3D Printing in Year 4 - Pinewood Derby Style Racecars

Leading the technology curriculum has afforded me a lot of leeway and creatve space to build bigger and bigger projects. In our team we have two fantastic teachers who offer a lovely balance between video, photography and, what I term as 'Manufacturing'. The old D+T curriculum of old is now given over to STEM (or STEAM) and this includes technologies such as Makey Makeys, Arduino, Raspberry Pis etc. to inlcude an element of coding to automate projects. We try to incorportate this as much as we can, however scale at my school is always an obstacle, that, sometimes too imperious to navigate. However, when it comes together, as seen in this video below (put together by David and lead by Veena), an idea you have as subject leader (Pinewood Derby and F1 in schools) comes to fruition, it truly is a spectacle to behold. 

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Photoshop projects in the Junior School

Photoshop in the junior school is something that was taken on with a lot of excitment, a lot of ferver from the students and, of course the class teachers whose classes I was taking that day after our inital photoshoot.

The prelude to this is that the students are part of a topic called 'Blast from the Past' in which the students learn about the recent past (within about 10-50 years) and the events within here. The focus is on art, technological milestones and of course people. The students all learn about a single person in history as part of a huge presentation in which they dress up and present in a open morning at school.

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Digital Citizenship - Status Anxiety and Keeping up with the Joneses.

The point to all this is that this episode, the first 15-20 mins at least amplifies the sheer nonsensical aspect to online social streams where they take over every facet of life. When you ask the children: what’s the point to all these streams and posts? They say to talk, to share to let your friends see what you're doing. And this is fine - however when you ask: are your friends there too? Teens tend to get somewhat defensive over this line of questioning. However, this is aimed at years 5 and 6. They half agree thet there isn't any use to this over sharing. And this is key. It's key because it shows us that not only does this open a dialogue as to how to protect young kids I would argue that this type of conversation could go a hell of a lot younger. Maybe not with this kind of material, but with the very concept of understanding consequences of  beig suceptible in this way. I mean, we used to talk in the phone when we were younger. Albeit, for hours sometimes. But this wasn’t to everyone all the time with a giant hailer in public. I think you get my drift.

The video I’ve clipped and heavily edited has taken all the errant language out and the ending where it gets very sweary. The assembly also has no reference to the actual programme in case it’s shown at home or parent’s Netflix streams show the thumbnails - hence the name: Status Anxiety.

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