Academic Scholars T3 2021 - Aquinas College

Another busy term is over! We have managed to fit in 7 units this term with a few outside competitions and a HUGE THANK YOU to Mr Grant Haggerty, Mr Paul West and outside expert Mr Richard Tonello from Astronomy Education Services. I will leave it to the boys who have taken part to explain some of the units they have taken part in this term:

Drones

Astronomy

Escape Room

Marble Run

Drones

In Term 3 I was lucky enough to participate in Drones for ASP. Drones had been my second choice so at first I was disappointed but after a couple of sessions with Mr Haggerty, I was glad to have been put in this class. We didn’t waste any time and in our first lesson, we were flying drones. The drones we worked with were amazing! Using an app called TELLO and block coding we had our drones flying and flipping 8m in the air. Although not before a number of collisions and crashes. I have learnt so much and found a hobby I love.

Alfie Heron

This term in the Drone Flying unit we learnt a very fun and exciting new skill. The unit wasn’t about flying drones manually, but rather using code to control their movement. Coding and programming of the drones was a large part of the unit and we used this skill every lesson. Learning how to code drones is a very advantageous skill and can be used in many professions, such as in computing and in software development. I really enjoyed the unit as it was challenging while still being enjoyable. Learning to code also required me to adapt to failure if something in the code did not work as the drone would not fly. During each class, a task was set at the start of the lesson and we had to program the drone to do it. An example of this was when we had to program the drone to fly around an obstacle course. The drones were programmed to fly under tables, around people, around chairs and fly in certain patterns. At the same time as we were completing the unit, it was really great to see more advanced drone programming and flying occurring in the Tokyo Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. The extent to which patterns and objects the drones could form was really amazing to see! Whilst we aren’t at the level of the Olympic programmers yet, it was a great introduction to opportunities in the future.

Xavier Ulgiati Ferreira

Astronomy

This term for ASP, I chose astronomy. In Astronomy, we have learnt about so many new things from blackholes to V2 rockets with the amazing Mr Paul West and our guest astronomer Richard Tonnello.

My favourite thing I have learnt about in ASP astronomy is that during and just after the Big Bang, there were anywhere between 10 and 13 dimensions, but as time progressed they had gradually disappeared. I also learnt many more intriguing and fascinating things, like how a Nazi invented and developed US rockets when he was taken to the US after World War 2. I, without a doubt, hope that ASP astronomy continues in the future.

Dashiell van Ingen

Escape Room

Escape Room has provided many ASP students with a very fun, thoughtful and collaborative term’s work, with the course planned to span over both term three and term four. The Escape Room unit aims to get students to think outside the box to eventually transform room SB13 into a real-life escape room, which comprises of many different puzzles, lock combinations and props. The purpose of term three was to teach students about escape rooms and give them insight into how they will develop and create Aquinas’ own one!

Term three saw the students involved in the Escape Room unit go to Escape Hunt in Fremantle, wherein groups, students tried to escape various ‘rooms’ whilst paying attention to puzzles and details within it. This was followed by an early dinner at Sandino’s’, which was an opportunity for students to discuss what they noticed while trying to escape their respective rooms. The day provided students with a very fun learning experience, that will not be forgotten. Following the day, students started to plan Aquinas College’s own escape room, with the construction of it planned for term four. The Escape Room unit is a very exciting experience for all students involved, I can’t wait to see what we end up designing!

Christian Pecotic

Marble Run

This year in marble run, we had groups of 1 to 3 people, and the goal was to get a marble to reach the ground but you had to make the marble take as long as you could make it go before it touches the ground. All groups were given a pegboard to help make their marble run. We were given free rein of the materials within the room or anything we brought in from home. My group used a variety of materials like cardboard, foam, elastic bands, screws, plastic bottles and PVC pipes. Marble run was a really enjoyable ASP, I liked being able to make up my own design and building with friends.

Anthony Nguyen