Having focused on Scratch / Makey Makey integration this term with St Mary's, Swindon - we built a game called Squirrel Jeopardy - where the aim is to feed the hungry squirrels whilst avoiding prowling Pine Martens.Regular video updates of those wonderful animals, and live feeds of the woodland in Northern Ireland, inspired us. See: www.flickernet.net/stm for more details
Next week one primary school in Northern Ireland will be building, then testing, an outdoor robot in the woodland..Cue some disassembly prep!https://youtu.be/hCA6JNuUY00https://www.flickernet.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Outdoor_Robot.mp4
In preparation for the first Space To Learn school visitors of 2025, we have found a tent that wouldn't look out of place in a 1950s war movie!Northern Irish weather being predictably unpredictable - we hope that it will shelter people, and technology, in equal measure!
https://youtu.be/-RkcZOpOQJ0There have been so many {animal} visitors to the Transmission Zone this month! The IFO Themes are taking shape too - please click on each to explore further.
A busy month:The woodland is filled with Spring life - which in turn is inspiring pupils in Primary, Secondary and Alternative Provision contexts. Projects continue to be based on the monitoring of native species in their outdoor habitats in the Mountains of Mourne.This takes place from within classrooms in and around Swindon.The therapeutic benefits of live-linked learning, directly connected to the wild, are becoming increasingly…
https://youtu.be/HbjeZGPzZmgRed squirrels bounding about in Mourne Park at this time of year - sometimes in slow motion, joy!
https://youtu.be/s3I0rDUUM6Uhttps://youtu.be/BC9o5qj3xoA Marvellous Musical Machine: Micro:Bits connected to servos creating musical instruments for ASD therapeutics and expression
As we prepare the next set of wellbeing resources and equipment, here is a new page that provides a quick overview of the video feeds from Space To Learn.Video clips of each can be found here: www.flickernet.net/cameras
https://youtu.be/PB8v2dzt0G0 Our Environmental Sensing Club went sub-aqua this week!
https://youtu.be/U_c5s_1N-mMAs a red squirrel sanctuary, Autumn in Mourne Park reveals many hungry / busy squirrels - as can be seen from the Transmission Zone today (table service?!) and on the new SquirrelCam.
The Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub in Jesus College Oxford was the setting for an inspiring gathering on Thursday. Speakers from the world of environmental sensing shared their experiences. Panels answered questions relating to many aspects of electronic analysis of the natural world. I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet, and to learn from, many highly motivated and dedicated professionals.
Describing the Mountains of Mourne to a classroom of children in England can only go so far in capturing what they are really like! Perhaps most challenging to articulate is their sheer brooding mystique.I am hopeful that the new MountainCam will help to establish the context for Space To Learn, and to set the scene for the woodland / river sensing that we undertake…
The Avenue The Clearing Coding Skills 1 Developing facial expressions Transmitting Expressing via Micro:Bit Thank you to everyone who attended the second ASK Woodland Coding event. This time we began by exploring ways to display and to transmit images with which to express our feelings, after which we created an environmental sensing machine. Full report here. Click here for Event Reflections
Looking forward very much to Friday this week when we will be welcoming ASK back for their Space To Learn experience.Six more children with their parents and carers will have the opportunity to build and code Micro:Bit devices that will help them to communicate what they are feeling as they explore the woodland of Mourne Park.Heartfelt thanks to Meet & Code, in association with…
Our ongoing mission to include the mighty Whitewater within the Mourne Park inspired teaching materials, has reached an important milestone now that real-time video of the river compliments the other Space To Learn broadcasts. The therapeutic benefits of seeing and hearing the river from afar will form part of our teenage mental health and wellbeing project, in association with Oxford Brookes.
