Crawling, Walking, Talking, and QR Codes

This is a cooperating unit between the LifeSpan teacher and the Media Specialist. Students in the Child Lifespan class were learning about infant and toddler mental, physical, and emotional development. The teacher wanted to include technology to enhance the unit. With cooperation from the Media Specialist, students were introduced to a variety of technology. The teacher taught the lesson while the MS incorporated the technology into each lesson. Cell phones, iPods, and iPads were used to scan QR codes in a scavenger hunt to teach physical development in the first year of life. After scanning a code, students had to be a baby and perform one of the skills from a list for that month. Their group took pictures of the action with their mobile device. After all 12 codes were scanned and pictures taken, students uploaded their pictures from their mobile device to Animoto in the computer lab with the Media Specialist’s help to create a video of the baby’s learning. Animoto was also used as extra credit as the class was using the “Think It Over” babies. Students would create a video of their night(s) with their baby. Next, students returned to the computer lab with the MS to create a 3-D pop-up book using Zooburst. The book was about the emotional and mental development of babies and toddlers. All videos and books were placed on the Child Development wiki. Students also emailed their project to their mobile devices to show parents and others. This meant their projects were readily accessible. As a conclusion of the unit, students used a student response system, Beyond Question, to review for their final test.

The objective of the “Child Development” unit is for students to:
A. experience the demands of a young infant
B. master skills in caring for a young infant through parenting simulation
C. reflect on their readiness to be a parent
D. incorporate technology into the learning process