3-D pupils feel way forward
A ROSSENDALE school is one of the first in the country to trial an emerging technology which allows users to ‘feel’ digital technology.
Students at Alder Grange School in Rawtenstall have been taking part in the Haptics project, set up by technology company Anarkik 3-D, which allows schools to test new 3-D visual technology.
The technology allows users to create, feel and manipulate 3-D images by using a cursor which connects to a laptop.
The cursor and the 3-D visual software detect the 3-D shapes, so users are able to physically feel them.
The Calder Road school, which is the only school in the north west to try out the technology, is using it in art, design and technology, computing, business and science classes.
As part of the project, the school has been tasked with using the technology to create a healthy lung and an unhealthy lung, showing the visual and physical differences in the tissue quality.
This type of design can be used for teaching in biology, allowing pupils to experience the differences in a way they haven’t been able to before.
Students will also use it to create and print a case for the handheld computers they recently received from the BBC Make It Digital programme, called the micro:bit.
If this initial trial is successful and the Alder Grange team can prove there are educational benefits to the technology, the project will receive more funding and development, with the hope that it can be used in schools across the UK.
Simon Varley, deputy headteacher at Alder Grange, said: “This new technology is extremely exciting.
“At Alder Grange we are always open to new approaches to teaching, whether that be the microbit for programming or something even more unusual like the Haptics equipment.
“So far we have teachers and students who have used the technology and have found it really beneficial. It opens up a lot of doors to us as a school, giving science, art, design and technology lessons a new depth.
“The projects they are working on enable the students to use the technology to create a teaching tool as part of their computing courses.”
Year 12 student George Le Put described using the technology, saying: “By using a kind of 3-D mouse, I could not only stretch and distort objects on screen, but I could also feel the resistance changing between materials.”