Seventh graders in South Orangetown Middle School Social Studies teacher Sarah Kukla’s classes are recreating Revolutionary War battles virtually as part of their current unit.
With help from K-12 Instructional Technology Coach Marc Eckert, Kukla developed an interactive project using CoSpaces to recreate battles including the Battles of Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Long Island, Trenton and Saratoga. Students worked in small groups to research one of those battles and had to create three scenes for the battle.
“Students use coding and 3D technology to show the course of the battle. Students are learning how to code movement, sounds and animation. Seventh grade students are excited to create their own scenes and have had fun learning about the Revolutionary War,” explained Kukla. To create an accurate representation of the battle, students had to include the geography of the location of their battle, contributing factors of the battle and include aspects of the battle including cannons, horses and soldiers into their scenes. After completing the beginning, middle and end of their three scenes, students had to write a summary of the battle they chose.