BBC Click - Explorer HQ's work with INTEL featured...

A few months ago, I was busy creating some work for a project that Explorer HQ were involved with, involving INTEL, the Internet of Things, sensor kits for schools and various other things...
Helen and I created some ideas for activities and lessons to go along with some kits that were being produced using INTEL boards, for the BETT Show.
I wasn't able to go along to the BETT Show, but Helen was there working, and showing off what we produced.
Helen and Duncan were then interviewed for the BBC's technology show CLICK, and this was shown earlier this week...

You can watch the programme on iPLAYER and it's going to be there for a year, so there's plenty of time.

Start watching from 6 minutes and 30 seconds in to see Duncan from INTEL and Helen from Explorer HQ talking about our soil moisture sensor kits and resources.

Hey Jude.... and the FabLab four...

Down in London yesterday working on a project with some folks from INTEL and Helen Steer from Explorer HQ.
This is an extension of the DISTANCE project that we worked on last year which has a focus on the 'internet of things' and sustainable cities.

One of the resources we worked on related to the use of weather data and the way that they could be used to explore different aspects of the weather: ranging from everyday weather with KS2 to the impacts of extreme events with GCSE students. My role was in the creation of curriculum contexts for learning, integrating the technology and the data that is produced by weather stations. This idea of data being generated by, and informing our daily lives is connected with the whole smart cities work that INTEL is involved in through ICRI. 

We identified the St. Jude's storm as being worthy of our attention. As it was in October 2013, it was relatively recent, and there were also a range of news coverage, hype in the media, and also analysis of the storm. We needed some archive data to compare with the present data from the weather sensors that we are using for the project.

Many thanks to Simon Collins from Reigate Grammar School for coming up trumps with his weather data from the school weather station.

This is available online in a live feed here, and is also one of the stations on the Weather Underground network, which means that the data can be 'scraped' for use in other applications.

Thanks to Simon for sending a detailed set of data from the period either side of the storm itself.
He has also produced this very useful and detailed explanation of the storm.

We then went over to INTEL's FABLAB space in the city.
This had a row of 3D printers which were busy extruding Christmas trees and other interesting 3D objects. Interested to see how these might be used within the school. I wonder whether there are plans to get one - perhaps we already have one...

We worked with the impressive folks there, some of whom we worked with on the previous project: David from Sciencescope, Greg: an INTEL design technologist, Duncan: an engineer and project manager who drives the projects on with a research focus, and Jason, who was working on software and the way that the Arduino boards from the sensor kits we are making can 'talk' to the internet.

It was impressive to see the opportunities for technology being integrated into the curriculum, and discussions on design and prototyping... It's rare for teachers to see how multi-billion pound industries 'work' and have the chance to work with some very talented people with very different backgrounds... an exciting project.

You can see the results of our work on the INTEL stand at BETT 2015 in January. Pop over and see what we've been up to....

The coming age of Ambient Information...

I blogged earlier about the DISTANCE project which I am involved with. This is related to the idea of the 'Internet of Things'. We are currently creating teaching resources related to this theme, and I spent some time yesterday working on them.
We are working with our partners which include Intel, ScienceScope, Open University and the Birmingham Climate Laboratory.
I'm grateful to Karl Donert for the tipoff to the European Geographer journal.

An article in Issue 11 is excellent, and outlines a speech made by Ed Parsons from Google. I've met Ed a few times in the past, and chatted at the GA Conference a few years back. Ed has a really interesting job within Google.
The article is on page 29 and 30, and is based on a session given at Leuven.
It describes the value of 'ambient information' which we communicate, often without knowing it...

I recommend reading the article if you're teaching about cities and futures. It's based on some conference sessions that Ed has done in the last few months.

While in Bristol towards the end of the summer holiday, I noticed that there was a sign saying that the harbour was going to be coming to life, using QR codes...

And in Birmingham I noticed sensors in the parking bays. A car parked over them would make them dark, so linked to an app they become an instant 'map' of available on-street parking which changes as people come and go...

Are cities becoming 'smart' or are the people who manage cities making more use of technology to support (or control) their residents ?

As Ed said:

“People define places” because place is a social construct. In order for one to gain a sense of what a place is like, one must build an idea about that place and what it means for people. 

This provides some interesting ideas for how we define what a city is....
One for my Year 9s to ponder...

DISTANCE - we've come a long way...

Colleagues at Explorer HQ and I are now off and running with a project called DISTANCE.
This stands for Developing an Internet of School Things: a National Collaborative Experience.
The project has some funding from TSB (that's the Technology Strategy Board, not the bank....)

We've got a project website which is just a holding page at the moment, but will develop more as we start to move into the main phase of working with schools.
So at the moment, we're doing a lot of thinking, and this stuff...

Yep, writing...

We're working on some resources that will be available to schools in some format during 2014.

Last week, I had a good chat with Catherine Muller from Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory. They are doing some cool things related to climate within the city, using various sensors and other technology.

Helen Steer from Explorer HQ and I are wrangling up some lesson ideas and curriculum materials. We're also working with colleagues from the Open University, Sciencescope, INTEL and several other organisations.

Here's Arosha, from the Open University, one of the people we're working with introducing a major aspect of this work: the 'Internet of Things'. The video is taken from an OU course called 'My Digital Life'.


Computers are getting smaller and are able to communicate with each other wirelessly. This means that we can begin to collect data from them, and make connections.

We can monitor journeys that are made by students, and also collect data from simple everyday actions which can provide powerful insights into our lives.
Arduino is one of the technologies that is used here, and although I don't pretend how it works in detail, the possibilities are exciting.

Follow the project as it develops on
You can also follow our new TWITTER feed here

Check out a Telegraph article which features the project... and this CNN article has some useful additional detail on the Internet of Things.