Author Archives: Mariflor Medrano

Code to Circuitry unlocked

Saturday Teachers Spent most of my Saturday with a bunch of other passionate educators at the East Bay CUE STEM Symposium in Pleasant Hill. Although it is a required #MERIT18 attendance, I’m really glad that my membership with #MERIT18 has opened my world to a new PLN. Raspberry Pi & Python There were many sessionsContinue reading “Code to Circuitry unlocked”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It has been challenging trying to teach entry level coding to a group of seniors who are at varying levels of coding. Last year, we (Making, Hacking, and Tinkering teachers) decided to create a paper and pen quiz. It was a terrible idea with good intentions. First of all, students weren’t used to handwriting codeContinue reading “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Momentum-Impulse Unit

My first year of teaching Physics, we did not include momentum-impulse. Second year Physics, we briefly went through impulse quickly. This year, we had an actual unit and went through it. The wonderful Mrs. F brilliantly created some templates for students to work through some of these word problems. When I was in high school learning Physics,Continue reading “Momentum-Impulse Unit”

Leading PD for Tech & Assessments

Today’s challenge was leading a group of colleagues in a PD. My past self signed up to lead something on tech. It’s probably me coming down from a learning high from #MERIT18. I was quite nervous to lead a PD at a high school level. I’ve done a couple PD sessions for unpacking Common CoreContinue reading “Leading PD for Tech & Assessments”

CS with Sheena Vaidyanathan

Today’s Professional Development was extremely successful at KCI at Foothill College. I learned some clear and helpful applications in teaching the “Hacking” portion of the Making, Hacking, & Tinkering class. We’re not quite at hacking stage yet, but hopefully, we can be. I relearned some important coding language protocols and how to think about programming.Continue reading “CS with Sheena Vaidyanathan”

Force of Gravity Lab- Day 26-28

Data Collection On Day 26, I went over with students how they were going to collect data. First, they needed to know the forces acting on the mass. We drew interaction and force diagrams on whiteboards, that the students ended up putting into their document. Then they were to place to the masses on theContinue reading “Force of Gravity Lab- Day 26-28”

Day 25- Flipgrid Forces + Diagrams

I wanted to hear student voices that don’t normally speak up in class to see if they really truly understand the concepts that we’re covering. The Forces unit usually is a make or break for the freshmen for the rest of the year. Few students can pull it together after Christmas vacation to improve onContinue reading “Day 25- Flipgrid Forces + Diagrams”

Day 24 Physics- LeBron defies gravity

Today, we had our Types of Forces discussion. I went over the slides that the wonderful Mrs. F created before I came to SHC about the types of forces we will use in class. I like this discussion because it allows students to DO some of the information we share. They get to actually experienceContinue reading “Day 24 Physics- LeBron defies gravity”

Day 23- Test and Forces

Last year, my colleage, Mrs. Freudenberg, did an activity with the students using materials and ideas from Kelly O’Shea (@kellyoshea)and Brian Frank (@brianwfrank). Unfortunately, I had a family emergency to take care of, so I don’t even have the memory of doing this activity. With it being my first time, there were a bunch of questions thatContinue reading “Day 23- Test and Forces”