Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Half Term Challenge, February 2014



February Half-Term Challenge 2014

Over the past few days we have been learning about DNA , genetic engineering and synthetic biology.

I have enjoyed working as a group ,  dancing  and making a rap.I thought the quizzes and , learning about the bacteria was interesting. 
Parsa

My favourite part was doing the rap and the voice exercises, and I also liked it when we had to guess the answers for the quizzes. 
Fatimah

I learnt the many uses genetic engineering has which I  found interesting , and learning in more detail about synthetic biology even though we have done it at school . Learning the rap a making up our own dances was fun. 
Zaynab


I loved dancing and performing in the show and watching the videos
I want to do more dancing and using computers and more performance.
Makahi


It's a Wrap!

Well we've successfully completed our February 2014 Half-Term Challenge! Following our previous creative explorations of DNA, this years challenge explored the principle ideas behind bio engineering and synthetic biology. 

Over three days young people worked alongside local Artists and created dance and music and a script reading inspired by bio engineering!

Special thanks goes to the all the tech crew who helped to document events and then produced a fantastic film showing all our hard work! 

Thanks to Angga from Hantu collective for helping participants to shape their performance and to local artiste JKAS for helping the group deliver a genetics themed rap! 

Of course our challenge would not have been possible without the support of parents and Maxine Greaves MBE, Equality and Community Engagement Business Support manager at Sheffield Hallam University for hosting and facilitating the project.


Our next challenge will be in the summer.

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

The Reader Project strikes again!!!!!

                                   
                         The Reader Project strikes again!!!!


At the start of the Reader Project ( Technology)we began to plan out our ideas for our project for example the cavemen(and how we have developed from them), blood transfusions and flight(various inventions that have been created by humans through out the years and examples of how technology has changed and developed.Further information from previous weeks are as follow:

Week 1:
 Our project was based on timelines like the past and the future and at the end of that session, we agreed on Technology.Then we got the homework for something that ocurred with Technology.

Week 2
Been given was to research technology in different places around the world.
We talked about our own ideas for the project, we also drew a hand with things that we did in the past and the things we want to do in the future. The homework had

Week 3:
We gave in our homework, created a story board based on our homework and presented our work as a short drama piece, the rest of our group had to guess what we were acting out.

Week 4:
We produced a script of how our ideas would be presented, and we were given homework to type on the subject then email.We also did a short drama piece based on our scripts, we had various ideas. Eg. how we adapted, how cars were made ect.








Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Summer Challenge 2013


How have we worked together and what have we created?


Hi everyone 

Welcome to the second day of Summer Challenge 2013 at Sheffield Hallam University!

Use the blog comments box to explore your group work and tell us  about what you have made!

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Movie Making Resources

Free Movie Making Resources!






It can be the hardest thing to come up with an idea for a movie script! By selecting colourful blocks in each section, the StoryMaker Flow Chart will help you assemble the key points in your films' plot to create your own story!





Once you have your idea the next stage is to plan your movie. This Brainstorm template helps you to plan and begin writing your script!



Okay so you've got a great idea and want to write a script. This Storyboard Template will help you to see what your movie will look like, scene by scene and shot by shot.



Video Logging Sheet


After you have shot your film its important to log your video footage. This easy to use template will help you choose your good shots and leave out the not so great ones!

Saturday, 18 May 2013

Friday, 17 May 2013

Scratch 2.0 Has arrived!

Its here... Scratch 2.0


Building on the success of 1.4 This version offers so much more.

We've been testing it out during the after school club at the University and its pretty good!

New programming interface and program software is now web-based


Its now web-based and offers a multitude of new programming functions and you still need an account.  

Now its web-based it comes with some obvious benefits - you don't need to download software and then install, you just surf and go!

The clever bods at MIT might also develop a stand alone player so watch this space!



The Random Excuse Generator App

The Create Project 2013 Presents the .....

The App we have all been waiting for!! Created using MIT App Inventor - a great tool for rapid prototyping!

In April during workshops at Sheffield Hallam University, Jenson Grant worked with a group of Y11 secondary school students to build the worlds most useful Mobile Phone App!

Design View of our App in MIT App Inventor
During our design process we developed a design brief and thought about the user mechanics of the App. 


Why the user would want the App and what the user was going to get out of the experience.
Blocks view shows you all the programming logic . You need the latest version of JAVA on your computer to run this! 
During the design and building process we; 

- thought about what we needed in our lives - what would make us excited!

- sketched some designs and opened MIT App Inventor accounts. 

- designed an interface

- built the programming block

- tested and packaged the APP!

Our completed prototype ready for soft testing and distribution to our mobile device!
MIT App Inventor is a quick and easy to learn tool for rapid prototyping and we would need to make lots of changes to our app if we ever wanted to bring it to Market but as a quick and easy introduction - it was faultless!

The create project is an initiative supported by Maxine Greaves at Sheffield Hallam University, to encourage young people to creatively engage in digital technologies.