Running Head: Student Creativity Project

Student Creativity Project

Andrew Wagner

University of St. Francis

EEND 675

Foundations of Educational Technology

Instructor: Dr. Lisa White-McNulty

October 6, 2017

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Student Creativity Project

Overview of Lesson

The lesson chosen for this assignment is designed for my physical science class, which is

comprised of 22 students. Most of the students are sophomores and many have IEP or 504 plans

or are ELL. The ability level of this class ranges from 3rd grade reading and math skills to almost

at grade level. This class is co-taught with a special education teacher and we try to differentiate

instruction based on the many abilities and needs of the students in the class.

This lesson is a lesson on forces, which falls roughly halfway through the course.

Students learn about the different types of forces and learn how to draw force diagram with

arrows to represent the different forces acting upon objects. The students will have conducted an

activity in the previous lesson where they match force diagrams to descriptions and determine

whether the forces or balanced or unbalanced.

In this lesson, the students will create their own situations and create the force diagram

pictures to go with them. Several of the students struggle with fine motor skills, so having them

draw is usually impractical. I decided to several of the digital comic creators to make it easier for

my students to focus on their creativity in their force diagrams and less on drawing. I was

initially intrigued by Pixton (2017) because it had a much wider range of backgrounds and

characters to choose from than some of the other tools. However, students would need to be able

to draw arrows to show forces for the assignment, and Pixton didnt have arrows or a suitable

alternative. I selected Strip Generator (2017) for this assignment because the backgrounds are

simple (less distracting for my students) and it does have the ability to draw arrows.

I selected a cartoon tool for this assignment to build student interest and engagement in

the lesson as they are able to channel their creativity in a visual manner (Saxema, 2013). Rather

than simply asking students to select a single object or character and then label the forces with

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Student Creativity Project

arrows, they will need to use the shapes and objects available in Strip Generator to create

scenes, which will better tell the story of what is happening in each picture. This will foster

true creativity on the part of my students, rather than simply having them use fully built images

(Johnson, 2014). This creativity aspect to build the scene will also be assessed as part of the

assignment (Johnson, 2014).

Standards and Learning Objectives

The learning standards measured by this formative assessment are:

NGSS-HS-PS2-1: Analyze data to support the claim that Newtons second law of motion

describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its

mass, and its acceleration.

The student technology standards for this formative assessment are:

ISTE-S-6 Creative Communicator

o 6b: Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital

resources into new creations.

o 6c: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or

using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

The unit learning targets that apply to this lesson are:

Identify the types of mechanical forces: gravity, friction, normal, tension, applied.

Draw force diagrams.

Identify objects as having balanced or unbalanced forces.

Link to sample work: Sample Forces Cartoon

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Student Creativity Project

Name _________________________________

Forces Comic Strips

You will create a digital comic strip to demonstrate your understanding of the types of forces and
how to draw force diagrams for objects.
Requirements:
You will create at least 6 scenes showing a variety of different force combinations.
At least 2 of your scenes must contain unbalanced forces.
You must use all of the types of forces:
o Gravity, normal, friction, applied, tension
At least 2 of your scenes must contain more than one object in them. The ground or
ceiling may count as an object.
You will use dialogue boxes to indicate whether the forces are balance or unbalance and
state which forces are present.
Directions:
1. Open http://stripgenerator.com/ and click on Create new strip.
2. Click on the Frames tab and select either 2 Rows or Full Page to pick a layout that
has at least 6 frames in it.
3. Select characters, beings, or objects from the tabs and click and drag to where you want
to place them in each frame. You can modify the size, angle, and location of any object.
4. Add arrows to show forces using the Items tab and then shapes. Arrows are found on
the 4th set. Change the size of the arrow to indicate the size of the force.
5. Use text boxes to add text about whether the forces are balanced or unbalance. List the
forces included in each scene.
6. When finished, publish your cartoon and print the image as a pdf file, which you can

upload to Google Drive. Submit your file through Google Classroom.

*You may not copy the work of another student, nor may you use any images or scenes that

would be considered inappropriate for school.

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Student Creativity Project

Works Cited

ISTE (n.d.) ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved September 29, 2017 from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students#startstandards

NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Johnson, D. (2014). Power up! Technology and the illusion of creativity. Educational
Leadership, 71(7), 84-85. Retrieved October 6, 2017 from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/apr14/vol71/num07/Technology-and-the-Illusion-of-Creativity.aspx

Pixton Comics. (2017). Make a Comic or Storyboard. Retrieved October 6, 2017 from
https://www.pixton.com/

Saxena, S. (2013, November 14). How can technology enhance student creativity?
EdTechReview. Retrieved October 6, 2017 from http://edtechreview.in/trends-
insights/insights/750-how-can-technology-enhance-student-creativity

StripGenerator. (n.d.). Strip Generator. Retrieved October 6, 2017

from http://stripgenerator.com/