When students become part of the school’s technical support, they are responsible for learning
Gati Aher graduated from Burlington High School in 2019 and was elective by Help-desk as a junior after she became interested in computer science. Aher, who went on to earn his engineering degree and is now a PhD candidate in the machine learning division of Carnegie Mellon, believes her early exposure to her career in generative AI in project-based and hands-on learning.
Multidisciplinary approaches and real-world dilemmas
In 2018, Wong and his students tested and implemented a drone lab (a project Aher was involved in) at the time when mini drones were relatively novel. Help-Desk students and Wong helped the Physics class download the necessary applications and demonstrated the use of drones.
Wong said multidisciplinary learning methods, such as the physics drone lab, not only allow meaningful connections between students, but also provide opportunities for real-world work.
In 2016, Sean Musselman, a K-5 science and social research expert in the Burlington School District, is developing a new Earth’s surface and ground division. The new department includes field trips to Massachusetts’ Plum Islands, an ecosystem that has experienced significant erosion. However, due to the limited capacity of the field trip, Musselman needs to find additional backflow interactive activities.
Inspired by the UC Davis’s augmented reality sandbox, introduced at the 2016 National Association of Science Teachers’ Conference, Musleman proposed that a student of Huang built a portable version throughout the region. Edmund Reis, a high school student at the time, boarded the boat.
Under guidance published by UC Davis, Reis built a portable AR sandbox from scratch with support from Wong and Musselman. This includes building a computer, installing the operating system, and tuning the source code.
For Reis, who now works in technical work, the trial and error of establishing AR Sandbox helped him develop important creative and collaborative skills that used important creative and collaborative skills in higher education and career.
Climate literacy for young learners
The Portable AR Sandbox aims to educate second-year students about watershed and interconnected geographic locations, providing an engaging alternative to the Plum Islands field trip. AR Sandbox helps second-year students in the region understand the impact of water supply systems in a world increasingly affected by climate change.
Today, students no longer conduct field trips due to the pandemic, but AR sandbox courses still exist.
Musselman performed a 15-minute class in about seven students with an AR sandbox. In these courses, students have increased their basic awareness of the general climate and its surroundings.
AR Sandbox provides a very outstanding model for “visual, interactive, dynamic models” [students] Explore and ask questions,” Musselman said.
Give students the opportunity to build their own landscape and place monopoly houses in the sandbox. Then the rain was simulated, and the students watched the erosion manipulate the landscape. “They will see their houses rolling, and that’s exactly what’s going on in Plum Island,” Musselman said.
“No student wasn’t completely attracted to what was happening on that table,” Musselman continued. “It was 100% involved.”
Students stay away from these lessons with greater climate literacy and understanding of how climate affects their environment. Musselman ensures that sophomore students explain scientists to use models like AR sandboxes to understand weather impacts and climate change. The understanding of AR sandbox is achieved by enabling high school students to provide technical support and gain the benefits of proxying in their learning.
