The "One Body" Project

"One Body, Many Parts" x 3!

It has been a busy few weeks in MegaBloc.  On October 12th the MegaBloc class had a guest join us to help kick off our next project.  Mr. Brad Haardeng works for Hamilton Health Sciences where he is a Clinical Manager who designs, fits, and customizes prosthetics and orthotics. 

Brad shared his experiences about designing, problem solving, creating, helping people, and the importance of seeing a task from the very beginning, tackling all of the work in the middle, and right through to a successful completion of the job.  He also brought in many samples of prosthetics and explained how each was designed and some of the challenges that were faced in each design.  A few of the examples that were highlights for the students were the arm and hand for a child that had a motor to open and close and the one with the red maple leaves.  This motor is triggered by electrical signals that the remaining muscles still send. The one device with the maple leaves is a special athletic device that can hold a hockey stick.  A hockey player will only use this prosthetic while playing, and it allows the athlete to securely hold their stick and still compete in a sport that they enjoy.

The students took advantage of the opportunity to ask Brad questions about design, how long it takes to make things, and how to even begin with some of the bigger tasks. We, as teachers, loved his responses - "You have to break things! You need to push the limits of what you can make. You need to try things, breaks things, and try again."  This is a motto that we have encouraged the students to adopt as they are working on their body project.
Check out the project!

Coming soon will be a post of projects in progress, pictures, and a special invite to join us for a celebration!

What's new in MegaBloc?

Hello parents and guardians.

It was good to see so many of you at the recent Gr. 9 Parents night.  We enjoyed talking with you about your kids, the spirit of our grade 9 class, and the incredible work that they have been doing.

The last couple of weeks have been a busy time in the MegaBloc.  Students have been wrapping up their first rotations:

1. 3D design and printing
2. Woodshop - intro to safety and tools, making salad claws
3. Collaboration with Google Docs and some graphic design

Students have also started working on their portfolios for this course.  We are using Edsby's portfolio feature.  It seems like a nice tool for students to begin to collect their featured pieces in our course and to begin to reflect upon their learning.  We are hoping that their portfolio can be ongoing and be used to capture their high school learning artefacts. 

This week we have started our 2nd rotation.  It is a mini rotation in the MegaBloc and is short 2 day experience in related topics:

1. accurate measurements and conversions - understanding feet and inches
2. your environmental impact and your environmental footprint
3. using InkScape to prepare objects for the Laser cutter and engraver

This mini rotation ends next week Tuesday (Oct 11th) and then the real work begins!  On Wednesday, we will begin our next big project - sorry, but we can't release any details yet!  We have an expert coming to work with us to "kick-off" the project.  This might be a good time to pre-plan a supper time conversation for Wednesday evening to find out what is going on.  We will be taking lots of pictures during the project, keeping your up to date on the work, and you are all invited to our class Celebration of Learning; we will let you know the date soon!

A little bit about homework and assessments

Each student should have their work complete from each segment of the first rotation. 

• a 3D Design
• a few spreadsheets and a slideshow
• a set of wooden salad claws

We are connecting with students about work that is missing. Students should also have their portfolio up to date with one entry for each rotation that they think was meaningful to their learning. They can find the details on our Google Classroom.

Students should begin to receive some written feedback on their work in the next few days.

Again, please feel free to comment on this blog, or email us with any questions or comments that you have. ~ Mr. B

Welcome to the HDCH Grade 9 MegaBloc's MegaBlog!

Hello Parents and Guardians!  

We will be using this blog to communicate with you about what is happening in the HDCH MegaBloc course.

First, a little bit about MegaBloc.

The MegaBloc is our fun code name for the Integrating Technologies (TIJ1O) course at HDCH.  This course combines Communication Technology, Design Technology, and Manufacturing Technology.  Aside from a technology focus, MegaBloc is an opportunity for one half of the grade nine students to gather together every day of the semester.  Each day we gather with over 60 students and 5 teachers and educational assistants to share devotions, hear upcoming school events, share prayer concerns, and to develop community. 

MegaBloc is organized in a rather unique way.  As HDCH has been using Project Based Learning, MegaBloc is equipping students to better understand their own learning in a Project Based Learning environment (more about that in a future post). With each student having access to the various resources available in our school (3D printers, woodshop, video equipment, laser cutters, etc), we are extremely excited about how the future might look and what these students will create to represent their learning in their later grades. 

In the core group of 60+ students, we have home groups of approximately 20 students with one teacher. (Mr. Brink, Mr. VanderWier, and Mr. Blyleven) Each teacher is leading a separate "block" or component of our course.  These components are 5 days long and then the home groups rotate to another block.  You might notice that MegaBloc does not use Edbsy that much.  We have decided to use Google Classroom as it ties in so well for the collaboration and team work that we hope to accomplish in this course. So, check out this blog regularly to catch-up with what is going on in MegaBloc.

Mr. Brink - Communication Technology
In Communication Technology, the students are discovering how to use the computer systems, their school issued Gmail accounts, and how to collaborate effectively using various Google Drive functions. We will be focusing on slideshows, spreadsheets, and also some minor photo editing. 

Mr. VanderWier - Manufacturing Technology
In Manufacturing Technology, the students have been looking at shop and tool safety as they learn how to use the scroll saw, drill press, band saw, belt sander, jig saw, and the spindle sander.  To help learn how to use these tools, the students have each been making a set of salad claws. 




Mr. Blyleven - Design Technology
In Design Technology, the students have been working in a website called TinkerCad. TinkerCad is a design tool that lets the user create and develop items to be printed on 3D printers.  


Students create their designs using shapes that they can drag, turn, transform, group, and make hollow.  The students started out with making small name tags. Students  are then challenged to plan and create their own design in the 3D Mini Project.  One big requirement for their design is that it must be at least two pieces that are connected with a working and movable joint.  Students are currently working on these and they will be shared in the next post.


A little bit about homework and assessment
As this is a very hands-on course, it will be rare for students to have homework, however, there may be the occasional time that students will need to work before school, at lunch, or after school to complete some of their work.  The first part of the course will only have formative assessment with lots of feedback to help students learn.  On the Midterm report there will not be a mark provided.  The second part of the course will still have lots of formative assessment and a mark will be provided on student work. Here is a copy of our course outline to help you see what the semester will all cover.

We look forward to working with your children throughout the semester, to communicating with you about the MegaBloc through the MegaBlog, and to seeing you in person at parent-teacher-student interviews, our Celebrations of Learning, and our class presentations. 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact any one of the three teachers. ~ Mr. B.