Last Thursday, November 8, Albuquerque Public Schools and Discovery Education joined forces to host an open house event at Zuni Elementary School. The purpose of the event was to shine a light on the ways APS educators are transforming teaching and learning through the use of digital media. APS is leveraging the power of technology and digital content to engage students as they integrate Common Core.
The event began with an opening presentation and an opportunity to hear from Superintendent Brooks. The audience participated in the game “Are you smarter than a Zuni Student Ambassador 5th grader?” where they were quizzed on their 21st century learning knowledge. The participants then had the opportunity to experience hands-on stations in a variety of subject areas to explore the digital tools and resources being used in classrooms across the district. Parents, students and teachers rotated through stations where they:
- Traveled back in time to re-enact Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite experiment as they created a green screen video
- Explored the parts of speech through games, songs and videos as they created a paper slide video
- Learned the foundations of calculating area through interactive math overviews and quizzes
- Explored the concepts of air pressure, chemical reactions and the different types of bird beaks through lab experiments
- Listened to students from Zuni as they shared their stories of how they have used DE resources
The event was a success in large part because of the hard work and dedication from the Zuni educators, DE Student Ambassadors and our APS DEN STARs. On behalf of DE I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy week to support the event and share their stories.
All of the resources from this event will be shared with the APS community to empower them with the tools to host their own community events. If you are interested in hosting a this type of event in your district you can find the resources HERE.