QR Codes

Have you noticed those strange little black and white boxes that keep popping up in news papers, magazines, billboards, and advertisments?  I knew they had to do something with technology but I didn't know for sure so I've been calling them "Robot boxes" for a couple of weeks now.

IT turns out that my nick name for the black and white square was not quite accurate (surprise surprise).  The small black and white boxes are called QR codes and they are quite amazing.

First of all, QR codes are kind of old news and new news at the same time.  They were first invented by the Japanese company Denso Wave back in 1994. The codes are a way of storing and transmitting text based information such as an item description, web site, or contact information quickly.  The codes spread across Japan and Asia but took a while to get to the United States.  It hasn't until recent years that QR codes have become popular here in the states.  The codes can be a lot of fun but you will need a few tools in order to really capitalize on them.

Things you will need:
1) A smart phone, iTouch, or newish laptop.  These item all have two things in common. They all have cameras built into them and all have access to the internet.
2) QR reader app or software.  There is a wide variety of these so you will need to search for the right one for you.  Most of them are very cheap or FREE.  Red Laser is the reader I have used.
3)QR generator (optional) such as QRstuff.com (also FREE)

First, take you gadget (smart phone, iTouch, or laptop) and download the QR reader software. Then, once you've installed and opened the application you need to go find something with a QR code on it (Posted one at the top of this post).  In fact, go find a couple things that have QR codes.  The codes are very versitile and can do lots of different things so it would be good to find codes in different places so you can see the different things that they can do.

Now right here is were most people stop.  They get the reader and they use it to read all the coeds that surround them.  If you REALLY want to have some fun then you need to move on to step three.  There are websites that can create QR codes for you and then you can start posting you own codes all over the place for others to scan.  This step is where I started to think about integrating QR codes into the classroom.

I had this crazy idea while I was walking home today.  I was thinking about a High School Biology class that was learning about Mammalian anatomy.  Since most people learn best by actually "doing" something Bio student will often times dissect fetal pigs or other small animals to get a better understand of the anatomy and how it works and how they are interconnected.

My idea would be to have the kids carry out the dissection as usual BUT when students opened up the pig and found the liver they would also find a QR code tattooed on that liver that they could then scan.  The QR code would then take the kids to a YouTube video that would play a short clip that explains that they are looking at a liver and talk briefly about what the liver does.  Each organ in the pig would be tattooed with its own QR code and each code would take the student to a different video that would explain something new.  OH MAN, I just think that would be the craziest science class ever!  Odiously, that's not a very practical idea but I do think we could alter it slightly to get something more "doable".  A Biology teacher could have a previously dissected pig with QR's pinned to the different organs.

I feel like QR codes could be used in other lessons as well.  You could do a QR scavenger hunt around your school or even on a field-trip around a museum.  Teachers could all sorts of interesting things with them.  I'm excited about exploring them further.