Monday – Technology
We had a fantastic day with Mr Allen in the Design & Technologies department at Carrick Academy. We couldn’t have been made feel more welcome and were assisted by 2 awesome seniors, who came in to help during their study leave.
After a tour of the department, the pupils got to see the 3D printer in action. It printed us a 3D version of our school badge to take back to show the wee class. They then followed a step by step lesson on CAD to design a keyring. The design information was sent to the laser cutter and each pupil got to take home their personalised keyring. The pupils were very impressed by the fact that Mr Allen could control their computer from his! They heard how the A3 printer can make large print jobs and we got a fantastic banner to take back to school. The final task was a Scalextrics tournament……Martha was the winner!
Throughout the day we linked design tasks to maths and gave a real context to measure, shape and scale. We also made links between the skills that are developed in the department and the types of jobs that would use these skills.
P5-7 pupils really enjoyed this learning day; they looked mesmerised by all the equipment and machines. Carrick Academy and the teachers were no where near as scary as some of the pupils thought they might be! They can’t wait to get to go back one day.
What the pupils said:
I enjoyed making our own keyring. It was a lot of fun.
I like making the keyring. It was cool to watch the 3D printer.
I liked doing the 3D printing stuff and using the laser machine.
I liked the Scalextrics and I liked doing the keyring.
I found it cool that we could make our own keyring through the computer and send it to the laser cutter.
I liked the Scalextrics because it was competitive.
I liked it because we got to make something to take home.
I like how he did the wee competition at the end.
I liked making the keyring on the computer then watching them cut out on the laser cutter.
I liked watching the 3D printer. It was very satisfying.
I liked how the laser engraved words onto the plastic.
I liked how the 3D printer printed 3D
I liked how the 3D printer was printing our badge.
He is a fantastic teacher.
He was kind and helpful.
He explained the things we had to do well.
He was nice to us and let us play the Scalextrics.
Tuesday – Engineering
We had a competitive class today! We used newspaper and K’Nex to build the strongest bridge and the tallest tower. Who do you think won??
We also made accounts on My World of Work and will use this over the coming years to help us plan our career paths. One of the games told us what animal our personality was most like; MP was delighted to find out she was a teddy bear! CG was very pleased with his falcon animal personality.
Wednesday – Science
