The Radclyffe School - new : More KS3 Changes

1. Introduction
2. Making a Start
3. Enhancing Y7 and Y9
4. More KS3 Changes
5. The End of the Carousel
6. The Big Move

In the following year, on the strength of improvements achieved, I was able to successfully make a case for improved ICT provision. The ICT facilities for graphic products were being upgraded and, because I did not need powerful computers for electronics, I was able to inherit their 14 desktop PCs to add to the laptops.

Now at last I had a situation where ICT could be easily used with whole groups, and was available whenever it was needed. 

Pupils were now able to start electronics work by trying out system blocks with Control Studio, then move on to Circuit Wizard to investigate circuits and produce PCBs with the same basic ‘shape’ as the original block diagram.

To strengthen the CADCAM work we purchased a Roland Modela CAM machine and retired the elderly CAMM 2.

Even though the Cyberlight had only been introduced into Y7 a year ago, I felt that it offered only limited design opportunities so I replaced it with a ‘Night Light’ project. I got the original idea from the Spring 2006 Edition of Electronics Education. It is now available as a kit from Rapid.

Whereas a lot of similar projects that I have seen focus on the product design side, the emphasis here was very much on the circuit design. The pupils used ‘chooser charts’ that I produced to select the most appropriate input (a range of switches or a LDR) and output devices (a lamp or various LEDs) for the system, modelled their circuit with software and then auto-routed a PCB layout which was produced using the Roland Modela CAM machine.

I was concerned that the KS3 scheme of work did not include any work on programmable control and links to mechanical systems.

Now that we had ICT facilities for a whole class I decided to abandon the ‘Drawer Detective’ from Y8 and replace it with work on using Logicator linked to SmartBox interfaces and a range of pre-built mechanical models.