Students Bring Water Cycle to Life

In Ms. Rhett’s third grade class, students are currently learning about the water cycle. With the class iPads, they incorporate technology to bring condensation, precipitation, evaporation and accumulation to life.

Using markers on paper, students worked in pairs to illustrate the continuous movement of water. They identified the different phases and described each element, in writing. Amanda Stavropoulos, Innovative Technology Coordinator for the Lower School, then introduced Thinglink to the class.
Thinglink is an image engagement app that allows the user to add clickable tags to any photo, transforming a static image into a navigational surface and creating an interactive experience.
Once the student teams captured their drawings with the iPad, they took turns tagging each feature, loading the data from their research along the way. Once their work was complete, they emailed the augmented photo to Ms. Rhett to share with the entire class.
When asked about his favorite aspect of the project, Christopher Collins answered, “ I liked the iPad part. When we were typing, we noticed we made some mistakes and we could correct them. We learn more when we type in what we wrote.”
Classmate Aubrey Ellis added, “I think it will be when I see the whole thing finished.”
These innovative third graders discovered their own cycle: researching, drawing, describing, capturing, tagging and sharing. The cycle of interactive learning.