Coolest Projects is back for 2021

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Coolest Projects will be returning next year as an online showcase.

The closing date for entries is February 1st 2021.

Each entry will be allocated its own online demo space. Anyone , anywhere up to the age of 18 can enter.

“Young people with all project types and all levels of experience are welcome, from beginners to advanced creators, and it doesn’t matter whether projects are a work in progress, a prototype, or completely finished. We encourage everyone to take part!”

Check out the Coolest Projects 2020 Showcase Gallery

 

 

 

LEGO yes WeDo!

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Ninjas get busy setting up the component trays for LEGO WeDo kitsThe  “materials and resources’ management  crew” are busy setting up the first of six LEGO WeDo kits for use in the club. Our old LEGO Mindstorms kits from the last century were not up the challenge so we decided to go for six WeDo kits rather than two of the latest Mindstorm kits.

The Mindstorm reference comes from the constructionist publication
Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas by Seymour Papert

Coolest Projects International 2019 is drawing closer everyday and this year we hope to exhibit for the first time. Remember to put a big circle around Sunday, May 5th 2019. The event of the year will held on the May Bank Holiday weekend day in the Main Hall, RDS, Ballsbridge. No school the next day!!

Last year’s SASNS CoderDojo entrants had to withdraw because of family commitments.

Coolest Projects International 2019

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It is that time of year again!

Online Registration is now open for Coolest Projects International 2019 in the RDS Dublin next May. Parents/Guardians will need to login with their CoderDojo account details to register and complete the proposed project details.

The event takes place in the RDS Main Hall, Dublin, on the 5th of May 2019.
Unfortunately, that Saturday is also the start of the May Bank Holiday weekend so check your calendar.
This is also the shortest project preparation period since the event began so decide what you or your group want to submit. Then submit the project outline as soon as possible, you can always change it later.

Entrants can submit projects previously entered in other educational events.
Only one project can be entered by a ninja or group.
Check out the rest of the Rules and Regulations, they are straight forward and easy to read.

Admission is free and it is always a great family day out.

Hallowe’en Scratch Challenge

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Today was the final day of our dojo’s Hallowe’en Scratch Challenge. To make things more interesting some ninjas arrived after school dressed up as thier favourite Book Week characters. Watch out for Harry Potter and The Hulk.


The winner will be awarded the coveted EU Code Week button badge.

EU Code Week 2018 with micro:bits

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EU Code Week 2018

We decided to to have EU Code Week in our dojo this week. Our mentor brought some new ideas back from MegaDojo 2018 in Maynooth last Saturday. We put otheBBC micro:bits we received from DoderDojo HQ to the test.

We checked out all the built-in sensors and carried out a few simple tasks using a tiny bit of code.

SASNS ninjas on a micro:bit challenge

A few simple lines of code and we could get the micro:bit to read the room temperature and light level.

Checking the temperature and light level at the door using a micro:bit

The light reading changed to 248 at the door and 93 under the workststion. The temperature dropped by 3 degrees at the door.

It was great fun! Did you know you can make a simple FitBit with a BBC micro:bit?

Baking a Pi

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The microSD card on my Raspberry Pi 3 got damaged on Open Day last May. So I had to set it up all over again. The first time was very exciting but this time it was really boring. It took up most of the dojo time and I almost started my homework but I was afraid I might have to press a button or something so I waited. The Raspberry Pi makers should make it play music or have a game on the screen for you to play while you are waiting. It was all worth it when it finished.

It has reached 100 per cent, now what?

I hope it gets more exciting than this stuff.

Ninjas waits as Raspian finally boots.

Installing NOOBS takes a long long time.

NOOBS means New Out Of Box Software. Our mentor had it downloaded for us but he showed us how to get on the Raspberry Pi Foundation website https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/ Make  sure you pick the full version and not the LITE one.

First of all I had to format the microSD card in the card reader. To do that I had to use a SD card adapter card to make it fit in the slot. You have to use a special app called SD card Formatter https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4 to make sure it works.