Senior School
Senior School
The Scotch Enterprise Program – welcome to the future
The future, by its very nature, is uncertain, but recent technological advances, each having the potential to disrupt every corner of our lives, have created a vision of the future that seems profoundly uncertain; one that our boys view with both trepidation and because of its untapped opportunity.
As educators, we ask ourselves how we might best prepare the next generation for this future; one where industries, jobs and skills that seem secure today might soon be deemed redundant, and where new industries, undreamed of now, will certainly emerge, perhaps changing the face of work forever.
What skills and attributes will the minds of today require tomorrow? Futurologists predict that the emerging economy will see most people having to move through numerous career changes, with the most successful emerging as those who can be autonomous learners as well as entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers.
In Design and Technology we have been trialling a new approach to learning: the Scotch Enterprise Program( SEP), which is currently for boys in Year 10. Here we strive to impart the key skills we believe will matter most in this new economy: design thinking, problem solving, teamwork, entrepreneurship and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to build on one’ s failures and setbacks, encouraging our boys to become self-reliant; a life skill that they may have need to lean on the most throughout their lives.
The aim of the SEP is to set the boys thinking about real world problems and, working
36 Great Scot Number 149 – December 2016 collaboratively in teams of two to four, to find solutions to the problems they have identified. Ideally, the boys would create a functioning prototype or concept model of their solution, ideas that could be further developed with more time and funds. There is no‘ teaching’ of a curriculum as such, but the teacher takes on the role of a guide, facilitating access to information, materials and expertise, while helping boys to crystallise their ideas through Socratic questioning sessions.
The final assessment of their design solution is made by a panel of experts with expertise in the field the teams have chosen to explore, much in the vein of the Shark Tank TV show, where the teams have to answer questions on the value, function, possible future development and potential commercial success of their product.
This year, the SEP teams have addressed real life problems and created products such as:
• A wearable bracelet that helps to prevent the accidental drowning of young children;
• An app that assists non-Auslan signers to learn sign language;
• A device that recycles waste 3D printed plastic parts;
• An autonomous water taxi for use on riverways;
• A litter bin that encourages people to dispose of waste through a process of gamification; and
• A smart irrigation system that minimises water wastage on golf courses and playing fields.
Results so far have been very positive, with the boys demonstrating some innovative and marketable designs, and it is hoped that this program will be rolled out to a wider group of boys in the years ahead.
The delivery of the SEP program, and indeed our whole curriculum, will be greatly enhanced by the new CUBE facility, giving Design and Technology a purpose-built facility under one roof. Our staff and boys are most grateful to the Principal and the School Council for bringing this vision to reality.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Design and Technology staff for all their fantastic efforts this year, and to wish Mr John Flynn a happy and relaxing retirement after 20 years of dedicated teaching of Design and Technology at Scotch. DYLAN COLEMAN— ACTING HEAD OF DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
ABOVE: THE 2016 SCOTCH ENTERPRISE PROGRAM BOYS BELOW: KARANBIR BAINS AND NED CRAWLEY WORK ON THEIR PROJECT