Classroom Unit: Explorando los impactos de inundaciones en nuestro barrio / Exploring the impacts of flooding in our neighborhood

Abstract

This unit was designed in the Winter-Spring of 2022 for an after school coding club run by a long-time PiLa-CS partner teacher who taught Science bilingually at a middle school in Upper Manhattan. The club was held weekly, sometimes twice weekly. Student attendance ranged from 2-7 students, they attended intermittently around other after school commitments. Many students had experiences with strong storms from living in New York City and/or the Caribbean. The teacher asked students if they’d want to create Scratch projects about the issue of flooding, and students expressed interest. Students were all bilinguals (Spanish/English), though none who attended were designated “English Language Learners” at the time. The unit unfolded fluidly, in response to student and teacher interests. Essential Questions: How can digital maps and stories help us address problems caused by flooding? How do communities come together in times of need? Goals: Students will create Scratch projects that illustrate / explain the experience of a person in the area during this Summer’s flooding. The project should share some problem caused by flooding and/or a potential solution to flooding.