Tech Week 2015 (26th April - 2nd May) was celebrated in Science and Computer classes with students getting hands-on experience of a Raspberry Pi micro-computer, playing a piano made of celery sticks using MaKey MaKey and playing spelling games with Osmo, an iPad game. 5th Year student Rory Murphy and 1st Year student Alan Farrell recount their impressions of these technologies.
For Technology Week, I was fortunate enough to attempt to use a Raspberry Pi, a hand sized computer which can be connected to any monitor or T.V. It is an interesting device that is used to promote coding for all ages, running programs such as Scratch, and Python as well as containing standard computer features such as internet exploration. While I was barely able to use the coding to open Scratch and the help menu, people have been able to make a wide variety of interesting devices from musical instruments such as thermions, to tweeting birdhouses. While it involves a lot of practice, I enjoyed my experience with the Raspberry Pi.
Rory Murphy (5th Year)
The MaKey MaKey was very interesting. We decided that one person would hold the metal part (the earth) and then 15 of us would make a human chain to see if we could make the celery make a noise by letting the electricity flow through us all. We also downloaded the Tech Week App onto our own tablets.
Alan Farrell (1st Year)
Our Transition Year (TY) students hosted a successful coffee morning in the school hall to raise funds for Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services in Harold's Cross. Year groups visited the hall in turn for tea, coffee, and treats. Thanks to Ms. Maxwell, Ms. Talbot, Ms. McGill and all our TY students.
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On Wednesday, the 23rd of September, a group of us TY students had the opportunity to welcome Irish writer Elaine Garvey to our school, where we took part in a two-hour workshop with her. On Friday the 25th of September, we embarked on our weekly trip which brought us northside, to Glasnevin Cemetery, so write Ianis, Vihaan and Matthew B (TY Weekly editors).
Some of our Chinese students celebrated the Mooncake Festival this morning with traditional treats, and stories about the holiday. The round shape of the mooncakes mirrors the bright harvest moon, symbolizing family togetherness and completeness.
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