Lesson 1 - Welcome (5-8 May 2009)

Dear Pupil

Welcome to the Technology Blog site. If you would like me to mail you something every time a post on this site, can I please ask you to send your email to my school address below.

Below is a summary of work covered during the first lesson;

1) My contact detail:
Name: Mr. Marius Buys
Cell: 076 800 6983
E Mail: m.buys@cornwall.co.za
Blog site: http://cornwalltech@blogspot.com

2) Pupil Cards:
Pupils completed cards with the following information:
Name, Surname, Pupils cell, Mothers name, Mothers cell, Mothers E Mail, Medical info, PPI's (Personal Performance Inhibitors), Interests. A photo will be added to the cardin due course.

The cards are used to make sure that I keep track of all 300 plus souls who move through the technology class during the course of a single academic week. I also place the cards on a single A3 sheet in the physical place where the pupils sits so that i can make notes on their involvement, attitude and do continiuos in class assesment. The pupil card will form the main source of information for comment reports etc.

3) SASOL SciFest:
Talk on The annual trip to the SASOL Sience, Engineering and Technology Festival in Grahamstown in middle March of every year.

Sasol goes to great lengths to provide persons who attend this week long festival with the most cutting edge scientists they are able to source world wide. Over 300 events which range from lectures, talkshops, workshops and exhibitions that cover a the wide spectrum of the science and technology frontier.

Speakers would typically include persons such as Jane Goodall, Astronauts who worked to correct the Hubble space telescope lens flaw, the forensic pathologist who solved the Lee Matthews case, the head of research who cloned the shepp named "Dolly", the technical research and perfomance crew for Schumachers Formula 1 car, workshops where pupils are taught how to do their own DNA matching, workshops where pupils solve mysteries using an electron microscope, NASA mission planners, lectures on Palentology on the African continent, workshops on building a spy listening device and how anti spy work is done, glassblowing, lectures on the discovery ofthe Coelocanth and much much more.

4) Some simple class rules
I as teacher as well as the pupils spend a large portion of our time at school in class and it is vital that the time spent is enjoyable, educational and socially formative.

Besides the normal school rules I see the following in a very serious light and pupils must not be surprised to receive a demerit slip for pupils who are inconsiderate. Parents will also be smss'ed should I feel the need for some short and sharp action from both fronts. I would like pupils to pay special attention to:

a) Having one conversation at a time
b) Staying focussed on the work in class.
c) Helping to create an attitude free zone.
d) Creating active and enjoyable education situations.
e) Working at a high level without it being academically threatening.
f) Avoiding litter alltogether.

5) Lesson theory via dvd.
The bulk of the theory for grade 7-9 technology will be done via a comprhensive set of 23 dvd's that cover the entire syllabus. the work in this manner is taught exactly the same to every class without personal bias and the opportunity to review and rediscuss work that was not understood the first time.

After every sub section of dvd shown, app. ten minutes in length, pupils will be asked to recount what they were taught for a OBE mark out of 4 (1 - weak, 2 - average, 3 - good, 4 - excellent), that will coubnt toward the pupils continuious class assesment mark. This will ensure that the pupils do not disrupt the screening of the dvd as pupils who generally do not pay attention during the dvd have a higher chance of being asked.

A written summary of the the work covered in the dvd will be provided for the pupils and there is no need to make notes as the object of the exercize is to focus on the dvd and UNDERSTAND the work rather than a frenetic attempt to RECORD the work.

There may be lessons where we deviate from the method above.

Mechanical advantage: A sample lesson was shown to the pupils that covered the explanation of explaining mechanical advantage with the use of a chain block. It was clear that the child who was tasked with hoisting the 1.5 ton vehicle up in the air could do it with relative ease. The lecture demonstrated that the child had to pull 6m (6000cm) of the driver chain to cause a lift of 6cm of the vehicle in the air. the MA (Mechanical Advantage) was therefore calculated at 100:1

6) Quote and Joke of the day:
I love to drop other wise persons pearls of wisdom by writing down a new quote and clean joke every day,it just sets the pupils on the right tone for the rest of the lesson which will follow and in all likelyhood be quite cognotively taxing. Pupils are encouraged to mail or sms me their favourite quotes and jokes.

7) Robotics:
Robotics will be introduced to teach the pupils linear thinking as well as systems and control. The best of the best will be cherry picked to represent the school in the regional and then national championships. Should a group win, the national a sponsored oveseas tour to the world championships is not off the cards. The computers and robotic kitts are in the process of aquisition.

8) Blooms Taxonomy of thinking.
Level 1 - Fragmented recall
Level 2 - Knowledge
Level 3 - Comprehension
Level 4 - Application
Level 5 - Analysis
Level 6 - Synthesis
Level 7 - Evaluation

It appears that the pupils are in need of development to improve their advanced thinking capacity. I discussed the importance of practicing and stretching pupils at a more advanced level.
Pupils were put to the test to self evaluate if they were at the required level by attempting to solve the problem of designing a system to aotomatically fill their home pool to the required water level using the model of a normal toilet system. they were given a budget of a maximum of R30 and had to invent someting that could work in real life.

I also demonstarted the use of synthesis by discussing a sollution to doing away with using shark nets to provide sharkfree and shark safe bathing areas using the sharks over sensitive electrical sensors situated in its snout. (Ampuli of Lorenzini) app. 1 million sharks are culled per month and they are unable to replenish as apex predators who kepp middle order predators such as seals under control. An explosion of middle order predators have put a severe strain on fish as a human food resource.

9) Cellular phones as a teaching tool:
Pupils will be asked to take photgraphs, record interviews and videos etc. Pupils were informed that Bluetooth and MixIT or a very similar operation system will be used by the pupils to gather information and conduct academic excursions.

Parents are pelease asked not to be alarmed at the use of Mixit as ONLY pupils who are already using MixIT with the permission of their parents will be involved. Mr. Buys is currently exploring the possibility of using a less "infamous" system with the aid of Ms Bachelor.


10) Where to from here?
The term projects for each grade was discussed and the following has tentatively been decided:

Grade 7 - Wheels and Axles
The Ancient Masters
The grade 7 group will build a working prototype of the Ancient inventors such as Heron, Hero and Da Vinci.

Grade 8 - Structures
Survivor Bridge building
The Grade 8 group will do a bridge building competition with their fathers.

Grade 9 -
Winds of change
The Grade 9 group will use the technological process to do a feasibility study of erecting a wind driven turbine on the school property. The combined effort will be presented to the board and headmaster.