Category: 2013 – 2014

Exploration Name: Public Relations (PR)

Exploration Dates: March 10th-May 2nd, 2014

Number of students: 8

Essential Questions/ Areas:

1. Literacy Coaching

2. Presentation Skills

3. Global Connections

Description:

In our Exploration class, we had three things to work on. The first area was global connections. Global connections mean that we share what we do at Liger with people around the world by using Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and blog. The first thing we used is Instagram because we can post the picture and caption to show what we do at Liger. The second area we practiced was literacy coaching. Literacy coaching is about teaching other students about literacy. This means when students need help to edit a blog or presentation we help them edit and give them some feedback or advice.The last is Presentation skills. The presentation skills we learned about are stance, eye contact, fidget, speed, and volume. Our goal was to share Liger to the world, have more people come to our Exploration Celebration and get more followers on Instagram.

 

Exploration Name: Simple Machines (Toys)

Exploration Dates: August 12 – September 26

Number of students: 13

Essential Questions:

1. What are simple machines?

2. What is mechanical advantage?

3. How can simple machines be used to create engaging interactive toys and why is toys creation a powerful form of learning?

Description: In our Exploration class we learned about simple machines and how to make toys using cams (it is like a circle, like wheel and axle) + simple machines. Simple machines can make some jobs easier to do. We learned about wedges, levers, pulleys, inclined planes, gears, screws, wheels and axles. Each of these things have different advantages and disadvantages. Levers are the most used in real life. Levers can be anything you hold. Ex. sword handle, computer lid, all of those things are levers. When we started we learned about how to use simple machines in our toys. We watched a lot of videos to understand and to get new ideas. We first built toys for testing our project. It worked but it was too small and not good enough. We researched more and then we got more ideas from books, computers and videos. When we had enough knowledge and enough information, we got an idea and we worked in teams. We thought that to make our toy more interactive, we have to get some paint to make it colorful. When we finished the toy we planned a trip with our teacher to Takeo province. Our trip was not long just half a day travel and half a day at NFO to teach the students there about simple machines and how to make toys. We came back to set up for our presentation in the big area. All of Liger students came to see us and learn from each other.