Review of the Meet and Code Woodland Coding Event 2024
Delivered for Autism Support Kilkeel (ASK) on 1st November 2024
This was the second year in which a group of local young people were invited to attend an event in the woodland at Mourne Park, in the Mountains of Mourne in County Down, Northern Ireland.
As with the previous event, the aim was to include family members and carers of those young people for the duration of the event. It was hoped that this would lead to a sustained benefit for these members of Autism Support Kilkeel – creating a launch experience to be built upon going forward.
The event was advertised with this poster through direct emailing and via social media:
Each child attended with either members of their family or with a dedicated carer.
The day began with a safety briefing in the Schoolhouse then a brief walk through the near woodland area, along the avenue and into the clearing where laptops were logged on with MakeCode running on each.
The above presentation was also ready for viewing on each screen, being web-based.
For details of the infrastructure in place on site, please see www.flickernet.net/s2l
The Schoolhouse: built in the 1840s by my Great Great Great Grandfather.
Now equipped to project live feeds of the surrounding woodland. It is hoped that this will help to inspire modern learners to explore the potential of technology to reveal our environment and natural habitats in a new light.
Stage 1
We created and tested the Micro:Bit communicators. This involved a walk to the river during which the children transmitted to each other their two mood states: they revealed to each other, through the Micro:Bits, how they were feeling as they experienced that walk through woodland and amongst a range of sensory stimulus
Stage 2
After lunch in the clearing, we worked together to create a solar-powered environmental sensing device using the Micro:Bit. It has the ability to detect light level, temperature and the moisture level in the soil. Having tested it we deployed the equipment in the Transmission Zone so that it could be monitored remotely.
Reflections and Conclusions
Last year the ASK event provided proof that the concept of leveraging technology to engage with neurodivergent children was even more effective in an outdoor environment than in a more traditional classroom.
Due in part to having lost the tent through high winds, I set about creating a space within the old Schoolhouse building which would enable the event to be repeated in the Autumn term time, irrespective of the rainy weather which merited serious consideration.
The 15 mins or so of initial indoor briefing time (including a safety briefing relating to the fast flowing river and campfire) were at the top end of what the children could sit still for. They managed very well, but I was glad that the outdoors beckoned. Once we proceeded into the woods it was remarkable how quickly the tranquillity of the woodland bought about a calming that was felt by all.
Our first walk (up the avenue to the “Bat Tree”) provided a chance for the children and those with them to feel the sense of space and calm for themselves. By the time we arrived into the clearing for the first session of coding skills, their attention – and their ability to focus – was fully restored.
Adding the Environmental Sensing Machine
This project was a simplified version of what I built with the local primary school in October of this year (www.flickernet.net/kps2)
I hoped that by accelerating the original Micro:Bit coding mission, the amount of time that each child had to get used to their communication device whilst surrounded by others (all transmitting and receiving on the same frequency) could be extended
This then created time for a second project that broadened their knowledge of what is possible using a Micro:Bit and that also provided more of an opportunity for them to share the excitement that they were feeling – using their devices.
Crucially, as each child was taking their Micro:Bit home to keep, the more general up-skilling that they could be given (along with their family members and carers) then the higher the chance that they would continue to explore them in the future.
Aims for the future
I am enormously grateful to both Meet and Code and the Digit<all> charity for making this event possible. As a teacher of 17 years who has only recently become independent support such as this is both practical and deeply encouraging. It enables me to explore learning and therapeutics which will be based on exactly this type of experience,
I am developing ways to help teenagers to improve their mental health through visits to the woods of Mourne Park but also through remote sensing and immersive experiences which I would like to develop into a much wider network of support.
It is my belief that any young people who are able to be shown both these live video feeds and the means to create their own coding experiments will learn through real application and will also experience the extraordinary therapy that comes from engagement with nature.
Phil Anley November 2024
