SPOTLIGHT: TECH SKILLS IN SCHOOLS
taps left running or lights left on, in return for points and prizes. This scheme has been a springboard for the school’s sustainability plan so now there are travel champions for buses, bikes and walking and a school radio station sharing eco-tips.
Apps for Good has been more than just an educational programme to develop coding skills. It has become a catalyst for change. The free, step-by-step materials have been used by teachers who started out with little confidence in their computing skills. In some schools the project has fallen to PSHE teachers because it is about finding ways to tackle real-world problems. Apps for Good has also been an eye opener for young people in Year 9 who had no intention of taking Computer Science as one of their GCSE options. Hopefully, future computer scientists will be well versed in climate change.
to cut school uniform costs, saving families around £73 million per year, a group of seven students created a prototype called Cedars Uniform Market Place (
https://youtu.be/tpUEF8_ kor8).
‘We’re giving them as many opportunities as possible,’ said Team Manager Dave Anderson. ‘They enjoyed having roles assigned to them.’ There was a team leader, an administrator while others focused on software development using block coding. Four students were presenters at different stages and a year 11 student from a winning team in year 9 became their mentor. The video drove home messages about the impact of clothing on the environment – 300,000 tons of used clothing end up in landfill each year – and the social and financial benefits of recycling and trading outgrown clothes. Not only did Cedars win the competition but a software developer was so impressed by the idea that he is going to help them develop an app which the trust hopes to use across all the schools next year.
For younger learners
While Apps for Good is often seen as a secondary school project, Chiltern Academy Trust primary and middle schools are on board. At Springfield Primary School in Kempston, Bedfordshire, teacher Alex Rowe had his first experience of Apps for Good this year, supported by another teacher from the trust. Instead of a lunchtime club throughout the year, they chose to dedicate a day and half to designing an app with a group of 8 children.
Their chosen topic was broken sports equipment, focusing on reuse, recycling, and trading within the school community. Called Reusables, their slogan was ‘Think beyond the bin.’ Their app encouraged children to look for places to repair or trade broken sports items. The video started with a boy on the point of throwing
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his deflated football in a bin and was followed by some frightening statistics researched by the group: 40 million golf balls and 125 million tennis balls end up in landfill each year. Their global warming message was: ‘Where will the polar bears live if there is no ice cap?’
Ardley Hill Academy’s pitches have brought a touch of comedy to the Showcase days, invoking the spirit of Del Boy and Only Fools and Horses. The academy in Dunstable was first involved with Apps for Good last year with Year 5 students. They developed ReapQR SweepQR, an app using QR codes linked to prizes for keeping the playground litter-free.
This year, the same students, now in Year 6, created ReapQR SweepQR 2 focusing on saving energy across the school. This included reporting
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