Elements4D - not quite as we expected

I was very excited to use the Elements4D app with my class today for our lesson on the periodic table. About a month ago, I introduced the class to another augmented reality app, the colAr app. That app worked so well, we had high hopes for Elements4D.

I had tested the app at home and liked how images of the elements appeared when a cube was scanned by the app.  I really liked that when Hydrogen and Oxygen were scanned together, students saw water in the combined cubes.  I saw potential for using Elements4D in two or three of our third grade physical science lessons, especially after reviewing the well-thought out lesson plans on the Elements4D website.  It seemed worthwhile to go in over the weekend and load the Elements4D app on our iPads.  I was willing to  watch a movie one evening and put 24 element cubes together for the students to use.  I thought I was set.

This morning I went in early to be sure the app was working on the school iPads like it does on mine at home.  It didn't.  When I pointed the first iPad camera at an element cube, the app switched off. So, I tried another iPad; the app switched off.  Thinking three was my lucky number (or just plain hoping for a different result), I tried one more time.  The app didn't work.  I hate it when that happens.

As is inevitable sometimes with technology use, I had to quickly regroup. My goal for this lesson was for the students to gain some familiarity with the periodic table and with some elements, familiar and unfamiliar.  Fortunately, there are resource links in the Elements4D lesson that I could still use.  I showed the class the relative sizes of an aluminum can and an atom of aluminum using the "zoom in" feature at www.strangematterexhibit.com.    After a quick Google search, I modified a worksheet from the Elements4D lesson; instead of having students sketch the element from the image they would have seen using the app, I had them answer questions about the element from the interactive periodic table found at www.chemicalelements.com.    

I even managed to use the element cubes that I had laboriously made.  Which elements did each student look up?  Why, the 6 elements conveniently located on their own personal cube.

The lesson was a success in two ways.  Students achieved the original goal; they enjoyed locating and researching the elements on their cubes.  They also learned that with technology, you often have to adapt.  While in this season of Thanksgiving, we are thankful for apps, but we are even more thankful for our brains to use when the apps don't work in the ways we anticipated.