Three projects our students built this term

At the end of every term, each class shows what it built. This term there were more than forty projects across our three programmes. We picked three to tell you about — not because they were the best, but because each one went wrong in a useful way.

The line-following rover

Four students in the Line Follower Lab set out to build the fastest rover in the room. In week two it followed the line perfectly — at walking speed. In week four it was fast but flew off every corner.

The fix was not a better motor. It was slowing down before each turn. The team wrote a short rule: if the sensor sees the edge, cut speed by half. Their final lap was the fastest of the term.

The weather station

A pair in Arduino Basics built a station that measures temperature and humidity and shows it on a small screen. It worked indoors from the start. Outdoors, it showed 41°C on a cloudy day.

The sensor was sitting in direct sunlight inside a black box. They repainted the box white, drilled air holes and moved the sensor into the shade. The readings dropped to match the local forecast.

"We didn't fix the code. We fixed the box." — one of the students, on presentation day

The drawbridge

Our youngest group in LEGO Basics built a drawbridge that lifts when a toy boat comes close. It lifted. It also lifted for hands, pencils and one curious parent.

The group decided that was fine, but added a button to close it again. They called it "the reset", which is exactly the word an engineer would use.

What these have in common

• The first version worked, but not in the real world.

• The fix came from watching the problem, not from guessing.

• Every student could explain what they changed and why.

Projects like these are on show at every end-of-term presentation. Families are always welcome.