HS Arduino Club
The HS Arduino club is a club founded by myself and a friend. In this club we teach other high schoolers the basics of coding and creating circuits with Arduino. This skill is extremely valuable for those who are taking in DT, opening new opportunities for them to design and build everything about their new product from scratch.
Beginning Reflection
Learning Objective: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
This is my first time starting an activity and while I am nervous about how it will go, I am also excited to share some of my own learning with others, hopefully making their learning experience easier than my own. Currently, I think my strengths lie in the actual act of coding itself. Explaining what seems obvious to me and teaching people from scratch is what I’m worried about. To work on this I created a series of slideshows where I covered the very basics of coding with arduino and linked external resources that I personally have found to be extremely useful. A large part of learning to code is having the passion to actually work through problems. I often find that a lot of people expect it to be easy and will quit at the first setback, by providing these resources and developing set projects for the students to work through I hope to teach them how to work through the problems they will inevitably face.
Midway Reflection
Learning Objective: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
So far everything’s gone quite well. We had some issues to start off with namely to do with interfacing the Arduino. However after we went through the process together as a group everyone gained a little more confidence. The first project we started off with was a simple LED circuit where we made an LED blink on and off. I chose this project because while it is basic, it also is a stepping stone for the more complicated projects that will follow. Some of the functions learned in the project are essential to almost anything else Arduino related. Some of the challenges we’ve faced so far have been surrounding the arduino boards themselves as they tend to be inconsistent when uploading code. It’s led to several members having issues with their projects but together we’ve managed to work past them. Through the process we learned some of the more intricate details about boards and the different processes to undertake when experiencing an error with one.
ITP – Guitar
I’ve been doing ITP Since grade 5. I first started learning the drums but quickly realized that the electric guitar was what I loved playing. I’ve been taking guitar lessons every week on Tuesday for about 40 minutes since. I find the versatility of the guitar to be its most attractive feature, the sheer variety of different styles that can be played coupled with the ability to modify sound through the amp and additional pedals has enabled me to mix and match licks and riffs that I like to make something entirely unique.
Beginning Reflection
Learning Objective: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
I’ve been doing ITP for about 4 years prior to this so I know what to expect. My strengths are that I have a genuine passion to explore and learn new techniques on the guitar however I know that when I don’t have an actual goal or task at hand I tend to lose motivation. For this reason I decided to sign up for the ITP recital this year so that I have something to work towards. Performing in front of others is completely different to playing the guitar alone since it recquires a lot more confidence. I hope to develop my confidence through this experience. Something else that I really plan to work on going forward is my knowledge of musical theory. I will develop this by writing my own little riffs and pieces.
Midway Reflection
Learning Objective: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
I ended up playing the song “Sunday Feels” during the ITP recital. I spent 3 weeks working on the song, memorising the finger positions. In the end I found that playing in front of a group of people was an entirely different experience to playing on my own. I’m not entirely happy with my perfomance overall but have learned from the experience and intend to continue moving forward in developing my guitar related skills. One of the biggest challenges I faced when playing the song was when I had to quickly play out a series of harmonics, through repetition and hardwork I managed to get it down.
Final Reflection
Learning Objective: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process v
I’m approaching the end of 2022 and will likely stop playing guitar at school in February. In the past months I’ve made a lot of progress in my goal to develop my knowledge of musical theory. I found a genre of music that I really enjoyed, Neo-soul. With my teacher we began to learn a series of neo soul songs and were able to derive the different techniques that neo soul guitarists tend to use in their riffs and licks. I’m currently in the process of using this new found knowledge to write my own piece of music and have found the experience to be difficult but rewarding.
First Robotics Club
The First Robotics Club is our schools robotics team. We participate in the international FRC competition to design and build a robot that best completes a series of tasks. This year I am the captain of the construction team. My job is to help teach those who are new to FRC while also building on the knowledge and methods used last year in construction. The construction team is one of the three main teams that make up our group, the others being programming and outreach.
Beginning Reflection
Learning Objective: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
I’m excited at the prospect of being the leader of construction this year. Since last year was our first year, there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes our methods and routines. I hope to focus on making a fun, spirited team as in my view that’s the best way to stay motivated throughout the lengthy process of building a robot. Something I plan to do is create a much for organised introduction to the competition. Having set tasks and a plan will help us stay productive and also give the members a sense that actual progress is being made.
Midway Reflection
Learning Objective: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Unfortunately due to Covid, we can’t compete in the competition and unlike last year there is no virtual competition. Despite this we have decided to continue with building the robot. Unfortunately this has resulted in a lot of people losing the motivation to come in every week. The construction team is down to 5 members. However I hope to help train some of the tenth graders this year so that once I’m in 12th grade and beyond the activity will continue on without me. Hopefully despite the challenges we’ve faced we can turn this into a positive experience overall. Some of the activities we’ve already worked on together have been a prototyping session with vex robotics parts and a Computer aided design competition amongst the team. Watching our members work in groups towards an end goal while revelling in a sense of camaraderie exemplified the importance of community in the team.
End Reflection
Learning Objective: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
We finished the school year having designed and built a new shooting mechanism that can be mounted upon our earlier robot chassis. Unfortunately we had to make some tough decisions about the future of the team due to the lack of potential candidates to carry the team forward while our leadership are graduating. Ultimately we decided it was for the best that we don’t continue the team into grade 12 as the monetary cost on the school would not be worthwhile without a solid and reliable leadership team. It was a tough decision to make, but I believe it’s the right one.
Project 0 Innovation Grant
I chose to join a project 0 group because I felt I could contribute to the group as a whole due to my experience with Arduino and DT. The goal of my group is to design and produce a device that can measure eeg data in collaboration with the apex harmony lodge service. The service works with the elderly whom often have dementia. By using the device, they can observe which activities are the most engaging for the elderly as sometimes communication in the area can be difficult.
Beginning Reflection
I didn’t intend to do project 0 at first however I’m glad I said yes when asked by a friend. Having done the apex harmony lodge service in the past I know how helpful this device can be for customizing future activities to engage the elderly. While it does seem like a challenge I think it’s within our capabilities as a team to complete.
Midway Reflection
We’ve gotten a lot done over the last few months. After conducting our research in to EEG, we found a design for an EEG headset using Arduino online and built it. Once we were done we began recording data from students carrying out tests where the listened two classical music, their favourite music, and silence. We did manage to find some patterns in the data detected. Unfortunately a challenge with the process was that we were unable to work with patients at the apex harmony lodge due to covid restrictions.
End of year refection