized and detailed idea branches.  You should use a variety of formatting and grouping techniques to ensure that the map is easy to read and understand.  The more detail you provide on your ideas, the better.

Organizing your ideas in a theme related to your blogging ideas is a great idea too! For help on understanding how to get started with Google Draw as a mind mapping tool, be sure to check out this tutorial video!

Due Dates:

• 6-Blue: Oct. 30th - J Day
• 6-Red: Oct. 30th - N Day
• 6-Green:  Oct. 28th - R Day
  

To earn a 7-8 on the rubric, make sure:

• You have created a complex and detailed map.
• Your map is exceptionally well organized.
• Your map utilizes a variety of formatting tools to make it clear and easy to understand.

If you're looking for some inspiration, check out these amazing examples at work:

Tiana (Here use of color and balance makes her information easy to read and understand.)
Chris (Do you notice he's beginning to create a theme that matches his interests?)
Claire (Her idea map is very balanced and makes a good use of color and organization.)
Mahea (Her idea map is very complex and detailed!  She has a technique with color too!)

Let the Testing Begin!

It's time to put our Mars Rovers to the test!  Hopefully all that hard work, glue gun burns and broken rubber bands will have led us to the point where we can feel proud to present our "self-propelled scientific transport vehicle."  But, how do we test it?


If you can remember back to the "Developing Ideas" phase, you might remember we looked over the design challenge requirements to being creating our Design Specification.  We crafted criteria we believed would help guide us through the process of designing a product or solution that would run successfully in this challenge.

Each of those criteria we chose to make our Design Specification should be testable in some way.  Will it roll a specific distance?  Lets run it through a trial!  Is it make of the right materials?  Let's have a classmate inspect it.  How should we test our rovers to make sure they meet our Design Specification?  That's where your "Evaluation the Solution" student worksheet comes in.  On the worksheet you'll have an opportunity to list out some potential ways you'll assess your rover to ensure it meets the criteria you chose.

Now that you have a list of ways you intend to put your rover through it's paces, lets get started by using the "Mars Rover - Evaluation Phase - Student and Peer Check-list" worksheet.  This document is designed to allow you to collect data and evidence from your trial runs that you can use later when you need to share your thoughts on just how successful it is.  You'll have a partner objectively fill out the check-list giving you feedback on how they feel the rover fares during each of your trials.

When we've collected the data, we'll interpret what it means to us.  We can decide how the evaluations from ourselves and our peers can give us a clear idea on how successful our rover is.

In the end, you'll have an opportunity to share with us what changes you think you would make to the aesthetics, structure or functionality of your rover to improve upon it.  Could your wheels be better attached, the chassis strengthened or the equipment better secured?

Congratulations on an amazing job!  You guys and girls make me proud with how creative and resourceful you are!  Your energy is great and I can't wait to see what you'll produce for our next unit!

Resources:
Evaluating the Solution - Task Specific Rubric
Evaluating the Solution - Student Worksheet Template
Mars Rover - Evaluation Phase - Student and Peer Check-list

Recipe for Success

I am amazed by all the innovative and interesting sketches i've been collecting from our 6th grade aerospace engineers.  Big wheels, small wheels, space ships, tacos and many more designs have come across my desk, labeled with features and measurements... ready to be built.

Let's take a moment and think about cake..  Imagine you were tasked with baking a cake for Mr. Connors birthday.  What ingredients would you need?... Flour, eggs, sugar?  What tools would you need?... a baking pan, spatula, mixing bowl?  But what about the things we sometimes forget... Wouldn't you also need an oven, a clean space to work, enough time to put it together and the skills and knowledge on how to actually bake?  And that doesn't even take into account having the right recipe!

The question is... Do you want Mr. Connors to have an EPIC Cake?... or an EPIC Cake FAIL?

Now let's transfer this scenario into your rover.  Before we can start to build, we need to construct our recipe... or our plan for how we will build the machine.  We also need to ensure we have the right materials and tools to build as well.

In this phase of the Design Cycle, we'll begin by constructing a logical plan which includes brainstorming all the materials, tools and resources we'll need.  We'll then plan out a task-list that includes step-by-step instructions for how we would build our rovers in the order that makes logical sense.  Just like someone could follow a recipe to make a cake, we should be able to follow your plan to produce your rover just as it is in your final design diagram.

Don't forget to follow your plan to bring your materials with you to our next class!  Can't wait to start building!

Resources:
Creating the Solution Task Specific Rubric
Creating the Solution Student Worksheet Template


Images:
Epic Cake Fail by Amy (mystoriesinrecipies)
Batman vs. Darth Vader by Liz Marek of Artisan Cake Company

Ideas Taking Shape and Form

Over the past few classes we've begun to ask questions that will lead us to better understand our design challenge.  We've collected information about simple machines, working prototypes and potential energy.  Now's the time to begin letting our ideas begin to take shape.

This week we've started putting into words our Design Specifications, those detailed and specific criteria our mars rovers need to meet in order for them to be successful.  What must our rovers do and what features or characteristics must they have for them to meet the challenge?  When we set these concepts down, they provide for us a road map with a goal we can use to guide us through the process of designing a few potential solutions.

As we continue this week, we'll begin to sketch out 2 dimensional drawings of our rover concepts.  We'll design vehicles that are built out of a chassis, wheel and axles and include some form of propulsion.  The more concepts we come up with, the more options we'll have to choose from before we begin to build.  Eventually, we'll pair down our ideas to a final concept with labeled features and annotated measurements.  Whichever concept best meets our specifications will become the solution we decide to build.

I look forward to seeing all the amazing and crazy ideas you come up with... tempered with the reality that each of these designs will be driven by the need to meet our specifications.

Good luck designers!

Resources:
Developing Ideas Task Specific Rubric
Developing Ideas Student Worksheet Template


Images:
Balloon Car by MML
kinetically fueled car by James Noonan

Design Challenge: Welcome to Mars!

This week we begin a design challenge to give you all some basic experience in solving problems through design.  Usually we schedule time to go through the entire process of coming up with the most appropriate solution or product after much time spent researching, planning and building.  For this challenge, a quick start should get us all up and moving.

The Challenge is set and some of the requirements have been shared.  In your handout, you've been tasked with completing the first 4 sections of your design challenge handout on your own before coming to our next class.  You should have a fairly clear idea of what you don't know and what you'll need to know!

For those of you interested in learning more about how the Mars Rover Curiosity was able to successfully land on the planet, you can check out the following video on Youtube:

Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror