Wednesday 23 September 2015

Year 8 Science

The Year 8 girls have been studying the properties of Light during Term Three.  To make their knowledge come to life they worked in groups to design and use their understanding of how light travels to complete a project of designing and creating either a periscope or light some rooms in a house.





Although there were some frustrations with the electrical circuit not working as well as we had planned, the girls were able to move through the process to apply their knowledge of light.  Time spent on decorating the houses could have been more wisely allocated to testing the electrical installation of the lights.  The periscope groups had a lot of fun adjusting the mirrors to the exact angles to be able to see more clearly.  The deadline for a completed project always creeps up on you well before you are ready, and this unit of work was constantly under pressure but the girls did well to create a couple of video explaining how they constructed their project and how it worked.



Integration of Art and Maori

During Term Three I had the pleasure of working with both the Art and Maori teachers in combining a unit of work with the Year 6 students.  The brief was to use their knowledge from Maori and Art to produce a pendant or magnet.  Through Maori the girls learnt about the patterns depicted in the wharenui.  They discussed the meaning behind the traditional colours of red, white, black and green and chose their object accordingly.  As students drew their images, they were mindful that these pictures held a story and the design of their fridge magnet of pendant had to represent something of personal meaning to each individual.  Through their art classes, they looked at shapes. They were challenged to identify open and closed, positive and negative spaces on their design and use the same image replicated differently with these concepts.  Finally the design was printed using our 3D printers.  We used an app on the iPad called PrintShop which captured a photo of the girls design. From here we were able to resize and manipulate it before printing it.  Many thanks to Maria and Sue for your combined effort to make this unit of work such a success.



Monday 21 September 2015

Celebrating a term long project in Code Club

In term 3 the Code Club girls were challenged to spend the term making a game using Scratch.  The girls could choose one of three options:

  • they could create a game from scratch (pun not intended)
  • they could continue to build upon a project we had worked on earlier in the year in Code Club
  • they could remix an existing project that they found on Scratch and make it into their own

Setting goals and working to targets, the girls created some wonderful games including (but not limited too) being a cat and having to keep a ball in the air, adventure games where you find hidden treasure and a game in which you make customisable robots. 

In the final week of term 3 we spend a period one afternoon sharing these games with the other Year 4, 5 and 6 girls who all seemed to enjoy giving them a go. After school we had a celebratory afternoon tea with the girls' parents and also gave them a chance to experience the products of a lot of hard work.

Great job Code Clubbers!  I can't wait to see what you create next term.

Jessica showcasing her game

A classroom of gamers!

Lucy shows us the code behind her robot game

The parents get involved too

Thursday 13 August 2015

Y7 Project Based Learning

The year 7 students have been working with their ENSS teachers on a unit about sustainability.  The brief that these students have been given was to design something that would attract birdlife back into our urban environment.  Some of the students created bird feeders, planter boxes and perches. The girls had access to the 3D printers in the Centre for Innovation as well as materials they acquired from home.

 Below are a range of images from the "share" session where students presented what they had achieved and what they had learnt from the design process that 
they followed. The students followed the "Pecha Kucha" style of presentation where each group prepared only one slide and had only 2 minutes to showcase their project.  Using this style we got to enjoy the work of 15 different groups in one lesson.





Tuesday 11 August 2015

4.30 Show Filming

Last week we had the 4.30 crew here filming our school in action.  We were excited to invite Adam and Eve, hosts of the show, to see what was happening in the Centre for Innovation.  
Filming the 3D printer in action
Mia, Holly, Annabelle and Caitlin explaining what they do in the Robotics Club

Two of our Year 9 girls - Holly and Emma, discussed the range of clubs that they have been involved in this year.  Holly and Emma are currently active in Robotics, The Internet of Things, and Gadget Girls.  More information about these clubs can be found under each of the tabs above.  The show is expected to air on 18 September.


Thursday 6 August 2015

St Margaret's College Preschool

It has been delightful working with the children from the Preschool.  The Gadget Girls group have identified that they would like to design and create some useful toys for the preschoolers at St Margaret's College.  We have visited the children and discussed with the them what they would like.


We have also had the preschool children visit us in the Centre for Innovation.
Testing out the fencing that is being designed.  Next step is to create the animals.




