Tag Archives: make

My Resources, Thoughts

Hands On Stuff

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HandsOnStuff0At the end of last school year I asked my students for some feedback. One of the things that came through loudly was a desire for more hands on time. This was most acute in Year 8, where I had simply tried to sneak in a little too much theory. In response I turned two theory-heavy units into one, trimmed down the content, and gave more time over to hands on exploration. One of the new additions was a lesson where kids could just teardown and rebuild old electronics, which I put at the end of a unit spent fixing and driving remote control cars. Below are some photos of what was a really energetic and well-received lesson, in which I did relatively little teaching. Aside from promoting some individuals to think about what components were for, and why things were design in a certain way, I really just asked kids to think about why we throw so much away, instead of fixing it.

 

My Resources

Ultra-Cheap Flying Camera

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A few of my Year 9s had been away, missing the first lesson of a two-part assignment in which students had to film a creative shot of some kind. Trying to think of how to get these students engaged and up to speed, I came up with the idea of trying to set up a flying camera, which, launched from the first floor, would fly down a cable, filming the action on the playground below.

The students quickly got into the idea, and I called in another teacher (thanks Ben!) to help keep the kids safe whilst I worked with the other groups. There was some creative thinking, problem solving, a few test runs and some iteration in the design. In the end, we launched from the 3rd floor, and got the following shot. The kids stayed into break (thanks Harry, George, Alex & Damien), and we ended up with a crowd of curious students trying to work out what we were doing. Best of all, the final shot was produced using only materials we found around school. So, here it is, our Ultra-Cheap Flying Camera shot:

Lessons & Units, My Resources

Eyes Wide Shut

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The idea for this unit, which I think is my most adventurous yet, came to me first thing one morning whilst I was lying in bed desperately trying not to think about work. In the unit, students work in teams to combine hardware and software in the production of a system which allows them to remotely guide a blindfolded peer. Beyond the ICT aims, it provides students with an understanding of the world as experienced by the visually impaired, as well as the ways in which ICT can be used to augment and improve the lives of people with disabilities.

The system is entirely student-assembled and centers around a head-mounted web cam and freely available software. Being a new school, we do not teach Home Economics or Design Technology, so this unit provided our students to work in a hands-on fashion that they do not often experience. In total, the cost of running the unit should be less than HKD$200 (USD$25) per group, assumming you do not need to purchase any laptops. The materials below should guide you through the process of running this unit.

Thanks to Coco, a very artistic student from my school who was kind enough to create a lovely logo for this unit!