Eco Protector – what do we need to do to protect our environment?
This week our STEM challenge was to work through the Design Process to build an insect trap for an unknown insect that had been spotted* around YPCC. We found out how the insect travelled and also what it was attracted to. The ideas generated by the students were great, with some deep thought into how to keep the insect trapped and how the trap would be triggered.
Following the successful completion and testing of your trap, you are to record a challenge reflection in your notebook, which will included a detailed diagram of your trap. Please think about how you worked through the process… what ideas did you think about at the start? How did you decide in your final design? What problems did you encounter? Did you have to re-think your initial plan? How did you work as a member of your team? How much effort did you put into this STEM challenge?
Once this is completed and checked you can continue on with this Eco-Protector challenge from PBS.
Curiosity Challenge – Pasta Rover
Check out this interactive of the Mars Rover. You can see how the Rover travels on Mars and the images of Mars that are being captured and sent to NASA.
In this week’s challenge you will have a budget of $50, 000, 000 to build your Rover. Your challenge is to have your Rover travel down a ramp and then continue to roll on a smooth surface for 1 metre.
You will be measuring distance and recording the time and will then calculate the speed of your Rover.

Can you build a Mars Rover from Pasta?
Hour of Code Challenge: Minecraft Hero’s

Meet Sphero and build your coding skills
This term we are going to be exploring our newest members of YPCC… Sphero.
To begin our journey – let’s get to know some basics. Click here to get started!
SCRATCH – Challenge yourself
Code Club allows visitors to take on a range of challenges relating to the digital curriculum. Here you are challenged to work through a range of challenges to build your skills around computer technology. Good luck.
Makey Makey Exploration Apps
Use these online apps to explore and create a Makey makey conroller
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Rube Goldberg Challenge
One of the challenges for the POD 3 STEM team is to take on a Rube Goldberg style challenge.
Which level can you beat?
Can you design your own challenge?
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Hour of Code – Challenge
Click on the image to take on the cannon challenge.
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Mars Rover Challenge – Curiosity
Can you imagine driving an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) on the moon?
NASA can. It’s building a fleet of ATVs (called rovers). Some can be driven by
astronauts. Others are remote-controlled. All of them can handle the
moon’s dusty, rugged terrain. Talk about off-road adventure!
Teams of four will make up 2 teams – the Pitch team and the R and D team.
To see your challenge instructions – download the briefs here.
Get ‘The Pitch’ team rubric here
This page provides links for students taking on the ICT challenges in the STEAM room this year.
Recycling e-Waste – What is it? How is it done? How can we recycle e-Waste?
Electric Circuits
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We have been working on developing our knowledge and skills of coding using the ‘hour of code’ at code.org and now taking what we have learnt so far, the question is…
Are we up to a new challenge?
Using Scratch we have the opportunity to participate in the STEM video challenge 2016.
Can you with your partner/team create a video game that potentially links to the science you are learning this term?
Let see if we can do this!
The Australian STEM video game challenge can take our learning to the next level. Are you up for the challenge?
Game Design Document – download
Game Design Document – example
Scratch Tutorials available here
Scratch for budding computer scientists
Beginners guide to making your first video game
Make a game of Agariohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PUz1QKCtPM

Know the rules, create you game and enter
As we begin to develop our ideas and teams for the Video Game Challenge it is important to read over the rules and be sure that we are clear in what is allowed in creating our games. You can check out all the Rules HERE and read a snap shot of them here.
All game submissions must be made in strict accordance with these Rules.
Any Submissions not made in strict accordance with these Rules will not be considered;
• must be in the English language;
• must be uploaded to the Site before 11.59pm 21 August 2015;
• must be in the form of a playable g a m e made using Game Maker, Scratch (we are using Scratch), Stencyl, or Gamestar Mechanic, U n i t y or another platform ( “ G a m e E n g i n e ” ) which judges can play without needing a paid subscription or license (“Playable Game”).
• must not contain any intellectual property, including footage, images, artwork, programming or sounds that are not created by the Applicant unless such content is included as part of the Game Engine; and
• must be solely the Applicant’s original work and must not be created in collaboration with any other individual or entity.
• may use only the features available in the free tier of the Game Engine or features that are made available specifically for use in the Challenge as specified;
• be accompanied by a written Game Design Document (GDD):
o detailing the overall creative process and design goals for the game;
o submitted in one of the following file formats: Microsoft Word for Windows,Microsoft Word for Mac, Rich Text Format (RTF), Portable Document Format (PDF) or a plain text file format.
To register you need to have an your parents/guardians permission.