Digi Tech 

Hard to believe but another school year is nearing its completion. It has been a year of Robotics, Coding, Cyber Safety, keyboarding and collaborative problem solving.

It is unbelievable how much the Foundation students have learnt throughout the year. Thinking back to their first sessions early in February where many did not know the letters of the alphabet let alone having used a mouse before. It was quite funny watching as they tried to manipulate the lab computers by touching the screens. Painting programs focussed their skills and by the end of term they were much more skilled using a mouse.

The next challenge was to start coding. The Foundation students explored sequencing when they created pathways for the cute little robotic BeeBots. Working collaboratively with their classmates they designed coordinated dances and mazes for their robots.

During the second semester the Foundation students began typing skills and coding. During the remainder of the year some Foundation students increased their typing speed and accuracy to between 10 – 30 words per minute. I am looking forward to how much these terrific Foundation students can achieve next year in Year1.

Year One students spent the year learning about algorithms (sequences) in coding, debugging, keyboarding, robotics and programming.

Year One is the first year the students participate in the termly class challenge in Typing Tournament which aims to find the fastest typists in the year level. It was hotly contested with many classes passing an increasing number of speed tests and goals. Some students in Year One can type accurately and consistently up to 20 words per minute during a 3 minute test.

The Year One students explored MS Word and discovered a variety of ways to decorate text and add special features to improve their word processing.

Term 3 saw the introduction of the brand new Ozobot Evo robots. These tiny little robots were programmed using colour commands and the students coded them to perform spins, flash disco lights and follow maze lines.

The Year Two students’ focus was on learning block coding using the online visual programming language Scratch that is designed to be a simple introduction to formal coding. Together we created a chase game that involved a variety of new coding elements including function blocks, data blocks and reinforced the importance of sequencing commands and applying code to the correct item. 

The students were also introduced to MS Power Point and thoroughly enjoyed applying the basics of adding text, pictures and new slides. Our learning will continue in Year 3 when more complex tools will be introduced.

All year levels continued to reinforce their Cyber Safety knowledge through the stories about Hector’s World, NetsmartzKids (Into the Cloud), Code Monkey, Faux Paws and Garfield and Friends.

A wonderful year with many new skills continuing to be built upon in 2024.

Heather Cook 

Digital Technologies