Digital Technologies
Unit 1 Applied Computing
Year 11 Applied Computing students have been building up their programming skills using Python. They have revised basic terms such as commands, loops, if statements, events and have created a variety of programs with Grok and the Micro:bits.
For one of the SAT modules, students had to design the User Experience and interface for an application to be used at the Kilbreda House Athletics day. Every year, hundreds of students take part in the House walk and it can be difficult to keep track of how many points each House receives for this.
The challenge put to the Unit 1 Applied Computing class was to build a device that would:
- Represent their House and House colours,
- Be eye-catching and fun for students
- Contain a Micro:bit with a button built in that could count the number of people walking for that House
Below is a sample programming solution for this task and an image of students with their finished User Experience Designs! No doubt this could be a colourful inclusion for next year’s sports day!
LEGO Masters returns to Kilbreda
There was a great buzz in the STEM Room in May when Ryan Evans from LEGO Masters returned to Kilbreda to run the second Kilbreda LEGO Robotics workshop. The places booked out in record time and students arrived full of enthusiasm, a love of LEGO and lots of questions for Ryan! Throughout the day, students honed their knowledge of robotics and LEGO mechanics and even animations. We were lucky this year to also trial some of the First LEGO League mat challenges, which was great fun.
Below are some of the students’ reactions to the day:
Student Reflections
When I heard about the LEGO Masters workshop being on this year, I signed up immediately since I did it last year and had so much fun. I’ve been a big fan of the LEGO Masters TV show so that was another reason I wanted to do this.
We did all kinds of activities at the LEGO Masters workshop. We started the day by learning how to code using a program like Scratch to make mini animations on the brains of the LEGOs. My friend and I put together an animation of an explosion and another group made a Tetris animation. Then we were taught how to make the LEGO brain react to being moved and we built LEGO birds that moved from side to side along with them.
It was so cool to learn about different methods of problem solving in coding while getting to have fun and build LEGO with friends. My favourite part was trying to get our LEGO bots to complete a simple task. The tasks ranged from having to make the robot pull a lever that releases a battery to making the bot lift a ramp to release another LEGO creation down said ramp. The latter is what my friend and I chose to work on and although we didn’t end up making the bot successfully do the task, we both had a lot of fun giving it a go.
Ryan Evans was a wonderful teacher and provided an immersive, interactive opportunity to hone our coding skills and have some fun! Thanks to him and our amazing teachers, all of us students had a fantastic day.
Kara Gurung
Year 8
I signed up to LEGO Masters because I am a big fan of the series and I really love LEGO! I have also done a little bit of LEGO robotics before, but I was keen to improve on my skills! On the day, we did multiple LEGO robotics activities such as building a printer that had flaws and fixing them, making a moving bird and coding an animation with the lights on a robot! We also coded robots to complete missions that involved LEGO.
A huge highlight of the day was getting to spend it with Ryan from LEGO Masters Seasons 3 and 5. It was really great learning about LEGO robotics from him and asking him questions. I really enjoyed the experience and I would definitely apply if I had the opportunity again!
Mia Dobrohotoff
Year 7
The Big Day In
It was a frosty yet sunny morning when the Year 10 Programming, Gaming and Web design class, together with the Unit 1 Applied Computing class headed into RMIT for the Big Day In.
The Big Day In is a technology conference for young people that aims to inspire and inform about possible careers in ICT and Technology.
Students listened to presentations throughout the day from organisations/speakers discussing subjects including career paths, career opportunities, the latest developments, the future of technology and much more.
In the morning tea and lunch breaks, students visited the exhibitor stands to speak to exhibiting organisations, Universities and Colleges to learn about tertiary courses and degrees, work experience, internships, apprenticeships and to see demonstrations of some awesome technology.
It was a lot of information, but students came away from the day buzzing about all the possible opportunities!
Student Reflections
During the Big Day In at RMIT, we explored where a career in technology can take us and all the different pathways we can pursue in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Out of all the presenters, Tim Kitchens’ presentation about Adobe stood out to me the most as I enjoyed learning about all the different things we can do with Adobe. My favourite part of the Big Day In was the raffles they held in between presentations. I found them very fun and engaging and it made the Big Day In very exciting.
Tara Prasad
Year 10
On our trip to RMIT on the 30 May, we learnt a lot of things about the different careers we could pursue that involve technology and coding. The one presenter who I found most interesting was Tim Kitchen. He spoke about how music and song creators such as Billie Eilish use Adobe software engines to create the visuals for their music videos and compose the music. I also enjoyed going around to the different stalls to learn more information about different topics such as how they use technology in the Navy and Air Force and trying out the game at the AIE stall.
Emily Mitchell
Year 10
Year 7 Infographics
Our Year 7 students have been working on their data analysis skills in Digital Technologies this term. They have collected data, manipulated it and presented it in eye-catching and informative infographics. In these days of having vast amounts of data available at our fingertips, this is a great skill to have! Well done to our Year 7 students.
Adrienne Donoghue
Learning Leader: Digital Technologies