Physical Computing and Project Based Learning for all

RRC / Space To Learn / Tech To Help (TTH) / tech_ventures

The Year Ahead

About Flickernet 24/25:

Supporting underprivileged young people

Assisting schools in the South West of England

 

Outdoor learning and remote sensing facilities  (Space To Learn), in Northern Ireland

Core principles:

We have a Christian ethos, seeking to meet the needs of those who face disadvantage by providing access to technology and the natural world: in combination

 

Pupil-led investigations and project-based learning ensure creative control for those who may not have experienced an open-ended learning approach before

Immersive experiences to help those who suffer from anxiety or who are in need of other mental health support, to benefit from the calming sensations of the woodland

Engagement with the natural environment from afar, with added agency due to the remote connectivity systems.

Therapeutics and mental health care, including for the neurodivergent: opportunities for technology and the woodland environment to be combined into new and effective therapy methods

Pupils of all ages are shown real projects that have been designed to help others, or the environment: this provides inspiration for their own projects

Teachers and home educators are encouraged to join their pupils in developing innovative methods of interacting remotely with the enivronment

Training for teachers, along with the physical space to explore new technologies, including support for their own innovative approaches to learning

Multiple live feeds from within an ancient woodland in the Mountains of Mourne, Northern Ireland provide real-time access to STEM experiments

Real data, drawn from sensors that are spread throughout an area of special scientific interest (ASSI) inspire learners to develop their own projects which, in turn, can be physically located within the same woodland for them to monitor.

Three different core experiences to choose from

All link together ensuring best fit for your requirements 

As a quick guide: Micro:Bit Marvels is aimed at schools and home educators to provide fun projects that emulate those that are often suited to actual deployment in the woods of Space To Learn. It includes options such as robotics; environmental sensing and cross-curricular demonstrations

Connect and Play offers learners a more fluid technology experience featuring a wider range of electronics and design technology led projects that can include recycled equipment and game design

Phillip is available to hire as a STEM Advisor at reasonable rates. He travels throughout Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and County Down.

Micro:Bit experiences that help all educators to teach coding through fun and engaging projects.

Space To Learn is the online and real (!) woodland learning zone that provides unique environmental experimentation and therapeutics.

Connect and Play - allows learners of all ages to develop confidence in the realm of technology through innovative project-based learning opportunities.

  • A wide range of activities built on the best of Micro:Bit
  • Featuring the most interesting extensions and peripherals
  • Teachers love to deliver curriculum objectives using these widely supported devices.

Please click below to be taken to the Micro:Bit Marvels page – with details about the many Micro:Bit extras that we can demonstrate for you.

It started in the woods..

Flickernet was formed in 1999 at the centre of a private estate in Northern Ireland. 

25 years later the corner of that same estate is at the centre of a clear mission to find practical advantages there, with which to help others.

Learning

Calming

Inspiring

Having fun is the best way to learn. With devices such as Makey Makey and Raspberry Pi, connections can be made with technology old and new: creating interfaces that bring old toys to life; build novel controllers; and provide the space to explore electronics and coding combined.

There follows a blog which it is hoped can be helpful in charting the journey that Flickernet, (mainly Phillip Anley!), has taken. Having taught full time in schools from 2005, Phillip has been working independently again through Flickernet Ltd. since 2022. Phillip is also a Director of Digital Writes CIC and of Mourne Country Park Ltd. Phillip divides his time between England and Northern Ireland.

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August 16, 2024
Space To Learn

RiverCam is ready!

Our ongoing mission to include the mighty Whitewater within the Mourne Park inspired teaching materials, has reached an important milestone now that real-time video of the river compliments the other Space To Learn broadcasts. 

The therapeutic benefits of seeing and hearing the river from afar will form part of our teenage mental health and wellbeing project, in association with Oxford Brookes.  

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October 7, 2024
Space To Learn

WaspCam finds a nest in need of attention!

It was an unexpected bonus to find that a wasp’s nest had been built within sight of one of the close-up cams. The learning that has come from watching the wasps – and considering their role in the local ecosystem – was as such, also a bonus.

Now, however there are far fewer wasps to be seen. These three photos, taken over a period of one month show why: the nest appears to have disintegrated. More questions than wasps.

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October 7, 2024
Space To Learn

Solar Impact NI project

What a fun time of it we have had over two days at Kilkeel Primary School then in Mourne Park, Space To Learn. The P5, P6 and P7 classes each built a solar powered Micro:Bit sensing unit that was installed deep in the woodland to take sensor readings that are now being broadcast via the monitoring camera. 

Sincere thanks to Helena McCabe, William, Richard, Lee, Claire and all at KPS for their welcome and support throughout the project and in their wonderful school.

Click here for the presentations
Click here for the results
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September 26, 2024
Space To Learn

Pine marten on the robot track

A lone Pine marten and a badger cross paths just a few minutes apart!

Not sure what would have happened if they had met.. Once a robot is on patrol in this zone, there will be an extra camera with which to analyse the nocturnal activity of these elusive mammals. 

