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Session 33: TLO #4: U2L2 - Building a Network

60 minutes

lesson exploration | role play

Purpose

The importance of unplugged lessons are reinforced in this lesson. This lesson is also a foundational lesson for the unit.

Objectives

  • Participants understand that mental models and manipulatives provide equitable access to content

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • Normal Breakout Room Set Up

Facilitator Supplies:

Participant Materials:

Agenda

Intro and Lesson (42 minutes)

Debrief (18 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Intro and Lesson (42 minutes)

Producer Tip

You should have information from the teaching group on how they would like to handle breakout rooms. Verify that the information is correct during the break prior to the session

(0 minutes) Teaching Group Set Up

Teaching group sets up during break.

Producer: Temporarily give the teaching group Co-Host privileges so that they can move in between breakout rooms.

Producer: If using breakout rooms, set up the participant rooms, a “Teacher” room, and a “Facilitator” room

(1 minute) Previously On

  • Remind participants that the watched a video covering the Previously, On in their last asynchronous session.

(1 minute) Reinforce Roles

Remind participants of what it means to be a learner or a teacher. Have them put their hats on before handing it over to the teaching group.

Facilitator Tip

To make teachers feel more comfortable, it may be a good idea to turn off your camera throughout the lesson and/or change your name to “Facilitator - Ignore Me”. This can be helpful while moving through breakout rooms so “students” do not look to you for answers.

Facilitator Tip

If breakout rooms are used, it is important to get a sense of what is happening in them. As you move through the rooms, make sure that you are not providing input. If you are asked for it, remind teachers using chat that you are not a teacher right now and they can use the call for help button if needed.

Producer Tip

Just as with facilitators in breakout rooms, you may need to act as a “messenger” for the teachers. If a group presses the “call for help” button, you will need to find the teachers and inform them that a group is asking for help.

(40 minutes) Lesson

Participants will need to modify this lesson

Code.org Modifications Document

Facilitator Instructions

Be attentive to what is happening during the lesson as you select your debrief goals, reflection prompts, and discussion prompts. During the lesson, it is recommended that you communicate with your co-facilitator to share what you are seeing in the lesson and develop a shared understanding of the goal of the debrief for the lesson. You can communicate through Slack or through passing notes to one another. You are looking for the teaching group to demonstrate the “Essential practice” and “Teaching group decisions” identified in the debrief below.

Lesson Plan Link

Lesson Slides Link

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, students are formed into groups of 5-7 and given string so they can connect themselves together to form a computer network. Students are given several specific networks to form, along with several guidelines for how to best form computer networks. Students are also forced to wrestle with conflicting guidelines in determining the ‘best’ way to connect together to form a network, and will need to justify why they chose the networks that they did.

Debrief (18 minutes)

Debrief process reminder:

  • (~5 minutes) Start with displaying the reflection prompt slide. Have the participants who acted as learners reflect on the reflection prompt(s) individually.
    • While the room is reflecting, have the teaching group in a breakout room and discuss and be prepared to share their “Choices, Advice, and Takeaways”.
  • When the teaching group is ready, have them share their Choices, Advice, and Takeaways with the room to start the debrief.
  • After they have shared, applaud the teaching group and lead the group discussion using the discussion prompts. Once again, post discussion prompts on a slide to help keep track of the conversation.

Suggested Debrief Plan
To Watch for During the Lesson Essential
Practices
Students use manipulatives (the string) to collaboratively address progressively more challenging tasks that help them build a mental model of networks.
Potential Teaching Group Decisions
  • Teachers reinforce use of manipulatives during the lesson.
  • Teachers encourage participants to explain their thinking and process to one another in the group.
  • Teachers acknowledge contributions from a variety of participants in the group.
  • Teachers facilitate a conversation at the end of the lesson to connect the CS content to the activity.
If the essential practices, listed above, are present in the lesson we recommend the following for your debrief:
Debrief Direction Topic Equity
Goal Teachers understand how to use widgets in the classroom to support understanding of computer science content.
To reach this goal, consider using the following reflection and discussion prompts:
Debrief Suggestions Reflection
Prompt
  • As a learner, what prior knowledge did you need to engage in this lesson?
  • What skills did you need?
Discussion
Prompts
This lesson is structured to help students build a mental model of a network using string to physically simulate the network. As a teacher, how would this lesson be different in your class if it were taught without using these physical materials?
  • How would the use of physical materials affect engagement in the class?
  • How would the use of manipulatives change who has access to the material?

FACILITATOR NOTES:
  • As you discuss this prompt, look for places to draw out the decisions for this lesson, listed above.
  • A key message to this debrief should be “do not skip lessons with manipulatives”. Skipping lessons can create barriers for students in accessing the content because that creates gaps for students later on.


FACILITATOR NOTE: During your debrief, avoid the topic of teaching in the virtual world unless you know the majority of teachers will be virtual next year. Many teachers will be in person, and conversations about choices made for the virtual setting will not be helpful as teachers return to the classroom.