It was an unexpected bonus to find that a wasp's nest had been built within sight of one of the close-up cams. The learning that has come from watching the wasps - and considering their role in the local ecosystem - was as such, also a bonus. Now, however there are far fewer wasps to be seen. These three photos, taken over a period…
https://youtu.be/nSNaTE3hmcgThe area of woodland which we have cleared to become Transmission Zone 1: mainly an outdoor robot racing track, has just had some visitors!
https://youtu.be/L-Oy99qnDok What a fun time of it we have had over two days at Kilkeel Primary School then in Mourne Park, Space To Learn. The P5, P6 and P7 classes each built a solar powered Micro:Bit sensing unit that was installed deep in the woodland to take sensor readings that are now being broadcast via the monitoring camera. Sincere thanks to Helena McCabe, William, Richard,…
https://youtu.be/f3VmU2nNL2cA lone Pine marten and a badger cross paths just a few minutes apart! Not sure what would have happened if they had met.. Once a robot is on patrol in this zone, there will be an extra camera with which to analyse the nocturnal activity of these elusive mammals.
Looking forward to welcoming Kilkeel Primary School to Space To Learn, Mourne Park on Wednesday. The location for their STEM experiments to be sited is ready and transmitting (via a doubly extended PoE connection!)
Our Physical Computing club: dedicated to the study of the environment that can be found on the island, and in the duck pond, outside the classroom window of Key Stage 2, Bishopstone Primary School. Follow our adventures here: www.flickernet.net/bishy3
About Flickernet 25: Supporting underprivileged young people Assisting schools in the South West of England Outdoor learning and remote sensing facilities (Space To Learn), in Northern Ireland Core principles:We have a Christian ethos, seeking to meet the needs of those who face disadvantage by providing access to technology and the natural world: in combination Pupil-led investigations and project-based learning ensure creative control for those who…
One last camera online for now: AvenueCam. This solar powered camera stretches the WiFi connection to the current limits: providing a view over the avenue that leads further into Mourne Park.This live feed, along with the established set of existing broadcasts, provide learners with an instant link into the natural environment upon which their classroom studies are based.The aim of this camera is to…
https://youtu.be/HfWCNPnFqmo
The Transmission Zone is a general purpose broadcast area for remotely monitored experiments that need a bit more space. Central to the space is a young oak tree that is awaiting having a squirrel feeder attached to it. This will be provided by John Francis, who manages the red squirrel population in Mourne Park.In front of this is taking shape an area for the outdoor…
Space To Learn provides a test-bed for projects that inspire STEM learning. This Micro:Bit experiment measures three aspects of the environment in the woodland around it: the moisture levels of the forest floor; the ambient temperature; and the light level under the canopy. Pupils will be building their own versions of these in the Autumn, whilst comparing what they create with the live view on…
Summer in Northern Ireland is well underway with preparations focused on the upcoming Autumn Outdoor Coding sessions. The WatchBox prototype is due for deployment in October. An ideal tree is now ready - with a new video stream of that tree in place . The data link to that tree will be helped by its proximity to an access point and plenty of sunlight will…
After many months of building, coding and debugging - eight noble robots lined up on the starting line for the first ever Robot Racing Club Inter-School Tournament!With commentating teams ready in the Commentating Box and the technology primed, the first race began.Hosts Bishopstone Primary School took an early lead. Visiting school St. Mary's were quick to respond with their BossBot making some fierce lunges…
Beginning to consider what a more exciting logo might look like.. AI is great, but the woodland featured in this creation does not yet feel accurate - Mourne Park is predominantly a beech wood with venerable trees creating a canopy through which the Whitewater river flows, sometimes in considerable torrents. The AI rendering reduces this to a rather generic coniferous wood!
CloseUp Cam1 is now in operation!
Kilkeel Primary School Camera tree established Entrance by the long table! fallen tree habitat The clearing Badger run through the middle Camera with focused sound experiment View from camera 1 It is a long time since I attended Kilkeel Primary School, but the large assembly hall door was just as I remember. There was a familiar sense of anticipation too.. Meeting with Helena McCabe…
Delighted to meet up with Isaac, a former primary school pupil today at The University of Gloucester ComX event, showcasing original game design projects. Isaac is poised to enter his final year of studies. It was equally shocking to both of us that so many years have gone by! Isaac attributes an early introduction to Physical Computing as an inspiration for his choice of…
The "Bash Bash Box" is nearing completion: final testing (fun!)
The first Robot Racing Club Inter-schools Tournament will be taking place within a few weeks. A total of sixteen robots are revving their motors in anticipation!