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September 25, 2024
Space To Learn

Transmission Zone 2 is ready!

Looking forward to welcoming Kilkeel Primary School to Space To Learn, Mourne Park on Wednesday. 

The location for their STEM experiments to be sited is ready and transmitting (via a doubly extended PoE connection!)

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September 24, 2024
Space To Learn / tech_ventures

EnviroClub

Our Physical Computing club: dedicated to the study of the environment that can be found on the island, and in the duck pond, outside the classroom window of Key Stage 2, Bishopstone Primary School

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September 17, 2024
Space To Learn

AvenueCam

One last camera online for now: AvenueCam. This solar powered camera stretches the WiFi connection to the current limits: providing a view over the avenue that leads further into Mourne Park.

This live feed, along with the established set of existing broadcasts, provide learners with an instant link into the natural environment upon which their classroom studies are based.

The aim of this camera is to monitor the red squirrels as they traverse this route as well as to monitor activity from a freshly dug fox hole below!

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August 14, 2024
Space To Learn

Outdoor Robot Track cleared

The Transmission Zone is a general purpose broadcast area for remotely monitored experiments that need a bit more space. 

Central to the space is a young oak tree that is awaiting having a squirrel feeder attached to it. This will be provided by John Francis, who manages the red squirrel population in Mourne Park.

In front of this is taking shape an area for the outdoor robot system, which is currently under development in association with Kevin from Kitronik. More details soon.

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August 12, 2024
Space To Learn

Micro:Bit Cam is live

Space To Learn provides a test-bed for projects that inspire STEM learning. This Micro:Bit experiment measures three aspects of the environment in the woodland around it: the moisture levels of the forest floor; the ambient temperature; and the light level under the canopy. 

Pupils will be building their own versions of these in the Autumn, whilst comparing what they create with the live view on screen.

Teachers have the opportunity to develop their own versions and to explore the potential for environmental sensing and project based learning connected directly to the woodland in Northern Ireland.

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August 8, 2024
Space To Learn

WatchBox location; outdoor robot area and wasps!

Summer in Northern Ireland is well underway with preparations focused on the upcoming Autumn Outdoor Coding sessions. 

The WatchBox prototype is due for deployment in October. An ideal tree is now ready – with a new video stream of that tree in place . The data link to that tree will be helped by its proximity to an access point and plenty of sunlight will support the solar. 

Transmission Zone (outdoor robot testing area and squirrel feeder location) has now got a defined perimiter indicated by luminous cord!

The camera formally known as CloseupCam 1 has become WaspCam.. It was about to have a Micro:Bit experiment added when I was stung! In attempting to move the unsightly cable I got stung twice more! WaspCam it is then – the nest is situated clearly in view and busy!

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August 8, 2024
RRC

Tournament Day!

After many months of building, coding and debugging – eight noble robots lined up on the starting line for the first ever Robot Racing Club Inter-School Tournament!

With commentating teams ready in the Commentating Box and the technology primed, the first race began.

Hosts Bishopstone Primary School took an early lead. Visiting school St. Mary’s were quick to respond with their BossBot making some fierce lunges in the centre. BuggyBots and ClawBots jostled for dominance in the arena – all controlled by very focused and brilliantly supportive pupils who lined either side of the arena. 

Three thrilling rounds later, the day belonged to Bishopstone – but the smiles on the faces of St Mary’s Primary School pupils as they boarded the minibus back to central Swindon said it all: seeing their project come to life in this competition had helped them to understand that inputs and outputs, coupled with careful code, are more than abstract concepts when they make the difference in a real race such as this.

Video below!

To study the code used please visit: www.flickernet.net/rrc

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July 5, 2024
Space To Learn

Reflections on a new S2L logo

Beginning to consider what a more exciting logo might look like..

AI is great, but the woodland featured in this creation does not yet feel accurate – Mourne Park is predominantly a beech wood with venerable trees creating a canopy through which the Whitewater river flows, sometimes in considerable torrents. The AI rendering reduces this to a rather generic coniferous wood!

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June 21, 2024
Space To Learn

40 Years Later

It is a long time since I attended Kilkeel Primary School, but the large assembly hall door was just as I remember. There was a familiar sense of anticipation too..

Meeting with Helena McCabe and two of her IT team was tremendously productive. We have planned out a future KPS visit to Mourne Park to see Space To Learn in action. 

Just in time, I have the Transmission Zone camera up and running. It required a PoE extender and presented an opportunity for a sound focusing experiment. The clearing is ideal: easy to access from the main teaching area, yet undisturbed wild woodland. There is a badger / fox path running straight through it.

More information about Space To Learn here

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June 14, 2024
earlier_tech / tech_ventures

ComX

Delighted to meet up with Isaac, a former primary school pupil today at The University of Gloucester ComX event, showcasing original game design projects.

Isaac is poised to enter his final year of studies. It was equally shocking to both of us that so many years have gone by! Isaac attributes an early introduction to Physical Computing as an inspiration for his choice of degree course. It was a privilege to be shown how far his talents have now taken him.

