The vast, sprawling assembly of tech-enthusiasts that is BETT was every bit as overwhelming this year as in previous years. Rather than attempt to see everything, I was more than content catching a few great seminars and panel discussions, then finding my way to the Physical Computing corner. Ricky and the team: your equipment has taken remote sensing opportunities to a new level! I…
Thank you Tony and Marie-Ann for a fascinating tour of the wonderfully resourced Institute of Technology, recently opened on the New College Swindon campus. Good to know that some Honda robots survive - now housed (actually caged!) within the £20m facility. We were tempted to try out the e-sports gaming rooms, but conversation was focused on cyber security and careers opportunities this time. Thank…
Devizes Arts Festival featured this great homage to classic computer games. A simple idea but a brilliant one: becoming the characters in a physical recreation. I got so into being pac-man!
https://community.stem.org.uk/blogs/phillip-anley/2023/03/20/jumpstart-the-junk STEM have kindly published my blog containing some thoughts towards how old, and seemingly defunct, technology can yet be of value to teachers as a means of providing Physical Computing experiences. Perhaps the question for teachers (& school IT support teams) could be: "what can this still do?" - rather than "what can this not do?"
http://www.flickernet.net/pm25 Enjoying resource creation for my friends at Digit<all> An activity for teachers will merge DT with Computing skills and Science - to build a particle measuring machine, linked to the PM2.5 Tree Sensor so that pupils can engage with the need for careful monitoring of these dangerous airborne particles. http://www.flickernet.net/pm25 http://www.flickernet.net/pm25
http://www.flickernet.net/swlep Zjeremy has a booking for the 10th May at the Chippenham Business Cyber Centre as part of the ICE (Innovate, Collaborate, Educate) gathering. Looking forward to hearing what Zjeremy has to say.! Full details, including a video discussion featuring a brief overview of Zjeremy's role in support of physical computing are here: www.flickernet.net/swlep
The Space To Learn site in Northern Ireland captures video of wildlife passing by cameras that are spread throughout the woods. This camera, BadgerCam - is a good one for recording the soundscape too! https://youtu.be/m09STihb7ZE
Our Digital Writes trip to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein House in central Bath was scary fun! The SoS pupils managed the escape room with 30 seconds to spare. A steam-punk twist to the exhibits added just the right technological twist too!
This week in ARC we enjoyed the potential of Makey Makey units with a view to incorporating them into future robotics. Doom and Asteroids ensued!
http://www.flickernet.net/pacomp2 After a scramble to complete our two entries as far as possible - it is congratulations to Team Heat Hunters (Year 10/11) and Team Purple (Year 13) for readying their submissions in time. There was much more intended, but the experience of applying thermal imaging sensing and AI number recognition, gave both teams some valuable insights into these intriguing areas of robotics.
Delighted that Bridlewood Primary have joined our TPAT Trust. We will soon be exploring crumble kits together - to add physical computing fun to their upcoming school Design Technology project.
Literature Alive - from Digital Writes - is now well underway. Keith and I enjoyed our first visit to St Mary's on Thursday - coinciding with World Book day. From next week we will begin working with a selection of pupils from St. Mary's to develop the interactive game book. When asked, during our assembly, what would be different about our book to other…
