Director of Studies – Technology in our Community

by Director of Studies, Ms Julia Petrov

Technology in our Community

The Thales Design Competition, facilitated by the Ballarat Tech School was an opportunity for students in Years 9 and 10 to explore concepts of STEM, coding, design and project management. During the induction day, a number of presenters from Thales and the City of Ballarat immersed students into the world of sensor technology and explored scenarios that use sensor technology for good. All boys found this extremely insightful and were quite amazed at the many ways sensors are currently used in our Ballarat community. For the remainder of the day, facilitators from the Ballarat Tech School introduced students to various types of sensor technologies in small workshops, explaining how to code the devices and utilise them in unique ways.

The boys were invited to participate in the Thales competition to come up with innovative solutions to address an identified need in our community using sensor technology. Over the duration of a term students were asked to design and prototype their idea. With the idea of a sound sensor to assist with emergency vehicles, Year 9 boys Toby Clack, Jesse Mattson and Zenon Czulij entered the competition and prototyped their solution. The boys did very well in the collaborative task and were able to find unique ways to improve the world with sensors. We thank Ian Fernee in his capacity as Head of the Computing Faculty and 1:1 E-Learning Coordinator for his leadership in this area. An innovative experience for the boys, we intend to offer many more STEM opportunities next year.