Pre-planning
John established a relationship with KEI Ltd, a Hawke's Bay electronics company. Managing director Barry Kent has a keen interest in promoting electronics in school technology programmes and was more than willing to help John with the initial selection and sourcing of components.
"There's a huge demand for technological and engineering skills in New Zealand and industry is desperate to attract young people with an interest in electronics. If we can generate this sort of a relationship with schools we'll give students a much better appreciation of what's going on in the electronics industry and why it's important. And we'll get more young people coming in at all levels with a genuine zest for it." Barry Kent
Schools in the Hawke's Bay region interested in receiving similar assistance in developing electronics as a context for technology education can contact Barry at [email protected]
Planning for 2006 centred on designing a module that ensured all students could produce an individualised robot at a reasonable cost within the limited time available. A 'babysitting' context was selected to help students to engage with the project and an introductory student booklet was designed to introduce them to electronics, components and systems.
A resource booklet was also produced to guide students through their technological practice towards the development of a quality solution and to structure student learning within the time constraints of a 10-week module.
Having seen the need for clearer instructions from the previous year's class, John also created an animated PowerPoint presentation of the intricate construction details, which students could access when required.
To cater for the range of ability in his classes, John provided three project options: a basic robot kit activated by one key on a TV remote control; the basic kit plus a student-constructed remote control to provide greater manoeuvrability; and a robot with a larger chassis with two 12-volt motors each with their own remote control.
The module was to be offered three times in 2006, and John included sufficient flexibility to enable modifications to be made as the year progressed.
