Yesterday was hot in Amsterdam! It rose to 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) in the classroom where we teaching and there is no air conditioning.
We had planned a digital literacy lesson for four classes of students ages 6-8 focused on software: how the app store works and the role that branding and logos play in online usage. Students were supposed to use iPads to make a series of sketches during a series of rapid prototyping sessions. But life had other plans as the sketching app disappeared from all of the iPads.
Markers, paper and quick thinking by our teachers to the rescue! Instead, we turned the lesson into a game. We challenged students to draw a series of logos for apps within a time limit. They loved it. Yes, there were students who struggled to formulate an idea and then sketch it quickly but after a few rounds, most students understood that rapid prototyping is about generating simple, rough ideas.
There were some students that actually blew us away with how quickly they were able to produce original sketches.
When life gives NewTechKids lemons, we make lemonade.
