We love Science Week here at Togher N.S. The children in the Junior Room enjoyed a maths based scavenger hunt as part of Science Week. The children were tasked with finding specific 2D faces, colours, materials etc. The children worked in groups to help develop their co-operative and team work skills.
The children in the Senior Room were busy making mouse traps today as part of Science Week. The children explored potential energy and kinetic energy. The mouse trap STEM experiment focuses on the science concept of “simple machines that move.” When the children’s mousetraps were set the elastic band became a source full of potential energy. This energy is being stored, not used, but as soon as the trap is released, it is converted to kinetic energy (the energy of motion) that propels the snapper arm forward.
The children have been busy creating computer games using Scratch programming. Scratch is an excellent, engaging and fun environment for children to learn some fairly advanced mathematical concepts and the basics of computer science too. Scratch is deceptively simple with its palette of brightly coloured blocks but children can do amazing things when they combine the blocks in interesting ways. As children progress they are able to use Scratch in more and more advanced ways. Scratch programming allows children to use computers to express their creative ideas and solve practical problems and empowers children to be digital makers not just digital users.
The children in the Senior Room had a wonderful day at The Lifetime Lab in Cork City.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. We hope you enjoy our animation created using Scratch programming.
The children in 4th, 5th and 6th really enjoyed their visit to Stryker in Cork. It was fantastic to see how CAD design and 3D printing is transforming many manufacturing processes. Following a presentation and tour of the premises the children enjoyed a lovely meal, a fun quiz and some lovely prizes. We hope you enjoy our latest entry into the 3D Printing Sustainability Challenge.
The children in Jnr. And Snr. Infants have been getting to know our friendly and colourful Bee Bots. These award winning floor robots are a wonderful way for young children to learn about directional language, sequencing and other mathematical concepts.
The children in 1st and 2nd class had a wonderful time learning with the Photon robot. The Photon is an interactive educational robot that introduces children to the world of new technologies through experiences and experiments. The Photon robot helps children to develop their creativity and logical thinking and teaches them basic programming.
The children in the Senior Room were busy this week developing their coding skills using Scratch. They came up with some fantastic design ideas for jumping and catching computer games, researched the correct coding sequences on ipads and wrote the required code on laptops.
