Micro:bit Parade Floats

Overview

Inspired by food trucks and Hong Kong's parade floats, this teaching design was originally conceived for an exchange with a sister school in Beijing. Students are asked to design a Micro:bit car and learn to programmeit to move back and forth. This lesson can develop students' creativity, as they need to design the appearance of the float and the Hong Kong-style, Chinese-style, and Sino-Hong Kong fusion food on the vehicle.

This lesson is student-centered, with the goal of cultivating students' entrepreneurial spirit. Students will introduce their designed Sino-Hong Kong fusion food and parade float to their peers, promoting the food culture of Hong Kong and mainland China.

The hands-on experience of designing and programming the Micro:bit car, as well as the promotion of parade floats and cuisines, allows students to apply their knowledge and skills in a practical, engaging context. Through this process, they can develop not only technical competencies, but also creativity, communication, and entrepreneurial mindsets – valuable assets for their future endeavors.　In this open lesson, the speaker will present the teaching process and students' learning outcomes. The speaker will share students' work for the participants to view, and also discuss the challenges encountered in the teaching process.

This open lesson will also feature a workshop session, where the teacher will lead the participants in experiencing the students' process of constructing the parade float and making Sino-Hong Kong fusion food using air dry clay.

This approach allows the participants to not only observe the students' final products, but also gain insights into the teaching and learning journey. By involving the participants in hands-on activities similar to what the students experienced, the workshop component provides a deeper understanding of the pedagogical approaches and the skills developed through this interdisciplinary project.

The sharing of both the successes and challenges faced during the implementation aims to offer valuable insights for other educators interested in adopting teaching strategies.　

Participants of this open lesson will:
1. experience the use of computational thinking to design model cars, boosting their confidence in employing computational thinking in their teaching;
2. experience how to guide students in unleashing their creativity; and
3. gain more inspiration for designing STEAM classroom activities.