Looking to the past when we anticipate possibilities for the future

MOTAT is New Zealand's largest transport and technology museum.  Today the pupils in the senior school visited it in order to discover just how far things have come since settlers first came to New Zealand. If you were given a huge number of cogs, could you arrange them to operate in unison to do work?  The trip's purpose was multi-dimensional - we also explored the way technological development has transformed the way we live now, and will continue to impact our lives as we move towards the future.

The interactive displays encourage innovative and divergent thinking: given a fairly unlimited number of virtual gadgets could you build a modern day butterfly net?   That's what the students were invited to do when they stepped up to the interactive screens/displays in 'The Idea Collective'.   The children were awed by a very young inventor who built a tool to help you to safely cut wood into kindling for fires.  Another group of young and ambitious inventors had created an interactive game that promotes fitness by being paired to a trampoline you are required to 'play' on.   All of these displays have one purpose in mind - to inspire... and to give the children a glimpse into the future.

Ruby 'playing' on the tramp

We hope to take the learning back into the classroom.  From tomorrow the students will start to think about the way they can affect change through their own technological imaginings, investigation and innovation.

Brayden B as inventor