Gráinne and Jim's 5th classes had a super day out at Microsoft's Dreamspace Centre. After an introduction from the organisers the classes went to the Education Centre where they learned about coding with Sphero's Indi car, a screenless robotic toy designed to introduce learners to the fundamentals of coding, computational thinking, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Indi has an onboard colour sensor which was used to read various coloured tiles the class groups arranged on the floor in a circuit.Each colour dictates an action (e.g., green for speed up, pink for turn left, red for stop). The children had great fun finding out what the different coloured tiles made Indi do and really enjoyed designing their own courses for Indi as well.
After that we went to the games room. The children played video games in one section, board games, velcro darts and table football in another and designed Minecraft logos and symbols on the laptops provided using a Minecraft program. They had a great time here.
After lunch of pizzas, fries and juice, we went to the presentation area and prepared our projects for inspection.The children incorporated Microbits donated by Dreamspace in their projects which were based on the United Nations' sustainable global goals programme. Among the projects showcased were plant moisture monitors, temperature monitors for soil and plants, waste sensors for rubbish and sustainable fishing sensors. Our efforts were very well received by the event organisers and everyone received Microsoft bags and pencil cases before we left. It was a fantastic day out and everyone learned a lot.