SCRATCHING THE TECHNOLOGICAL ITCH

RGS’s Computer Science Co-Curricular Activities

BY MATT MOORE (STAFF 20 – PRESENT)

The aim of the Fabricarium is to allow young people to develop their own interests by working on projects they want to. It’s not a code club –computing isn’t just coding and clubs always seem exclusive. RGS’s Engineering, Design and Technology department is open before and after school, and over lunchtime, for pupils to come and scratch their own technology itch. We have a number of robotics kits, and projects they can have a go at. Staff provide guidance, but don’t formally teach; the students have the freedom to pursue their ideas, make mistakes and fix them. When attendees find a stream they are interested in, we direct them to competition entries but nobody is forced to participate, as the Fabricarium is an enjoyable space where skills can develop at a pace set by the pupils.

Below are some examples of the pathways our current students – and future ONs –have taken through the Fabricarium.

Aidan B

Pioneers > Airgineers > Cyber Centurion

Current Year 13 student, Aidan, was involved in a number of firsts for the department, and his efforts, achievements and enthusiasm helped us formulate the Fabricarium. Aidan worked on a project in Year 8 using the Raspberry Pi, leading to participation in the Pioneers competition, for which he created a GPS zombie tracker. In Year 9 his team designed, built, calibrated and flew microdrones in an entry to a competition known as Airgineers. More recently he helped set up our first entry to ethical hacking competition Cyber Centurion in which his team progressed to the national final at the RAF Museum in London.

“Competitions such as Cyber Centurion have taught me numerous lessons from using Linux commands to utilising resources effectively. The skills I gained have helped me solve issues that arise in my own projects”.

Gina E and Lara E

First LEGO League > Perse > Raspberry Pi PA > Art Mashup!

Year 12 pupil Gina and Year 11 student Lara are truly amazing computer scientists! Fabricarium began when Gina was in Year 7, where she worked on a buzzbox program that used a list data structure to store notes for a range of songs that were iterated using a capacitive touch sensor. From there she created a LEGO distance sensing hoverboard. She became part of First LEGO League (FLL) team Space Fish, who won their regional tournament and went to the national final. Gina chose CS for GCSE and used her skills to support both her EDT and Art coursework, both influenced by her coding prowess.

“I have learned many new skills from Fabricarium - coding and working as a team in FLL –and have interests through a range of interesting projects. Fabricarium has also helped outside of CS as I apply these skills in Art and EDT projects; work which involved the visual side of coding in Art I found particularly exciting, as it was personal to me”.

Lara has also been a keen advocate of Fabricarium, forming her own team for FLL for the last three years. Team Fredcake won their regional competition, progressed to national finals, and won the best newcomer award. Lara was instrumental in our initial entry to Cyber First Girls, in which her team reached the regional finals, which included a trip to GCHQ.

“First LEGO League and Cyber Centurion taught me new ways to problemsolve and code; I can then use these skills in the classroom, applying them to different scenarios”.

As well as their individual accolades, these young ladies have also teamed up, working together in the finals of the Perse Coding Challenge, making solid progress in Cyber Centurion, and developing and prototyping an autonomous polyphonic irrigation system for the PA Raspberry Pi Competition.

Luke D

First LEGO League > Raspberry Pi PA > VEX IQ Robotics

Still only in Year 9, Luke began his Fabricarium journey during lockdown in the Pizza Incredible team who participated in the PA Raspberry Pi Competition, challenged to use the Pi to solve a problem caused by the pandemic. Their solution was an autonomous facemask with a visor that covered the user’s face when they came within a specific distance of another person. Having reached the finals, Luke decided to form a team to participate in the VEX IQ robotics tournament. Made up of a group of Year 8 pupils, Alfred’s Assistants progressed to national finals and won the “Energy” award.

“I have learnt many skills in the Fabricarium which I can use in and out of computing. It helped me develop teamworking skills as well as being a fun experience supported by helpful teachers, and through which I made new friends. Although there were many challenges with the help of teammates and computing staff, we overcame them and won two trophies”.

Jasmine G

First LEGO League > Raspberry Pi PA > BAFTA

Incredible Year 9 student, Jasmine, was another Pizza Incredibles member who competed in FLL, then the BAFTA Young Game Designer competition. Jasmine joined a team of Year 8 girls for FLL; Team Ro-Bo-Go won regionally, but were pipped to national finals by another RGS team. Jasmine then worked on a solo endeavour, creating the concept for a computer game she called Tiled at Twilight. She then used this as a submission for BAFTA’s young game designer awards… and went on to win the BAFTA!

“I’ve been able to pop in during lunch or after school to work on whatever I had in mind, and there would always be other people I can talk to and competitions I can involve myself in. It’s been really fun having Fabricarium there along the way, meeting some other Indie game enjoyers and rambling about how frustrating coding can be. I don’t think I’d be where I’m at now if it weren’t for this environment”.

Co-Curricular Computing Successes 2018-2022

Bebras

531 pupils participated, Best in County in 3 categories Joint best in country in 2

Oxford University Computing Challenge

Round 1 – 192 pupils participated

Round 2 – 2 qualifiers eventually 5th and 4th best in country

Perse Coding Challenge

Round 1 – 120 entries, with 15 teams progressing Round 2 – 5 teams participated

CyberFirst Girls

4 teams (16 pupils) participated

Cyber Centurion

Qualifiers – 18 pupils

Finals – 2 teams represented at national finals (8 pupils)

First Lego League

3 teams (22 pupils)

FLL National Finals

1 team (7 pupils) Winners of “Judges Award” at Nationals

Digital Schoolhouse E-Sports

3 pupils

Vex IQ Qualifiers & Finals

12 pupils Winners of “Energy” Award at National Finals

Vex V5 Qualifiers & Finals

5 pupils Both teams represented at National Finals

Raspberry Pi PA competition

3 teams (12 students)

Bafta Young Game Designer Entries

3 pupils Winner of Young Game Designer of the Year

Astro Pi Mission Space Lab

3 pupils

Pi Wars

2 pupils

Cyber First Trailblazers

25 pupils

Cyber First Adventurers

25 pupils

British Informatics Olympiad

4 pupils participated