Flipped Math Classroom

The pilot phase of the Flipped Math Classroom project is ending this week.  The decision about what phase 2 will look like will be announced soon.

Flipped Professional Development

QR Code Scavanger Hunt

Several of the blog posts from the Flipped Blog talk about sources of inspiration for projects. Day 92, for example, talked about the vision of a teacher for extending and elaborating a project. Students themselves are also prime sources of inspiration for professional development projects. A series of ideas generated by several students at Rutherford elementary school this morning illustrate how this can happen.

A project was initiated last year called “Green Newspaper”.  This project used Google docs to assemble newspaper articles about events in the school.  These articles were written collaboratively by students and published on the school website. This fall, this same idea was transplanted to another elementary school.  Now both schools are using a combination of Google docs and Google sites to produce newspaper editions.

When brainstorming possibilities for an upcoming issue at Rutherford elementary, one student suggested a mystery scavenger hunt. This idea was examined by a small committee of sixth-grade students and two teachers for elaboration.  After discussing several possibilities, the committee settled on an idea called “QR Code Scavenger Hunt”.

The content area for the scavenger hunt will be social studies. The unit of study will center around ancient civilizations. Using a QR code generator  from http://qrcode.kaywa.com/,  QR codes  will be generated for URL  addresses showing images for items or artifacts relating to ancient civilizations such as clothing, tools, art, transportation, religion, or shelter. The HTML embed code will be added to pages in a flipchart which can be used at school or at home (using the Personal Edition).  The QR images will also be inserted into a series of Google docs for internet access and will be printed to paper for physical distribution around the classroom  school.


These QR code images  can be read by a QR code reader on an iPAD, iPhone, iPod touch, or other mobile device. There are several free reader applications available for these devices such as “Scan” and “RedLaser”.   When an image is read, the mobile device produces the image of the URL address. Students see this image, make a decision about which ancient civilization produced it, and record their observation on a Culture Strand Scorecard.  This scorecard can be a traditional paper version, a Google doc version, or both.


When the scorecard is completed,  this scavenger hunt ends. Students go to the Green Newspaper, open the link to a Google survey, and record their answers. Results of the survey are automatically entered into a spreadsheet.  Student editors and teachers access this information and report back with the results. The winner of the scavenger hunt is the first student who successfully completes the survey with all of the correct answers. This winner is then recognized in the next edition of the Green Newspaper.


One interesting perspective for this project is its relationship to the Rosetta Stone.  A staple in the British Museum since 1802, the Rosetta Stone provided the means to translate the previously mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphs.  QR codes, in a sense, are a modern equivalent.  They are a way to codify and translate digital information.

There are a variety of ways that this project can be used in a classroom. There might be several scavenger hunts that focus on different culture strands, or there might be a gradual unveiling of QR code clues. These clues might be revealed after completing other tasks, for example. Regardless of how this project might manifest, instructional movies will need to be made to show both teachers and students how to manipulate the technical elements and how to develop strategies for implementation.