Robocup Success

St Margaret's College entered the Robocup competition for the first time this year. I was proud to take a dedicated team to compete against other robotic enthusiasts. The girls performed so strongly at our regional competition that we went on to Auckland to make our presence known in the North Island. There are a number of different sections that girls choose to enter.

In the Theatre section of the competition, competitors select and mash together their own sound.  They can also narrate a story or present a scene based on their chosen theme. Their performance needs to demonstrate a range of technologies and part of their mark is based on an interview where the girls have to demonstrate and explain to the judges all the processes that they used to create their performance.

Another popular section was the Search and Rescue competition. Robots are put through their paces by having to complete four different courses throughout the day.  The tiles of the course are changed each round so that competitors are challenged in their ability to think flexibly in their coding and programming of their robots. The silver can at the end of the course must be pushed out of the area to finish and the time to complete the course is also taken into consideration.

Robocup offers our students an opportunity to be personally challenged.  Not only are girls competing against other like-minded students, they are also developing reliance, perseverance and teamwork in the process of preparing their performances.  Robots have a mind of their own! They should never be trusted and no matter how much your minimise and problem-solve the errors, we are always on tender hooks with fingers crossed that the robots will behave.  Nevertheless, the thrill of competing and the emotional rollercoaster that these girls experience allows for the growth of each individual and team.   

I was particularly impressed with the way in which our girls supported one another through the highlights and the disappointments. I am confident that St Margaret’s College is leading the way with girls’ in technology.  This group have been strong ambassadors and have embraced the opportunity to personally grow through their involvement in technology.  A huge 'thank you' to the wonderful team of parents who have supported  us along the way to have made our time together such a memorable first experience for St Margaret’s College to compete at the National Robocup Competition.

Regional Results:

Senior Theatre Section:

2nd Snowgies - Hattie, Holly, Mia

3rd Han Duo - Charlotte, Sophie

Search and Rescue Section:

2nd Caitlyn Wickham

National Results:

Senior Theatre Section:

2nd Snowgies

3rd Han Duo

Innovation and Exponential Technological Change

The University Movie
is coming to Christchurch on Monday 3 October 2016 at Hoyts Riccarton
Book by going to the link above or https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-university-preview-screening-with-qa-christchurch-tickets-27745031135?aff=ehomecard

This a documentary film exploring how technology and exponential change can be used in solving some of the problems we face in the world today.  SingularityU is based in Silicon Valley at the NASA research Park in California, America.  This university is said to focus on scientific progress and "exponential" technologies. This film is a precursor to the SingularityU Summit which will run in November at the Horncastle Arena.  The movie is expected to help people to start understanding what it means to be exponential to begin to grapple with the potential impact that some fast changing technologies can have in our community and on a global scale. 

Robocup 2016

We are excited to be entering four teams this year in our first appearance at the Canterbury regional Robocup Competition.

Good luck to the following teams:

Year 6 : RMJ - Rory, Mikaela, Jasmine competing in the Theatre Competition

Year 8: Caitlyn in the Rescue Competition

Year 9 & 10: Hattie, Mia and Holly in the Theatre Competition

Year 11 & 13: Charlotte and Sophie in the Theatre Competition

Come and join us at Burnside High School from 9am - 3pm on Saturday 20 August

Some of these girls have their eyes on the National Competition in Auckland 

on Saturday 10 September.

Hands on making, doing and creating.

A very interesting read from Core Education about how technology and the Technology Curriculum is providing our young minds opportunities to develop skills that we see as valuable skills for the future. "Technology, so much more that just making"

Integrated Learning - Year 8 ENSS - Shakespeare

Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

How can we provide our students with the opportunity to bring more technology into our programmes?

It was a pleasure to work with Aimie Sibson and her year 8ENSS class on an inquiry question: "Why is Shakespeare still relevant 400 years on…?"

The students had studied "Twelfth Night" this term and as part of their celebration of learning, they were asked to bring Shakespeare alive and make it relevant for the modern audience.

Below are some of the wonderful ways in which the girls presented aspects of the Twelfth Night.

3D designed and printed Shakespeare merchandise - Bobblehead of Shakespeare

3D printed QuoteHanger - "If music be the food of love play on"

Trailer for a recreated film of the Twelfth Night using the coding programme of Scratch

Papertronic gift cards using Shakespeare language and themes that flash and light up supported by Sarah Coursey

Music Video using iMovie and Garage Band

Recreating a setting from the Twelfth Nigh using Minecraft

Gamifying the plot using an app called "Sploder"

Using the classroom window to show the "Love Triangle"

Many students were challenged to learn a new skill and to learn alongside their peers.  The students sought support and guidance when they needed it.  They produced some absolutely amazing pieces of work and this class now understands the process of learning better.  When students were asked for some feedback on how we presented this unit, they understood why there were some 'dull' lessons in getting to grips with the Twelfth Night  - the language, structure, characters and story.  Looking back, the students have a deeper understanding of Shakespeare, his writing and the Twelfth Night.  We emphasized the fun, in doing, creating and making something related to this unit which elevated the hunger to learn and know more.

Integrated Learning - Year 7 ENSS Survivor Island

Collaboration with the ENSS (English and Social Science) teachers has enable us to redefine the learning tasks for the Survivor Island Unit.  In the past students have completed activities such as making the island from paper mache, cardboard huts and created board games to apply their survivor knowledge.

This year we have tried to integrate technology by using the 3D design programme called tinkercad to recreate the island.  Based on a descriptive paragraph, students worked in teams to recreate the island with all it's landmark features.  Students then captured an image of their island and used thinglink to add their stories of survival.  Students wrote their diary entries for each day they survived and then recorded audio or video to upload as part of their links on thinglink.
This task has given students an opportunities to :

• work collaboratively 
• show leadership and delegate roles
• be creative
• be self managing
• work to time pressures

I was impressed with the quality and accuracy of the work that the students produced in a 2 week period for the above activity which was one of several learning tasks that the students completed for this unit during this term.

Teaching Children to Code

Stephen Lethbridge presents at TEDx - Tauranga
Student asks, "What do I do next?" Teacher responds "How might you find out?"

Stephen presents how coding in context enable children to be bold and courageous in their learning.  They resilience, they are resourceful and divergent in their thinking.  He stresses that allowing children to copy, tinker and make mistakes along the way empowers their learning!
A "Maker Club" held after school where children must bring a parent means that this co-curricular group is not a drop-off centre.  Adults are encouraged to learn alongside children and teachers.

Stephen hopes that others can see the value in encouraging design thinking, collaboration, teamwork, and iteration spirals to solve real world problems.

"Do not limit our children to the world that came before them"