Bringing History Class to Life

Augmented reality is a fantastic new technology that can be used in many different types of classrooms. There are a couple different types of AR apps out there, but the one I use the most is the app Aurasma. What Is like about this app is that it is FREE and it is duel-platform so it will work with Apple or Android devices.

You can download it here on iTunes or on the Google Play store.

Augmented reality allows you, and your students to make almost any object into a scannable interactive code. This is fantastic for history, art, english, science, and pretty much any other class out there. My classes and I have used this app to explore different cities, and create interactive museum exhibits that allow the students to analyze, evaluate, and explore different primary sources and their meaning. The app is very easy to use and allows teachers to create separate private channels for the information to be stored so that student privacy remains intact. Here is a tutorial video that I made for one of my classes to help them with the Aurasma creation process.

After the videos have been uploaded, and the auras created, the really fun part begins. Since my classes use private channels with Aurasma the students need to subscribe to the channel in order to see the auras and have the images come to life. I do this by sharing the channel URL with my students via email or our Canvas LMS. Once, the students are subscribed to the channel they are then free to explore and venture around the room to see the different videos linked to the images/objects. This is a different way to showcase and share the students' work and learning. It allows to student choice in exploration and is visual, auditory, and kinesthetic in nature.


The first time that I used this was in a 7th grade World Cultures classroom. We were doing a Trip Planing project where the students had to plan an entire month long trip to a country in the Eastern hemisphere. This included creating a day by day itinerary, cost analysis sheet, Google map and KML file with locations visited, "booking" airfare, and a digital story taking us through their country's capital city in a day. The final product resulted in the students making digital stories using the app Puppet Pals HD, with themselves as the tour guide. The students then linked there videos to a postcard from that country using Aurasma. Finally, the students used iPads to scan the different postcards around the classroom and traveled the world through their classmates' eyes. Here is a short video showing how it looked.

Augmented reality can also be used to create interactive museum exhibits. My U.S. History classes used Aurasma and the app Tellagami to bring our museum exhibits to life. Tellagami is another free and duel-platform app that allows students to dive in deeply to the analysis and evaluation of primary sources.

You can download it here on iTunes or on the Google Play store.

The students were tasked with creating a museum exhibit that revolved around the concept of equality and how it has evolved throughout our country's history. The students were allowed to choose a specific era, or movement, to focus on and then they had to create an exhibit that incorporated analysis and evaluation primary source documents and information about some of the individuals involved during the era or movement. During this project we also took a field trip to the Oregon Historical Society, where the students got to see how exhibits are made, learned about the different elements that make exhibits successful, and got to conduct research in the museum's library. The students then brought this new knowledge back to school and incorporated it into their own exhibits. We then had the students set up their exhibits in and allowed them to explore their classmates' interpretations with their own devices.

Here is the Tellagami tutorial that I made for the students, and an example video that they made and linked to an exhibit.

Augmented Reality in the Classroom

     Over the course of the last 4 weeks my students have been working on a unit called Trip Planning.  In this unit the students are learning many different skills and concepts.  To begin the unit each student was assigned a country in the eastern hemisphere.  They then go through many different steps and assignments that will them to create their own one month long trip to that country.  When the students are finished with all of the main assignments;  a fact outline about their country, a digital story that takes us through 24 hours in their capital, their travel map with placemarks, and a complete daily trip itinerary they hyperlink all of the assignments to their home placemark on their travel map.  Then they download the finished map as a viewable KML file and share it as their final project.

     Each student begins with creating and sharing a Google map and calendar for their trip, which is then shared with my cooperating teacher and myself.  Both of which, will be used to create a complete trip map with placemarks and a daily itinerary that explains what and where they are for each day of the trip.  The next step is creating a fact outline for the country they are traveling to.  This piece helps students conduct research about their country, so they can learn different types of information about it.  To quote one student, "The fact outline is kinda fun.  You just find new facts and get smarter."

     After the fact outline is completed the students move onto the next assignment, which is creating a digital story, using an iPad and the Puppet Pals app, to take us through a day in their country's capital city.  Once the students have created their digital story they upload their video to the school YouTube channel, and the link the video to their home place mark on their travel map.  Since each student in the class is researching and learning about one individual country, I wanted to find a new and exciting way to share all of their videos with one another so that they can explore and learn about what other countries have to offer and what their classmates created.

