Lightwell at Viewpoint: Alison Corneau
Part of our #SpotlightSeries in Lightwell Education 🎒👩🏫 💻 🍏 🚀🌗👩🚀 Where an inspiring teacher leads her entire 5th grade class in building Space apps.
This month, we’re excited to spotlight the innovative work of Alison Corneau at Viewpoint School!
As the Computer Technology Integration Specialist, we were automatically drawn to her creative and fun approach of using technology in the classroom. This year, she integrated Lightwell into her 5th grade technology class and had each student build their own interactive iPad app about space.
The curriculum ranged from studying outer space in Reading and Science to building robots to mirror a Mars lander mission to building interactive scenes in their own space app. 🚀
We sat down and talked to her about her approach to the project and what her students learned from building apps in Lightwell. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we had talking to her!
Describe the project your students created with Lightwell.
The Fifth Graders were learning how to do research in their Reading class and the teacher chose the topic of outer space. They took copious notes from various print and online resources and self-selected different subtopics to narrow their research further. I then used Lightwell’s Night Sky template as a starting point for students to build from and incorporate what they learned into their app development. 🌌📲
How was app creation integrated into the curriculum and what other subjects did it work with?
The Science curriculum tied in beautifully since the teacher was starting an astronomy unit at the same time which led into a robotics unit. The curriculum ranged from studying outer space in Reading and Science to building robots to mirror a Mars lander mission to building interactive scenes in their own space app. 🚀
Students became budding astronomers using technology, research, science, design, and robotics.
How has app development encouraged your students?
Creating the app allowed them to dive deeper into their knowledge about astronomy.
The first lesson they learned was to manipulate layers in each scene. They started with placing their own face in the astronaut suit, which jumpstarted the excitement of personalizing their app. This really sparked their imagination! 👩🚀 👨🚀
They brought research that they compiled from their Reading class, added it as informational text in their scenes, and added more layers to customize the images. Allowing freedom to create while maintaining the structure of research was key, and they were constantly pumped up to create more!
This software is great because no matter what the student’s ability or comfort level with technology, each student achieved a level of success relative to their constantly growing skillset.
What did your students learn by using Lightwell?
Students learned patience and problem-solving through the process of building their own apps.
They learned the basics of organizing and adding assets as layers. They learned how to add sound effects and create interactions. They also were reminded about digital footprints and image copyrights. Since most students used online resources to find images to replace and add layers, they gained experience finding images that are fair-use or found in Creative Commons.
What do you like about Lightwell in the classroom?
This software is great because no matter what the student’s ability or comfort level with technology, each student achieved a level of success relative to their constantly growing skillset. The previewer app was a crucial piece to the success as well. The students were able to see their design in real-time and were able to make changes as needed to achieve the result they were looking for.
The end result was a native iOS app on the iPad and it is a STUNNING product.
The images were crisp and clear and the quality was amazing. The interactions worked well. Most of all, the customer service and support was beyond compare!
Thank you Alison 🙌 We can’t wait to see the amazing things you empower your students to create in the future!
For more inspiration from Alison, you can follow her on Twitter @a_corneau!
