Racing mind gives ideas to students
A local teacher has gone above and beyond to engage his students in a design project during remote learning.
St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School product design and technology teacher Phil Coombs developed an innovative project and sourced materials, before travelling across Gippsland to hand-deliver packages to the doorsteps of each student in his year 10 class.
Watching the news provided Mr Coombs with inspiration for his design project.
A product design engineer had made desks out of cardboard as he did not have enough desks for all his children during remote learning. These desks could be moved around the house and easily dismantled.
“So, that got my mind racing and I thought my students can do that at home,” said Mr Coombs. “It will get them off their screens, allow them to do some practical work and will also mean that I am not putting them at risk if they were trying to use power tools without supervision.”
He went online to find examples of furniture made out of cardboard and hit his first snag. They recommended using cardboard with at least two-ply corrugation.
After visiting several locations looking for leftover boxes to be upcycled, Mr Coombs was provided 32 sheets of 7mm double corrugated cardboard from a Dandenong company.
Students were given the project and started the design process based on a customer request scenario. A working drawing and 1:5 scale model made on thin card followed.
With students working busily on their designs, Mr Coombs packed a lunch and thermos of coffee for his delivery run. He went to Traralgon first and made his return down the highway to Drouin, dropping materials off at doorsteps of students along the wat.
St Paul’s praised Mr Coombs for his great initiative and going above and beyond normal duties to support students as they learn, develop new skills, design and create during these uncertain times.
Mr Coombs said he strongly believed one of the school goals “to be your best self”.
“We are all trying to do this and although things have been difficult at times, we as a school community have done and are doing amazing things and I am very proud to be a part of it,” he said.
Take on a fun food project during remote learning aimed at teaching children how to read ingredient lists and nutrition panels to encourage healthy food choices.
It can be fun for children to check their breakfast cereals and snacks. They might be quite surprised about what is in their food.
West Gippsland Healthcare Group health promotion officer Angela Greenall said generally dietitians recommend choosing foods for children that are unprocessed, low in salt, low in saturated fat and high in fibre.
She said that sounds sensible, but it was not always easy to tell if a food was healthy or not. In addition, reading labels could be tricky or time consuming.
“The quickest way to work out what is in a food product is to look at the list of ingredients – all processed foods must have ingredients listed on their label in order from most to least,” said Ms Greenall. “So, if the first three ingredients are fat, sugar or salt, you know this is not a very healthy choice. It’s a good idea to limit these foods”.
She said sometimes sugar was listed as dextrose, fructose, galactose, glucose, maltose or sucrose.
Alternatively, check how much of each ingredient is in the food via the nutrition information panel, particularly the quantity per 100g column.
Ms Greenall said parents should ask their children to check out the amount of sugar and sodium (salt) per 100g in their food for a fun exercise. They can compare this amount to the Nutrition Australia recommendations to decide if the food is a best choice, okay sometimes or poor choice.
Ideally food for children should have less than 5g per 100g sugar and less than 120mg per 100g for sodium.
“We recommend the best choices for snacks for children are fresh unprocessed foods such as fruit, vegetables and dip, wholemeal sandwiches or unsalted nuts,” said Ms Greenall. “A small tub of yoghurt is also a good choice.”
For more information on healthy eating, visit livelighter.com.au.