|
Making Secure
Crime Prevention Challenge 2002-2003
Student Day - 30 October 2002
Report from Y11 pupil
 On
Wednesday the 30th October, Mr. Wilson and 9 year 11 GCSE
students, of the Priory School Hitchin, spent the whole day in Wheathampstead
Development Centre to take part in some interactive lectures with students
from other local schools.
We were given a short introduction by our leader,
who showed us examples of electronics in action, from simple to more
advanced electronic products, like car door locks, infra-red remote controls
and even SMART Card readers. We leaned about PICs - Programmable Interface
Chips, and how it is possible to program them entirely from a computer,
and how they can be used to create very useful products like keypad codes.
After our introduction, we were split into three
groups, who all covered the same 3 areas throughout the day. First was
the discussion on crime prevention with personal, home and commercial
safety experts, whose jobs are to advise people on how best to protect
their homes, and other buildings. We took examples with of burglary problems,
how they could be solved, and whether it would work. There is a lot of
planning and consideration involved in a security system.
Next we were given a brief lecture on presentation
skills. We found out key facts on how to make on-stage presentations
successful, considering attention, content, use of imagery, mood, tone
and body language. These skills will hopefully come to use when we
come back to present our projects in June.
Lastly was a session on ideas and ways of thinking.
We discovered the two different thought processes - diverse (finding
many different ideas and possibilities) and convergent (bringing
your ideas together). We then challenged our diverse ability
to think up new and wacky uses for simple every-day objects like CDs,
balloons and pegs. The results were both interesting and amusing! We
found this part our favourite.
The purpose of the day was to help us gather ideas
and prepare our projects by June 2003, when we will be returning to give
short presentations on our projects - a problem, a solution and a final
working electronic product that works on the day, so I wish all of us
good luck and speed in finishing our projects well in time for next Summer.
Many thanks to Mr. Wilson (Electronics) who brought us there.
By David,
Year 11 GCSE Electronics
|
