Finally Getting Started!!

Marketing and Media finishing their billboard.

The Building Engineers hard at work.

Robot Technicians assembling their product.

The Programming Engineers initializing their robots.

Programmers getting used to the computer software.

Technicians working diligently assembling their model.

Team building activities necessary for a successful PBL learning environment.

 Cierra Shonyo's artwork in the Media and Marketing Department

Tuesday and Wednesday - July 21st and 22nd
     
       The corporations are now settled into their missions and the department roles are now clearly defined.  Their are many expectations set for the performance of each group.  Deadlines have been established for the completion of tasks.  The CEO's are working on expense reports and profitability statements for their robots.  The Media and Marketing Department is currently on the company logos to upload to their corporate blogspot pages.  The programmers are still stuck on the initial practice phases of their design.  The board engineers are now getting their 3-D images up and in place.  The robotic technicians are still working on designing their robots.

       In the morning, the students are still receiving intervention in math and reading.  We will be taking STAR Math and Reading Assessments to track their mid-term progress.

Monday - July 20th  
     
       After two weeks of waiting for everything to fall into place, it finally has.  The students are now settled into their reading and math intervention programs: RAZ Kids and Khan Academy.  Professional resumes have been created utilizing Build-Resume-for-Kids, and Microsoft Word resume templates.  The students have been exposed to Natural Disaster curriculum, and have also participated in a fact-finding research activity to build prior knowledge.
 
       Last Wednesday, we held a career fair, where the students were introduced to possible careers they could pursue that would be involved in the project.  There were job postings for the following positions: CEO/Accountant, Media/Marketing, Programming Engineers, Construction Engineers, and Robotic Technicians.  Students were encouraged to apply for two positions.  We then held interview later that day.

       On Thursday, we assigned the students to their positions and corporations.  As always, we began the PBL process with a driving question.  The corporations then used the Driving Questions to begin hammering out a Needs-to-Know List.  From the information gathered, each corporation was able to create company names, mission statements, robot names, and possible tasks that their robot could complete in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

       In a nutshell, the corporations are expected to design, create and utilize a rescue robot that will be marketed to consumers, and sold as a profitable tool in the clean-up/rescue efforts after a Natural Disaster.  The students will be responsible for balancing a budget, while engineering a robot that can produce a profit, and figure out how to market the robot to garner interest in the corporation.  A robotics showcase will be held on August 11th, where each corporation is expected to present their work and attempt to sell their robot.  Stay tuned in for more information!!  We will provide daily updates.