Technology Department Report

Douglas Irish

Director of Technology

During the 2021-22 school year, our technology and the programs we offer continued to grow.

In Elementary School, Day 8 allowed many of our students to explore their passion as Creators and Innovators for deeper learning. Day 8 projects included: Pre-K students using the Makerspace to build machines from cardboard; PK and G1 students building giant structures on the playground with bamboo, big boxes, and other materials; and G2-5 students coding using WeDo Legos and LittleBits for circuit making as well as learning architecture skills using TinkerCAD. Additionally, Day 8 allows Elementary School teachers to prototype ideas for student-led projects, and some grade levels have integrated those ideas into the day-to-day curriculum. A number of Middle and High School students have had an opportunity to collaborate and facilitate student-led teaching with the Elementary Students on various projects. In Middle School, the new space has offered many new opportunities for students. Students have more room to work on projects, and we can have 2-3 classes happening simultaneously. Middle School now offers a very popular Woodworking elective in addition to our other STEM offerings such as Game Design, Genius Hour, and Robotics. Crosscurricular opportunities this year included students in Humanity classes using Minecraft to explore community and identity, 8th Grade Science students using Arduinos to collect data on the spaces and soil around campus, 7th Grade Math and Design students creating miniature houses that tackle a myriad of math and design challenges, and Art and Design students making stamps using the laser cutter for their clay projects. Plastiki Rafiki now has a club in Middle School where the MS students are learning how to process recycled plastic and make products for the Plastiki product line. Their first project has been creating keychains for the “Yellow Boat” play.

High School student enrollment in STEM classes is back up to 155 students after a lull last year of 105 students. The new Design and Arts (DnA) Center is a hive of activity with numerous prototypes in the works for items like rainwater collection, human-powered plastic washers, and Hatari (danger) signs for Electric fences. In addition to STEM and Visual Arts classes, the DnA is also the workspace for eight different extracurricular clubs with a focus on Art, Engineering, and Design. These clubs include Plastiki Rafiki, Construction by Design, Elements, Photography Club, 3D Fundi, and Design Studio Kenya. Also, four of these clubs have teamed up with the ASB and SFE to form the Carbon Neutral Alliance. This alliance is spearheading the school’s move to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Over the Christmas break, the ceramics area was extended together with a space dedicated to welding and foundry work. There has been close collaboration between the HS Visual Arts and STEM, including the addition of two new STE(A)M courses: Animation & Video, and Textiles. The Game Design class is exploring a new curriculum where students are using Unity, the industry-standard software tool for game development, to code games with a syntaxbased programming language (C#). Product and Game Design students created toys that help develop fine motor skills in toddlers and educational video games for Elementary students. The school’s STEM Pathways program, an independent study course aimed at self-motivated students who are interested in pursuing an in-depth STEM project, has six students enrolled. Current STEM Pathways projects include a low-cost aflatoxin scanner for rural maize farmers, an autonomous rover designed for sample collection in Turkana, a fishing lure made from 100% recycled plastic, a tree seed dispensing drone, and an electric wheelbarrow/plow designed for rural Kenyan farmers.

ISK’s co-curricular STEM activities continue to grow. The highlight of the year was our Plastiki Rafiki group winning the International School Awards; Community Building Award for accomplishing its mission to clean up the environment by empowering communities to monetize grassroots plastic recycling in a self-sustaining manner. Plastiki Rafiki is also expanding its reach into the ISK Middle School and other neighboring schools. They have sold plastic recycling machines, including injection machines, extrusion machines, shredders, and product molds designed by ISK students to the International School of Uganda and Rosslyn Academy. These two schools would like to emulate what ISK and Plastiki Rafiki are doing on their own campuses. Students are looking forward to close collaboration next year. The HS Plastiki Rafiki club also helped our MS Plastiki Rafiki club get up and running. The ISSEA STEM and Middle School Lego League teams were very successful this year. The High School ISSEA STEM team has been working together to tackle this year’s challenges programming their own robots, building a Stirling engine, and practicing mathematics and science concepts. The team took home the gold medal in this year’s competition, winning first place in Math, Science, and Robotics. The Middle School Lego League team participated for the first time since 2019 as the league was inactive during Covid. The ISK students, in collaboration with Children’s Garden Home, took home 2nd place in this year’s tournament.

This year, ISK piloted a number of new applications to improve curriculum documentation and document student learning. Some of these applications will continue to be used in the coming years. We also looked to improve our data awareness and compliance with the Kenyan Data Protection Policies by engaging 9ine Consulting from the UK and appointing a Data Protection Officer. 9ine has worked with all departments to map out our data procedures using their expertise and application for data privacy and protection. They will also be reviewing ISK’s documentation and policies to ensure compliance. I would like to thank the ISK Administrative Team, the Board of Directors and all of the ISK community for a wonderful seven years in Kenya at ISK. My family and I are moving home to Canada to be closer to friends and family.

Douglas Irish

Director of Technology