Y7&8 Extension - Te Wa Toi and Makey Makey

In Term 4 our theme is Te Wa Toi or Art Time. Our Year 7&8 Extension students were asked to select a well known artist to create a digital artwork based on the style of that particular artist. Then our students were asked to share their learning in an interactive way. Their artwork was printed out. Some pieces of foil was attached to the artwork and to Makey Makey and Scratch. When the student pressed on the piece of foil connected to a Makey Makey wire, a piece of text would appear on Scratch to share information about the artwork.

Here are some students explaining the process in the following movie:

OMGTech Workshop

Today groups of students from Years 3 to 8 enjoyed taking part in a workshop run by Kawana from OMGTech. During the workshop students learnt about how electricity flows in a basic circuit. They even got to create their own mini LED torch. Next students had the opportunity to use Makey Makey kits to create music and sounds on a coding programme called Scratch.

The students enjoyed the hands on experience.  We are grateful to Kawana, OMGTech and the group of volunteers from Microsoft for giving up their time to teach us.

OMGTech workshops mini LED and Makey Makey from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Year 7 & 8 Extension Projects

In Term 3 the Year 7 & 8 Extension students had to work in small groups of 3-4 on a project. Each group had to use 'Scratch' and 'Makey Makey' kits to create one of 3 projects:

1. Band
2. Game Show
3. Game controls for people with physical disabilities

Here are snippets of highlights from their presentations.


Y7&8 Extn projects Term 3 2017 from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Paideia and Coding

The year 5 & 6 Extension students got the chance to work with Anne Sinclair this week who is an expert in the field of education. They were introduced to the Paideia method which is a way of learning that can provide opportunities for deep dialogic discussions. The process also helps to improve communication and critical thinking skills. 



The Year 7 & 8 Extension students were introduced to the 'Scratch' programme. Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations. The Scratch programme would be used as our introduction to coding and how this works. If you didn't know, coding is a list of step by step instructions that get computers to do what you want them to do. First of all the students worked through some of the tutorials which allow you to create your own game. 

https://scratch.mit.edu/