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Daily Do

How can we build a dialogue with Alexa using Alexa-MIT App Inventor?

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How can we build a dialogue with Alexa using Alexa-MIT App Inventor?

Sensemaking Checklist

Welcome to NSTA's Daily Do

Teachers and families across the country are facing a new reality of providing opportunities for students to do science through distance and home learning. The Daily Do is one of the ways NSTA is supporting teachers and families with this endeavor. Each weekday, NSTA will share a sensemaking task teachers and families can use to engage their students in authentic, relevant science learning. We encourage families to make time for family science learning (science is a social process!) and are dedicated to helping students and their families find balance between learning science and the day-to-day responsibilities they have to stay healthy and safe.

Interested in learning about other ways NSTA is supporting teachers and families? Visit the NSTA homepage.

What Is Sensemaking?

Sensemaking is actively trying to figure out how the world works (science) or how to design solutions to problems (engineering). Students do science and engineering through the science and engineering practices. Engaging in these practices necessitates that students be part of a learning community to be able to share ideas, evaluate competing ideas, give and receive critique, and reach consensus. Whether this community of learners is made up of classmates or family members, students and adults build and refine science and engineering knowledge together.

Lesson Snapshot

On Day 1, high school students, as scientists, reflect on the information our bodies provide to answer the following driving question: How do we know when we are physically well or unwell? Students support a claim about physical wellness based on qualitative or quantitative evidence gathered from one or more health indicators of the human whole-body system. On Day 2, high school students, as scientists, revise and use an existing computer program to begin to answer the following driving question: Can we use AI to input data and receive output to help monitor our physical wellness? Students use a computer program and, based on patterns of performance, modify the program to support Artificial Intelligence (AI) in responding to multiple users.

Click the Download PDF button above for the complete Lesson Plan.

Materials

Asset 2