by Lee Matthews, Manawatu Standard
Mairi Borthwick is Freyberg’s head of physics, and introduced robotics to her school when she saw how much fun it was. She still can’t quite believe how sneakily it sandwiches in serious learning. “They aren’t thinking about this being applied physics or maths. They’re just doing it, having fun with it.” Ms Borthwick and Freyberg’s head of computing Michael Herring are introducing robotics as a year 9 option next year. They’ll get the students to work in groups, round a class set of basic model robots, giving them a taste of what they can achieve, applying hard sciences. “There’s a drive worldwide to attract and keep students into the sciences, technology and maths. I think robotics is one way to bring some excitement back to those subjects,” Ms Borthwick says. Boys’ High physics, electronics and science teacher David Clark would like to see robotics introduced from years 11 to 13, to give students a learning pathway.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/features/4276474/Futuristic-learning-for-schools
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