Makey Makey: Invasive Species Project

Student Work Ahead of Time

6th and 7th grade students were learning about the effects of invasive species around the world.  We took a 4ft by 6ft world map, wired buttons in the 15 countries most affected by these species, and then coded a program in scratch to play a recorded message when the buttons were touched.

They researched about the species, where it came from, how it traveled, how it is affecting the countries, and how residents are dealing with it.  Students wrote a short script to tell their classmates about the species. With help from the LITT, Library Instructional Technology Teacher, students used scratch to code a program that showed a picture of the species and played a recording of their speech, thus creating an interactive poster of their research!

The Construction of the Map

Connect the wires to a Makey Makey at the bottom of the map. Students worked into teams of 2-4 and assigned an invasive species.   The Makey Makey map connects to the scratch project via a Chromebook, the "buttons," or copper tape tags, on the map trigger the code to run.
To see more about the code for scratch click the slide deck below.

Invasive Species Slide Deck

If you have more questions about this project please contact Suzanne Peerenboom, the LITT at Five Oaks Middle School.

email Suzanne!