      This is where augmented reality and the Aurasma app come into play.  Instead of just having the students watch each others' videos on YouTube they can now link there video to different images in the classroom.  Right now for the trip planning unit, our classroom is covered in postcards and other souvenirs from all around the world.  Using the Aurasma app the students are now able to link their own video to an image or object in the classroom.  Once all of the videos are linked up to different images, the students will then explore the room with the app and view each others' videos.

Here is a walk-through of how I used the Aurasma app in the classroom.

     This is a new and exciting way for the students to experience a history classroom, and embodies what I call iHistory.  Other possibilities include linking student explanations to primary source documents so they can show their understanding about the document, you can link videos to pictures or text from the textbook, or even attach the videos that you would show in class to different images so that the students can explore them at their own pace.  This tool is extremely adaptable and can be worked in any type of classroom.  I am currently helping set up student book reviews to a student recommended literature board in the library, explanations of student artwork which are tied directly to their piece for an art show, and videoing math problems being worked out so students can explore the process of different math problems.

Here is the tutorial I made to show students how to link their video to an image.

Digital Storytelling with Puppet Pals in the Classroom

This is a copy of the review that I did for The Teacher's Digital Toolkit.  A site run by Sol Joye where teachers share their digital experiences with programs and apps in the classroom.

9	Cost
8.5	Difficulty
9	Longevity
9	Versatility
10	Classroom Readiness

91.8%

Average Score (based on a weighted scale – SEE HERE)

Site Link:

iTUNES PREVIEW & BLOGSPOT SITE

	X
Website	iOS Apps	Android Apps	Standalone Software

Summary:	SUMMARY: Puppet Pals HD is an app for iOS devices such as the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone.  It is a digital storytelling tool that allows students to tell a story using pre-created characters, or their own with the Director’s Pass.  Students move their characters across different backgrounds and record their voices and movements.  Digital storytelling with Puppet Pals can be used in many different classrooms from History or Science, to Language Arts and Foreign Language.  It can incorporate many different topics and allows the students to create their own story and learning experience.  Here is a summary on how to use Puppet Pals. COST: There are two different apps that you can download from iTunes.  There is the Puppet Pals HD app, which is free, and the Puppet Pals HD Director’s Pass app that costs $2.99.  I recommend downloading the free app first, and then you can purchase the Director’s Pass inside it for $2.99 if you like it.  This is a one-time fee that allows you to download all of the character packs in the app, and also allows you to use any picture you want (from your camera roll or camera) in your story. DIFFICULTY: This app is designed to be used for many different ages from toddlers to adults.  The students (7th graders) found the app to be rather easy to use, which is what it is designed to be.  They were able to incorporate all of their images and record their stories with ease.  The first two lessons were spent with the students learning how to use the app.  Many thought that that was too much time, because they picked it up rather quickly. LONGEVITY: Students really enjoyed using Puppet Pals in class.  When they came to class students were always asking if it was going to be a Puppet Pals day.  Throughout the project they all seemed to be engaged.  After the project on world revolutions, the students used the app again during a trip planning unit as they took us through a day their capital city.  The students were engaged the second time through the process as well.  I wouldn’t do the project more than the two times that we did in our World Cultures class, but I could be incorporated into other curriculum and still retain its’ excitement. VERSATILITY: There were three issues that students found the most annoying were that once you started recording, you couldn’t go back and just re-do a section.  If you hit the back button, then you lose the entire recording that you were working on.  The second issue was when the students were cutting out their characters.  While the process was simple, some of the students wanted more accuracy in the tool.  The third was when they were recording.  The microphone can pick up background noise easily, so if they were trying to record in a room with other students there was sometimes “extra noise” included in their recording.  All of these items were easily worked around, as the students found solutions to the problems and shared their best practices with one another. CLASSROOM READINESS: Since the app is so straight forward, it is ready to go right out of the box for classroom use.  There is a short learning curve and the students gravitate towards using it.  During the unit I taught on world revolutions, I provided the necessary scaffolding for the students to understand the process of digital storytelling.  We went through the basic use of the app, picking and researching the topic, how and why to use historical images, how and why to storyboard, recording, editing, and how to upload / post their stories to their blogs.  The project was more about the process of creating a digital story, rather than just using the app.  For more information on digital storytelling and downloadable lesson plans please visit my site. by John Zingale @ihistorywmrjz ihistorywithmrjz.com
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Student Summary:	Letter Grade: Average student rating: 8.4/10: B
	Ease of use (1 easy – 10 difficult): 4.2 / 10
	Time needed / wanted to use: (1 less – 10 more): 5.8 / 10
	Level of “fun” involved (1 less – 10 more): 6.6 / 10
	Level of versatility (1 less – 10 more): 6.2 / 10
	STUDENT SPECIFIC THOUGHTS: “Puppet Pals is super easy and convenient to use! But like any other tool it takes an explanation and practice work.” “I think Puppet Pals is really fun! When I need to use it for a project it is fun and convenient. However I wouldn’t spend my free time on it when it is not for a project. But it is always exciting to hear I have a project on it!” “Puppet pals is very versatile. I could use it for a documentary with real pictures or I could make a cartoon about a bunny on it.” “I really like how you can make your own backgrounds and characters from photos with the directors pass. I really wish there were a part of it that let you put multiple clips together so you didn’t have to transfer it to iMovie or something like that.”

