Video Game Design, Mouse Trap Racers, Conspiracy Theories, Bridge Building, Mock Trial and Content Creation are the units that are being explored in ASP during Term 2.

Under the guidance of Mr Luke Deakin our amazing expert volunteer Video Game gurus Leigh and Sean from Huntsman Games
come in once a week to assist a group of enthusiastic boys in designing their own video own game. Much to the boy's delight and possibly parents dismay video game design is a legitimate university course that Sean is currently Guest lecturing in!

In ASP Video Game Design we have been making a space shooter video game using software by the name of Unity. With the help of Sean and Leigh in class and through series of videos that they have made. We get laptops to use to make video games which is great. Although the unit is challenging if you get stuck you can ask Sean and Leigh and they will help you. I can’t wait for my video game to be complete!

• Matthew Champness

Critical and Creative Thinking or Mouse Trap Racers is proving to be a popular unit once again with the boys rising to the challenge to use just a mousetrap as the only source of power for their self-designed vehicle. We will see as the term progresses if they are able to make their cars move! So far there have been a lot of interesting design ideas and already a lot of resigns.

Asp CCT is great for learning different ways to do things and to also learn to trial and error. We get to build not only mouse trap cars but also build friendships with others. Even though I have only been at AC for a term and a half, ASP has really made me get excited about Wednesdays!

• Jack Sharman

Dr David Keatley from Murdoch University has found a great home among the students at Aquinas normally teaching Criminology – however, he has really found his place with Conspiracies. He started the unit posing a series of a Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale to the boys to see where they rated, he fully thought he expected he would need to convince our boys that there were conspiracies in the world…. Are not our boys are true believers and have watched a lot of old movies!

Throughout this past term the ASP has ran a ‘Conspiracy Theories’ program for students interested in the topic. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist/criminal profiler from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and inquisitive conspiracy theories, which they would analyse with a critical eye and try to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that significant events occurred or didn’t occur, including The JFK Assassination, Area 51, and the moon landing. The students have really enjoy the course so far and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Bridge Building seems simple – that is until you are given finite resources right down to the amount of glue you have. The boys have been given the specific specification to work within and finite resources, now they need to work as a team to come up with a plan to find out the best solution for the problem as there are no spares going to be supplied. The first issue they encountered was the longest piece of wood they were given was shorter than the length of the bridge needed to be so they have spent the first few weeks experimenting with what would be the best type of join to make. The best part of this so far has been watching the boys communicate their ideas as of course, their idea is the best! It will be great to see how these bridges turn out and test them in Week 10 or 11.

Content Creation is under the amazing instruction of Ms Ramsay and has the exciting opportunity to travel to Curtin University to hear advertising pitches by students to not-for-profit organisations later this term. We can’t wait to hear want they learn and see what they themselves produce from this unit!

Earlier in the term a group of current and former ASP students attended a Water Think Tank to tackle the problem of water security. Matteo Conte writes about the program:

The Water Think Tank was a great opportunity to engage in a creative project with my friends outside of school. As a team, we were tasked with developing a solution to future water scarcity in Perth and WA. After presentations on the ‘ideation’ (idea-development) process and on the Aboriginal cultural and spiritual connection to water–which would serve as our inspiration for the project–we dived straight into the task.

A major feature of the day was that student voices needed to be heard in the struggle against climate change and we took this message to heart by trying to develop a practical and effective solution to the issue we were presented with. Initially, we decided to tackle water wastage in agriculture, but when we discovered the shocking fact that the vast majority of water wastage occurred in Perth households, our focus shifted.

Research showed us that ornamental gardens and lawns were draining an enormous amount of clean water in Perth, and so the Native Gardens project was born. We developed the idea to legislate and promote the replacement of public and private lawns and ornamental plants with native Australian varieties, which would reduce water usage by around 50%. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire process but especially making and presenting our slide show to explain our idea.

While we didn’t win this year, we returned to school in high spirits, having had a fantastic day filled with creativity. I encourage any boys who are invited to participate in this event to throw themselves into it enthusiastically. Their ideas could contribute to the future of water management in Western Australia.

• Matteo Conte