The Young ICT Explorer Project is a fantastic way for students to work in a group to use ICT in a real – world context to design, create, persuade or convince and to showcase their ideas. It is conducted in each state with students from Year 3 upwards being invited to submit their ideas and projects. I am extremely fond of this competition as I think it places students into a position of using ICT for such genuine reasons and in similar ways to the way they will use ICT in their working lives.
I believe high value should be placed on the skills the students use during this challenge such as collaboration, problem solving and design. The experience on the judging day itself is also such a wonderful experience for them as they showcase themselves and their work to members of the public and to the judges. They have to be organised, articulate and friendly, talking to adults and other students in a persuasive manner.
This year we had a huge number of entries at a school level which resulted in four entries being submitted. All of these entries were shortlisted to attend the judging event at University of QLD.
We were so proud of the work the students applied to their projects. We were also so proud of the way they conducted themselves during the judging itself.
Ben and Scott – 2nd Place in the Year 5/6 event: The boys competed against the largest number of entries with over 50 groups entered. They had completed an animation in Blender, which is quite sophisticated animation and modelling program. They had also exported their models as 3D images and printed them. They were talking about the need for public spaces for graffiti.
Cooper, Ashley, William and Kobi – The boys completed a game with many levels about the dangers of pollution – especially plastics. This group worked extremely well together and their game was really impressive. They had also created a slideshow with all the key facts they wished to include in their game.
Aman, Haemish, Andy – 1st Place in the Year 3/4 event: These boys wowed the judges with their product and their ability to communicate passionately about their causes. They had listed Pollution, Deforestation and Homelessness as the ‘World’s Biggest Problems’ and had used web design, game creation, stop motion animation, and green screening as their modes of persuasion and communication.
Isabelle, Akeyla and Francesca – I was really proud of these girls. They had worked on a project to do with CyberSafety and had created a movie and website to help educate younger students on this topic. Their organisation was high quality and the way they presented made everyone very proud.
Well done to all the students. They all really enjoyed their projects and the day itself. They all seemed on a high at the end of the day and were already talking about projects they might work on next year as a result of seeing other groups’ efforts at the event.
It’s amazing the potential there is in young students – and the empowering experience the use of technology can be.
