Dot Day: Art Exhibition and Reflection

After the testing and redesign phase of the project, students completed their final ArtBot design and test. Next students created three pieces of original art. Students were excited to see their final ArtBot design working! In the story The Dot, Vashti signed her art to take ownership of what she had created because our project was based on collaboration all members of the ArtBot group signed all the pieces of art. All of the art is on display in our library hallway to share with the rest of the school.

The final step of this project was to give the students a chance to reflect on the project and process, what was positive about the experience and what they would change about the project. Some of the positives for students included: everyone being included in the building process, having ways to make sure that everyone had a voice, the freedom to create their robot anyway they wanted to, and making the art. The challenges they had included the materials, trouble attaching the markers and issues with some of the smaller parts. The students really loved the overall project and recommended that we do it again next year with first grade.

I feel the project went very well. I liked that the project was a collaboration with the tech team and the classroom teachers. Students were very invested in the whole process. They were so excited to design the ArtBots, rework the design when it needed adjustment, and then the joy when the ArtBot worked. Students were so proud of their robots and art that they created. I also really like the connection between literature, maker projects, design projects, and collaboration. We are going to reference the collaborator qualities that the students came up with throughout the school year as we work on other projects. I am interested to see how the students’ respond and recall the collaborator qualities on future projects.

Dot Day: Prototyping and Testing our Art Robots

This week students continued their art robot project inspired by International Dot Day. Students finished their collaboration expectations and norms and their sketch of their art robot. Then they started making their robots!

Students had all the materials they needed for their robots and followed their designs to but their robots together. Adults were on hand to help with taping and attaching the wires when needed. The adults in the room also redirected students to their collaborator norms if there were any conflicts in the groups. When one group was struggling with who was adding the materials to the robot we revisited their plan to make sure that everyone was working together. The group's plan was to take turns adding materials to build the robot. The group redirected themselves and followed their original plan to take turns and their group work continued with everyone feeling like they were apart of the group building.

Many groups had a tested their robot and it was off balance, didn't move or fell over. The groups needed to step back and figure out what they needed to change in their design to get their art robot up and running. Students saw their initial art robot failure as an opportunity to rethink what their design and rework their art robot to get it working.

Some of the groups have some more adjusting and rethinking to do during the next building session to finish their art robot and art creations. Then we will have a final reflection piece to have students think on the process, the collaboration and what they learned from this experience.