Second Wave of Interventions Take Place in Experimental Schools
After last year's successful interventions
which allowed experimental school students to engage in a myriad of
entertaining and educational STEM-related activities, the new wave of
interventions took off in November 2016 for students in 5th, 6th and 7th grades.
The
first workshop, called „Networks, computers and the Internet“ was carried out
as a combination of lectures, discussions, research and practical exercises
which served to introduce students to the functioning and complexities of
computer networks and the Internet. The main aim was to provide them with a deeper
insight into the key concepts of the Internet, such as internet protocols (IP),
IP addresses, IP packages, routers, nodes, etc.
In
order to help students better consolidate the learning materials, the workshop
linked to the previous intervention in which they had encountered the basics of
computer programming by asking them to write a program for generating pictures they'd
received and send them through the network to a classmate. Thus, the students
were given the opportunity to combine their previous knowledge of programming
and apply it to the new information they received about the functioning of
computer networks.
The
second workshop was titled „LittleBits“ and incorporated topics from the basics
of electronics and robotics. LittleBits
educational sets were used for this purpose, consisting of colorful electronic
components such as power supplies, LED diodes, keyboards, sliding
potentiometers, inverters, pulse generators, different sensors and motors, and
others. Students can connect these components using magnets to create closed
circuits and learn about the principles of electronics and the different
components in a simple and straightforward way.
For the end of the exercise, students
created a small electric car with self-ignition, and could try out the
different effects of the sensors, wheel rotation, and the like on the behavior
of the car. The workshop presented students with an opportunity to build up on
their knowledge by starting from very simple to gradually more complex tasks
and make their own logical assumptions about the correct ordering of the
components in the block and their effect on the rest of the circuit. The
workshop was organized in groups of three or four students, which also served
to show the importance of team work and sharing ideas in a group.
Researchers
from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing conducted the two
workshops (Tomislav Jagušt and Juraj Petrović in ˝Networks, computers and the
Internet ; Ivan Kunović in LittleBits). Collaborators from the Ivo Pilar
institute also assisted in the implementation (Ivan Dević, Mara Šimunović), as
well as student volunteers.