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By Mr Sophiandy Sopali, Teacher-in-charge of IT-Club,
Geylang Methodist Secondary School |
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| One
for the memory for this group of participants from
E5 cluster primary schools at the Robotics Soccer
Camp... a time of learning, good fun and fellowship. |
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These pupils, hailing from five schools in the E5 cluster, took
part in a two-day non-residential Robotics Soccer Camp organised
by Geylang Methodist Secondary (GMSS), in collaboration with
Singapore Polytechnic and a commercial vendor.
Held on 16 and 17 March 2005, the camp saw pupils from five
primary schools – Geylang Methodist, Macpherson, Tanjong Katong,
Maha Bodhi and St. Hilda’s – showcase their talents, share knowledge
and IT skills with one another.
GMSS first mooted the idea of organising the camp in November
2004, after realising the immense potential that the robotics
soccer system offered as a way of initiating students to IT.
The school felt that its merits should be shared with the pupils
from the E5 cluster, and got its IT-Club students to play a
major role in mentoring the primary school participants over
the two-day camp. They guided the little ones in the programming
of robotics soccer. Not only that, they gave the juniors tips
on some of the best strategies for attacking, defending, and
scoring goals too.
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| Special
pitch for this soccer match... truly a match with
brains rather than brawn. |
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In short, the primary school pupils were taught the A to Z of
robotics soccer, beginning with the setting up of the whole
system, to programming the robots to ‘communicate’ with one
another, and initiating their own strategy of defence, attack,
and scoring goals.
At the end of the camp, a series of friendly matches in a mini
robotics soccer competition saw the pupils pit their new-found
knowledge and skills against one another. Team Yellow from Maha
Bodhi clinched the championship trophy after defeating Tanjong
Katong Primary.
But the real champions were the 48 student participants. Nobody
went home empty-handed as everyone received a medal, made new
friends and felt enriched with new-found knowledge in robotics
and artificial intelligence.
These pupils, ranging from 10 to 12 years old, had one thing
to say about their experience of the camp – good food, fun and
warm fellowship. One participant enjoyed meeting “new friends
from other schools and competing with them in a soccer match”.
Another enthused, “From this robotics camp, I have learnt more
about robotics and how to work as a team.” Yet another found
that programming and robotics were hardly “boring” or “difficult”
as he first thought.
All in two days of good fun and fellowship!
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