Session Five - Saturday 9th February 2013

Today was Communications Day and an opportunity to explore communication from ancient greek to the more modern brand image.

Year 8 were treated to a session of Language, Linguistics and Code Breaking. The icebreaker involved different scenarios – who speaks different languages, watched foreign films etc followed by a quiz on French, Spanish and Italian in teams. The girls then settled down to a Swedish lesson (jag pratar lite svenska!) and we were impressed by how quickly they got it.

“It went quite well because I found things quite fun and very challenging. I did try my best at all the things we had to do.”

In the introduction to Ancient Greek the girls enjoyed writing Greek words and studying English Greek roots and learning about links between languages. The codebreaker game and cipher was particularly well received, even at the end of a long and challenging day.

The girls studied patterns in language and code breaking. They were undaunted by the application of Ancient Greek and a new alphabet and dealt with it well showing very good deductive skills and working well with each other.

“I think I met my challenge (not to be afraid and to gain a better understanding of the topic) and I am really proud at myself by giving it a go and it turned out that I understood a lot.”

Having been at ESIP or school for 13 of the last fourteen days of the lives, Year 8 were tired at the end of the day but worked right up to the final moment with full concentration and commitment.

Year 9 followed up their work defining a big audacious goal with a study of the three elements of communication – visual, language and behavioural. After a good look through Johari’s window and some deep thinking, we all identified our favourite representative images and a key strapline to represent us. Under severe time pressure (with Simon as the hard taskmaster) the girls ran a photoshoot and created brand posters. Who knows, we may have found a few advertising executives of the future?

“I’ve learnt how to put across my ideas in a creative way and to dig down deep to discover and understand myself.”

ESIP likes to push us close to the edge and standing in front of a large group of peers presenting yourself and your strapline is a challenge for most of us. We were supportive but honest in our feedback and this resulted in very clear and articulate presentations from everyone involved. What doesn’t break you makes you stronger.

“I have learnt that I am who I am and I’ve learnt that people can look at me a certain way but at the end of the day I am here to succeed for myself, not others.”

We have now completed Session 5 of this year’s ESIP and it was time for mid term evaluation. The girls’ feedback was almost universally positive but we have been given some lessons to learn and we will develop and improve from that. Take a look at the Gallery to see what happened

“Thanks to ESIP I have overcome so many hurdles and I have learned to aim high and not be afraid. I used to feel like I was in a truck that was out of control going downhill but now I feel like I am on a smooth road to success.”

Thank you to everyone involved. The next step is a trip to Cambridge University for Year 9 and Oxford University for Year 8. 

ESIP in our own words (Kira, February 2013)

Session Four (Year Eight) - Gallery Showcase

Session Four (Year Eight) - Saturday 2nd February 2013

Twenty nine of our Emerging Scholars headed to South Kensington and one of the elite universities in Europe for a Robotics and Engineering workshop and a competition for the best team of Emerging Scholars.

We met up in the Reach Out Lab (ROL) of Imperial College’s Skempton Building which provides plenty of space for demonstrations, lab work on benches and plenty of floor space for testing robots.

Simon Reynolds from Exscitec led the opening presentation and we learned, through discussion, what a robot was. Sensors are an important element of any robot which means that if we have a clever, decision making washing machine that would make it a robot. We learned there was still some disagreement amongst scientists as to exactly what a robot was but that the more autonomous (independent) it was, the more robotic it was. We also talked about the social implications of robots replacing humans in certain jobs (which I am sure will help spur the girls to higher aspirations in their careers).

We learned that robots can do parts of heart surgery better than humans but that the ones that do are very expensive and we still like humans to help control them.

 

The girls formed three teams – Red, Yellow and Blue, supported by John, Ben and Kutwing who are third and fourth year undergraduates at Imperial College studying physics, mechanical engineering and aeronautical engineering. The mentors were able to share their experiences of life at a great university and what you need to do to get there.

“By next week I will have attempted to tell all my family and friends about all the great things you can do at Imperial College.”

The three teams broke into sub teams of two or three to work with BoE-bots. BoE-bots have a body (the mechanical bits) and a brain (the microcontroller on the circuit board – in this case BS2, Basic Stamp 2). 

We used a program called the Basic Stamp Editor on the laptops to program (write code) to give the BoE-bots instructions. We started by typing in a test program, written by someone else, to give us a better feel for programming. The first program ‘told’ the robot to go forward and then to turn around.

“I have learned how to program a robot and for it to follow simple instructions. I have worked well in a team but also taken charge.”

We then started experimenting with the program, learning all about loops and what different instructions meant and did. We learned some of this by trial and error, others by calculation and more still by getting puzzled and asking questions at the right time to learn the answers. We eventually programmed the robot to go forward and turn and map out a one meter square.

“I will not give up when a problem seems difficult but stay focused and solve it.”

After a very nice lunch in the Library cafe we saw the competition course. This would involve making the robot go forward, backward, cross lines, turn and, hopefully, park at the end. We practiced long and hard, changed the programme, tested, changed it again to correct mistakes and finally were ready for the competition.

Each of the Red, Yellow and Blue teams had three or four sub teams and there was a point scoring mechanism to decide the best team. The Yellow team won.

The students, staff and mentors had a very enjoyable day. We spent a lot of time trying new things, coming up with problems and solving them and learning how to keep going when things don’t go right. We worked as a team to complete a variety of engineering based challenges, learnt basic programming techniques, worked alongside undergraduate students to learn about university life and discovered how scientific methods and processes can be used in the real world.

“I will try new things without giving up around school and at home.”

After our usual reflection time, we all headed back towards East London to go home.

Next stop for Year Eight is Session Five – Language and Lingustics, back at Forest School on Saturday 9th February.

ESIP would like to thank the Ogden Trust for supporting the Imperial Robotics visit.

Session Three - Gallery Showcase