Epro8 Challenge Training and Community Heroes

Tuesday saw the launch of two new initiatives for our Whakaaro students.  Coming up in Week 10 we have the regional heats of the Epro8 Challenge. This is a science and engineering competition where students get to build large, strong structures and in many cases, mechanise them.  In the past teams have built firetrucks, high rise buildings with working elevators and motorised Mars rovers.  Last year one of our teams one the Regional Final with an impressive lifesize games of Tetrus that could be played using electronic controllers.

The teams will prepare over the next few weeks, looking at an electronics simulator, exploring gear trains (as seen here) and practicing the challenge breakdowns.

Also this week, we begin our unit on Community Heroes.  After an animated discussion on what makes a hero (heavily influenced by the Marvel Universe!) we broke down the kinds of battle that heroes historically face.  This broke down further into local issues.  From here, the groups had to select their own local issue and begin to design their own hero.  It will be interesting to see this unfold over the coming weeks.