Baroque Music & GarageBand

     Over the last couple of months my students have been in a unit called Revolutions! There were many different topics that the students studied over the course of the unit. We began with the Scientific Revolution and progressed all the way to suffrage in the Progressive Era. One of the assignments that the students had to do was a teach-a-class. In this assignment the students needed to teach their classmates about a topic that they were interested in. The lesson had to be 20 minutes long and needed to have some sort of activity in it.

     Two students sent me a proposal stating that they wanted to do their teach-a-class on Baroque music. They said that they wanted to do a PowerPoint presentation, play a piece of music on their violins, and the have a quiz at the end. While this wasn't a terrible idea for such a short lesson, I asked them how they could make it more interactive for their classmates. While they were starting to think about my question, I asked them if they had thought about having their classmates play the piece of music with them. They looked back at me like I was crazy, and asked, "How can that happen? Not everyone knows how to play an instrument."

     I opened up my iPad and went to my GarageBand app. I showed them the smart strings part of the app, and how they could play an instrument just by tapping a chord on the screen. Their eyes lit up and I could see their minds racing about the possibilities. They loved the idea and grabbed a school iPad to play around and explore the possibilities for their lesson. After a day or so, they came back to me and said that they were going to try and use the app in their presentation.

     A couple of weeks later it was time for them to do their lesson. I was extremely excited to see what exactly they had come up with. They came in early to rearrange the tables in the room into two rows, set up their slides, got out their instruments, and then passed out iPads to the class. As they went through their slide show, they gave lots of great information and played different parts from some Baroque composers. When it came time for the class to use the iPads, there was a lot of excitement in the room. The girls had written out the notes that each row needed to play. The first row of seats were the 1st violins, and the second row were 2nd violins. The students placed the transcribed notes for the class on the screen, and went over the instructions. What happened next was a little bit of chaos and a tremendous amount of magic.

     The class began playing their iPads on their desks, laps, and some were even pretending that they are actual violins. The level of student engagement in this activity was sky high. Several of the students wanted to keep playing the piece after the presentation was finished. The students were talking about it for the rest of the day, and other students from other classes were jealous that they didn't get that same teach-a-class. As a teacher we all want to encourage students to think outside the box, engage the multiple intelligences, and remember what they learned. I can honestly say that all students involved in this lesson accomplished those goals. I am amazed everyday at the power of student centered learning, and what a little encouragement and scaffolding can do.

Teaching with Nearpod

     Nearpod is a fantastic app for the iPad, and other iOS devices.  And, it is now available for Android devices, if you sign up for the school edition.  I have been using it in my student teaching at two different schools here in Portland, Oregon.  While at Roosevelt High School, I integrated it into everyday lessons.  The amount of student engagement during presentations was off the charts.  The students became very familiar with the process, and started class everyday by entering the pin # to download the presentation without hesitation.  Even after I had moved onto my new student teaching placement, the students remembered the process.  When I came back for a visit, they asked me if I had another Nearpod lesson for them.