 Watching the 3D printer in action

We are loving our weekly visits from the PreSchool children.  This week there was time to introduce everyone to our Beebots.  We hope that in future weeks the children will be able to have more involvement in using the Beebots as part of their learning programme. 








Medbury School

Throughout Term Three and Four the Year 6 boys from Medbury School will be visiting the Centre for Innovation.  These two classes will be involved in a design technology unit where the boys are researching and creating a medal from WWII.  This practical component is linked to an existing unit of work that the boys are studying with their teachers. The medal designs will link to a specific battle or honour from the war and we aim to 3D print these using the expertise and facilities at St Margaret's College.

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Beebots

I have experimented with the use of Beebots with our Year 1 and 2 students and discovered that the Beebot App is much more advanced in thinking than I expected.  The activities that I have set up with the Beebot robots on the clear mats seem much more appropriate and will enable the girls to develop confidence in directional movement.
An issue we ran into early was differentiating which way was 'left' and which way was 'right'.  So a solution that we are trying is using 3D printed Beebots with L and R to help students work out which way to turn when they are using the Beebot App.  On the robots I have blue tacked on L and R to help the children determine which direction to move on the mats.
Left: Using the Beebot App with the 3D printed Bees
Right: A possible solution to help students learn which way to turn

Spatial orientation is challenging at this age, especially when trying to programme the bot to move in a specific sequence.


The clear mats are versatile and can be adapted to a number of learning environments.  We are currently using colour, and numbers as target spots for our Beebots to pause on.  The year 2 students have also started to record their movements by using the whiteboard to write down their moves. They are being introduced to basic 'coding'.  Working in pairs and small groups has given the girls an opportunity to work collaboratively and to problem solve a range of challenges.









Year 9 Science

As part of Year 9 Science, Sarah Smallman’s class embarked on a conductivity theme using MakeyMakey Kits.  They had been learning about electricity, conductors and insulators, and they teamed up with Linda Chong in the Centre for Innovation to put their skills into practice.  The students used the MakeyMakey kits and their laptops to create directional movements in a computer game by dancing on conductor pads they had made and to programme the lolly buttons for a computer game to make a crazy taxi jump, move in various directions and travel through a maze.  They also created music by using pink and white marshmallows as the keys of a piano.
Using MakeyMakey attached to lollies to play a computer game
Organising the marshmellows to form the piano keyboard


Created a dance platform to use your feet to control the direction in the SuperTux game

There was huge student engagement while discovery, collaboration and creativity reinforced the principles learned in their Science class. They videoed their explanation of understanding as evidence of their learning. 

Jennie Nairn
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Code Club

This term has been a very successful one for Code Club SMC with our new tutors Carolyn and Mihaela from Code Club Aotearoa.




We have a small but very dedicated group of girls from Years 6-9 who come every week and use their creativity and problem solving skills to work through projects to teach them how to code.  These girls are super imaginative and have lots of energy even at the end of a long day!

To end the term we had an afternoon tea and gave the girls the opportunity to finish off one of their projects.  The girls then played each others games and had a vote for the most popular two games.  I can't wait to see what they produce next term!

To check out some of what we do you can click on the picture below to play one of the games that one of our Year 6 coders has created using Scratch.


Wednesday 1 July 2015

Charm Bracelets

Some of the 3D printed charms

Getting Settled In

At the start of the year we had the privilege of unboxing our very first 3D printer.  A new programme with our year 9 students was introduced and delivered by Aimie Sibson.  The girls got an opportunity to create personal designs which were then printed as charms for their bracelet.
Year 9 Product Design Class
Finished Charm Bracelet
At the start of Term Two, we shifted the Year 9 Product Design class into the Centre for Innovation, and again had the delight in unboxing another couple of 3D printers to speed up the production of the wonderful work that the girls were creating.




Our New Space

I am so excited to be able to open and create the new space for our students.  We are located in the Winchester South building opposite the main school office [WS101].  The Centre for Innovation has been set up to provide our girls with opportunities that will enable them to develop skills in problem solving, creativity and risk taking.  They will initially be able to work collaboratively in activities such as coding, robotics and 3D printing.

The Centre for Innovation started as a blank space but is filling up with lots of wonderful projects.