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Tech Toys 101 Sir John Franklin CTS teacher keeps students engaged with interactive gadgets and programs
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 30, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It can be hard to keep students interested in their course work, but Sir John Franklin High School's technology lab is stepping up to the challenge with an arsenal of tech toys.
Jessica Guigon, 17, shows off her ring and Dalek figure that she designed as part of a 3-D design course in Sir John Franklin High School's CTS department. Guigon designed the items in an online program and then uploaded the design to the printer, which took an hour to print each item. - photo courtesy of Rod Kennedy |
A 3-D Cube printer, a vinyl printer for making stickers, $3,000 cameras and countless programs that let students design ideas and put them to use are just some of the examples of the technology that computers, services and trades (CTS) teacher Rod Kennedy has introduced to his computer lab.
"If you keep the same old thing around for too long, you'll find students aren't too interested," Kennedy explained, as the 3-D printer he sat beside crafted a plastic car body.
"You have to watch that with technology. The thing that's nice about it, and maybe not so nice, is that technology changes so quickly."
The students that take advantage of the available CTS courses are just as enthusiastic about the technology, such as Grade 12 student Jessica Guigon, who used the 3-D printer in her Grade 11 year.
"I had taken one of the mini courses on using an architecture program where you make your own house, and (Kennedy) suggested I try the newest gadget," she told Yellowknifer.
Her first project, inspired by the BBC's long-time series Doctor Who, was a figurine of the robotic mutant Dalek.
"I was on a hiatus (from the show) where I didn't have any episodes to watch, and I wanted to find some way to keep it in my life," she said.
The Dalek has many different protrusions and knobs which made it difficult to design on Cubify, the program that came with the printer.
"I actually found instructions on how to build a life-sized (Dalek) and tried to scale it down and build it on the 3-D program," she said. "It took a long time to figure out how to do it, how to make the angles and attach all the parts."
The 3-D printer is used by dentists to make bridges, automotive engineers to make car parts, and even chocolatiers to design their chocolates, Kennedy said.
Keeping the tech tools and programs up-to-date in the classroom is admittedly an expensive venture, Kennedy said, but one he finds necessary. The 3-D printer cost the school more than $1,000 when they purchased it in October of last year and is just one out of the many expensive pieces of equipment.
"We have a fairly good budget for technology - it does cost especially if you want stuff that's current," he said. "If the interest is there, the school board generally makes it happen."
The technology the students use and learn about in his lab will serve them in many different careers.
Students at Sir John Franklin need five CTS credits out of their 100 total credits to graduate, but Kennedy said many of them end up taking extra courses to fill up their unassigned credit requirements. In the technology courses students are graded on the amount of work they put into their projects, not on tests like in other courses.
"It's an easy place to pick up credits because generally you're doing something fun."
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