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June 7, 2024
Resources / Space To Learn

WoodsCam

Continuing an exploration into remote sensing and the ability to experience an environment from afar – the latest WoodsCam overlooks a badger set, extending the range of the cameras further into the woods.

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May 17, 2024
Resources / RRC

Pressure Pad / Robot Wheels

In preparation for the inter-school robot race, we are creating interactive arena features at Bishopstone. For the purposes of automatic activation, we are building pressure pads with sufficient sensitivity that robot wheels can trigger them!

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March 20, 2024
RRC / tech_ventures

Robot Claw Clash

The inter-school Robot Racing challenge is hotting up! With both Bishopstone and St Mary’s Primary schools fielding teams of robots that increasingly move in the right direction – the moment is fast approaching for Race Day! For updates on team progress, please see www.flickernet.net/rrc

To liven up the arena, we have been developing claw-bots that will chomp at unsuspecting robots as they pass!

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March 13, 2024
Digital Writes

Together In Control

Keith and I are working on a new project for shared computer control and coding. We will be creating a 3D environment in which the controller and the nature of what is controlled, will be open for pairs of pupils to develop together. We are calling it Rainbow Rebellion. More details to follow soon!

For an interactive demo, please click here!

0 Comments
March 11, 2024
tech_ventures

Debate Outcome: faith in humanity restored!

Thank you to all of those who attended the first ever Bloviators debate. It was a great chance to test out the format and to explore what debating looks like when it has to be spontaneous! Of the three motions that were on offer, the motion that was voted for by those in attendance was that human beings present too much of a danger for alien life to risk making contact with us. Jamie and Miles successfully opposed the motion, pointing out how much we have to offer the wider universe!

Going forwards we will tweak the format further and take it to some local educational establishments. It is hoped that Bloviators can return to the Cirencester Baptist Church in June.

Randomizing the teams through a spinner / Fisher Price button kept us all on our toes!

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February 24, 2024
Resources / tech_ventures

Bash Bash Machine

Another name for Minecraft is BashBash – or at least in our house anyway! We first played it on a Raspberry Pi 3b – a rather simplified version, but nonetheless fun. Given the need that I find to demonstrate to pupils what a huge range of inputs are possible (cue tin foil, pressure pads, capacitive touch experiments etc) – there developed a good excuse to build a box with many connections.

Rather than have a light toggle or a buzzer sound when a connection is made – what if those input triggers meant that a Minecraft world was moved through, built and bashed? More to follow!

0 Comments
February 15, 2024
ARC / RRC / tech_ventures

Chatbot

If, like me, you were a fan of the Tomy robot collection from the 1980s, then you may also recall the tantalising sensation born out of an awareness of what those robots were unable to do, which was almost as invigorating as what they could do.

Take Chatbot: it was equipped with a mechanical voice recorder that was primed by pulling a large level down whilst speaking a message, then triggered by remote control. Hours of fun ensued driving it around with occasional spoken messages being relayed.

Chatbot was not without limitation, however. It could not engage in further conversation – or be instructed to move – or check on the road conditions outside.

Now that it is 2024, Chatbot could – and over the coming weeks I hope to reveal one way of achieving an upgrade to this venerable robot!

0 Comments
February 13, 2024
tech_ventures

Kodu on Micro:Bit

Was reminded today that the Micro:Bit / Kodu link remains a simple but effective means of providing readily coded inputs and outputs: engaging interfaces that bring virtual worlds to life. Next week we will add the pressure pads via Makey Makey – leading to pupils building their own controllers.

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February 4, 2024
Resources

BETT: future fun!

BETT 24 was every bit as exciting as the ’23 gathering. Table Talks are a new initiative: the chance to share ideas with fellow educators – in our case from many European countries and as far as Angola.

My favourite corner remains the STEM zone. It was good to catch up with Ricky from DFRobot; Kevin from Kitronik, Magda from Micro:Bit and Steinar from MakeIT.

Keep an eye on the upcoming Flickernet Roadshow to see some of their new products in action!

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January 31, 2024
RRC / Space To Learn

Fumes machine

Swindon Borough Council – custodians of the Magic Roundabout – have kindly agreed to my request to site a particulate sensor on traffic lights in town. It is hoped that the busy toad will provide a new data stream to add to the mountain air / classroom feeds that are already in place.

All being well, the fumes produced by passing traffic will show pm 2.5 readings that can be viewed in realtime to provide a direct comparison to those found in a pupil’s own classroom and that found within ancient woodland in Northern Ireland. Zjeremy the robot brings the sensor into classrooms – see www.flickernet.net/data or www.flickernet.net/pm25

A preliminary visit to the site has revealed open WiFi access from the nearby Co-Op which could help!

0 Comments
January 14, 2024
Space To Learn

Slow Motion River

The Whitewater River in Mourne Park is a what is known as a spate river. 

Torrents of water cascade down from the Mourne Mountains – usually rushing past faster than we can register. Slow motion photography helps to capture the beauty. It may look intense – but it is truly peaceful.

 

0 Comments
December 18, 2023