     Now, I am currently student teaching at Catlin Gabel Middle School.  During the students' current unit they are required to do a teach-a-class presentation for the rest of their classmates.  I had used Nearpod in the beginning of the unit for a lesson on the Scientific Revolution.  This created a lasting impression on the students and many of them have start to use the app for when they are teaching.  So far there have been several different lessons that the students created and taught using Nearpod.  Some of the topics include:  James Watt and the steam engine, John D. Rockefeller, and the 13th Amendment.

Here is an example of what the students drew to explain how
Nicholas Copernicus' theory of the solar system works.

     To watch the class interact with the iPad, is truly amazing.  The students love being able to have the presentation right there in front of them.  They can take notes while watching a video at their own pace, explore lots of different information and control their own learning with the slide show function, and demonstrate their learning in the draw and quiz function.  The students favorite parts to the app are the draw  and video functions.  And, the best part for me, is the fact that the app records all of their answers and allows me to view them later and analyze what learning took place.  I highly recommend this app to any teacher that had the capability to use it in the classroom.

Storytelling 2.0

     There have been many different versions of storytelling throughout time.  It is one of the ways that we communicate and learn from one another.  The most basic form is simply through the words of another person, as they weave words into imagery.  I always think back to when I was very young and my mother would tell stories to my brother and I.  One of my favorites was the story of the Three Little Pigs.  My mom would change her voice for the different characters and interact with us as the story went on.  It created a lasting memory.

   
     I was reminded how powerful storytelling can be during the summer when I was in class at the University of Portland.  As part of one of my graduate classes, my classmates and I shared stories about our diverse and unique life experiences.  One of my classmates, Gabe, has an uncanny ability to hold the attention of everyone in the room with his words.  I’ll never forget how he was telling us a story of his time in Japan.  When he finished his story, half the class had to take a break and leave the room.  His words permeated throughout the air and affected us so deeply.  

     During the same semester, I also became engrossed in expanding my knowledge of using technology in the classroom.  Not being an Apple person, I purchased an Android tablet.  My use of that device lasted all of about three weeks.  I became frustrated with its’ interface and I was having issues with the screen.  I decided to break down and trade it in for the new, at the time, iPad 3.  To say that I have become an iPad fan would be an understatement.

     While exploring the uses of the iPad for use in the classroom, I came across Kathy Schrock’s website.  I became both ecstatic and engrossed with the myriad of possibilities that this device could offer students and teachers in the classroom.  Her page, Bloomin’ Apps, incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy and device apps is mind blowing.  During my exploration of that page I came across the process of digital storytelling and how it can be used with students to help them explore and gain knowledge.  The idea of combining the art of storytelling with technology in the classroom got me extremely excited, and I knew that I had to explore this concept even more. Being able to put visuals such as images, maps, and charts, together with storytelling creates a much more in depth experience that involves and stimulates more of one's multiple intelligences.

     In the midst of my exploration, I felt like a digital Indiana Jones, I came across an app for the iPad, and other iOS devices, called Puppet Pals.  This was my Sivalinga Stone, Holy Grail, and Ark of the Covenant all in one.  This app could allow for students to explore, construct, and learn with ease.  After buying the the Director’s Pass for only $2.99 I could create a digital story about any subject I wanted.  The most exciting part for me was that I could incorporate myself, friends, family, and more importantly history into my stories.  With the Director’s Pass I now had the ability to research tell a historical story with ease.  The app allows you to take, or import pictures, from your iPad and make them part of your story. Being a visual learner myself, digital storytelling allows me to experience history in a new and exciting way.

     After seeing the movie Lincoln, I decided to explore the Civil War through my own digital story.  The Puppet Pals app gave me a welcoming interface and environment to express some of my ideas and thoughts about the Civil War.  This is what I came up with.

     During the course of the Revolutions! unit, students will be creating their own digital stories using the iPad and the Puppet Pals app.  As I transition to the next step of my student teaching at Catlin Gabel, I will be coaching the students on how to use the app, and how to create their own historical digital story.  I believe that the process of digital storytelling will create excitement, intrigue, exploration, and growth in both the students and me.


Pictures courtesy of:
http://www.watchthisspace.ca/pixelpost/images/20070825165040_around_the_fire_wales.jpg
http://www.indianajones.com/site/enlarge.html?filePath=media/photos/large/991130-photo-55.jpg