Year 7 Digital Technology

The commencement of Term 2 presented itself with an interesting opportunity for our students – independent learning. This presented certain challenges that our Year 7 boys had to face, requiring them to problem solve. Working alongside our specialist teachers and the support of Microsoft TEAMs and CANVAS, we were able to practice our coding abilities and explore with our Microprocessors, Micro:bit. An example included working through GROK, an online course, to sample and test code for a soil moisture system.

This activity allowed students to demonstrate a process called the Design Process working through design development of drawing up a soil moisture system to implementing code and testing their ideas. Students were also introduced to a way of documenting these processes through an online platform know as a blog – Microsoft SWAY. Students have applied several skills with recording information on their blogs. These have included reflecting on processes and posed questions, taking images and video and screen capturing their evidence of learning and inserting to their blogs.

For the remainder of the term students will continue developing skills and explore their Microbit and be introduced to a text-based programming language know as Python. Through activities students will demonstrate skills and reflect on their learnings in their blog.

Year 7 Food and Agriculture

Year 7 have made an excellent start towards their studies in Technology Mandatory. Term 1 began with the students learning about workshop safety. They also have been investigating food and fibre production within Australia. During the practical aspects of the course the students started to produce a Planter Box project using a combination of timber and metal technologies. The transition to online learning has seen the introduction of modified tasks. These have been developed so that the “eggshell garden” and a recycled “planter box” have been worked on in recent weeks. The students will also, have an opportunity to prepare a food related task at home as well.

The TAS department would like to congratulate Year 7 during the transition to online learning and we are looking forward to seeing everyone back for face-to-face learning.

Year 8 Project Base Learning

In Year 8 we change the course to a project-based approach where students were given a fortnightly challenge. This deliberately took the students away from their screens and improved their understanding of the Design Process in the context of Engineered Systems.

Bottle Rocket Challenge (Weeks 1 and 2)

While considering the forces at work on buildings, including wind and earthquakes, teams plan out and build the tallest tower they can with the smallest footprint possible, using only a tape measure, scissors, 10 sheets of A4 paper and masking tape.

Slender Tower Challenge (Weeks 3 and 4)

Students designed and produced a water bottle rocket to travel as far as possible using approved resource/recycled materials. The bottle rocket not only needed to fly the farthest but also needed to present an aesthetic appeal using only 1.25 litre PVC bottle (s), 3 pencils, duct tape, a cork, baking soda and vinegar.