YR 10 SWARM Drones Workshop

Yr 10 SWARM Drones Workshop @ Science Gallery

On Friday, 28th October, Ms. Achmad’s Year 10 Science class attended the SWARM drones workshop at Melbourne University’s Science Gallery free of cost, generously funded by one of the Science Gallery’s partners, Chartered Accountants ANZ.

The class took the train to Melbourne central and walked briskly to the Science Gallery. Students were first introduced to the gallery facilitators then introduced to the various SWARM exhibits which incorporated science, technology and art. The theme of the SWARM exhibit explores the essence of human behaviour and questions what drives humans to be social. Are we hardwired to be part of the pack? Favourite exhibits included Planet of the People (digital 3D rendering of people and lumping them into a digital planet) and Human x Shark (how do shark pheromones smell compared to human pheromones?).

In the second half of the visit, students were taught how to block code instructions for flying their drones. Drone flying challenges were provided to direct students on where drones needed to be directed. Students used their knowledge of displacement and angles to orient and correctly code and manouver their drones. By the end of the session, students were successfully planning out drone routes, orienting their drones and even managing to film along their drone routes!

Overall it was an enjoyable and enlightening experience, with students thoroughly enjoying the outing and were captivated by the different exhibits. They walked away with invaluable skills in applying angles and Pythagoras theorem, as well as coding through drone programming and flying. 

Cyrus (10G): “This was such a cool place to go, it’s amazing all the different kinds of things they have here!”