On Wednesday 16 March, six Year 7 pupils became software engineers for the day, as they entered into the Institute of Engineering and Technology’s Faraday Challenge. The pupils taking part were Anthony Adamson, Jai Angell, James Braun, Wallace Fisher, Jamie Liu and Will Taylor. The competition is held across multiple schools throughout the UK, and the Shiplake team travelled to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to participate in the challenge. The difficult task for the Shiplake pupils taking part was to create a prototype for two products using the new BBC Micro:bits to solve a problem. The pupils were given the choice of inventing their products for use in Home and Leisure, Travel, Health or Sport.
Having decided to focus on creating products for uses in the home, the team went about creating their two products. One of the products was to be a heat and light sensor that advised the home owner on setting the heating controls, and the other was a movement sensor that could be attached to valuable equipment, such as iPads and televisions, and sound an alarm if the equipment is disturbed. In order to create these innovative products, the team’s design involved coding the BBC Micro:bit, attaching electronic components for the sensors and outputs where needed. Having created their product, each team then had the equally tough task of pitching it to the judges, explaining their choice of products, the issues and successes they had in making them, the budget spent on materials and their teamwork.
The team had a fantastic day and found it very useful- pupil Jai Angell commented that ‘I learnt a lot about coding, a lot about engineering and about what you can do with one super small Micro:bit.’ However, the team also came to realise that there is a lot more to product design and implementation than just understanding coding and that ultimately, in order to be a successful software engineer, you need a range of other skills as well, such as teamwork, planning, preparation and pitching.
Head of ICT and Computing Mrs Louise Adamson commented that ‘the boys did exceptionally well, and they all deserve congratulations. We’re looking forward to pursuing further coding competitions.’
