NCH 0201

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012 NEWCASTLE HERALD 201

The Newcastle Herald’s School Newspaper Competition

Primaryentry#13WaratahPublicSchool

REVVED UP: Levi, 5, and XavierRogers, 7. Picture: Blake Parsons

Sprocketsgrowing intoBMX banditsBy BLAKE PARSONS andJENNA HALL

BMX Racing is quickly becominga popular sport, particularly forfamilies.

It’s a sport anyone can join,with racing based on ability, notnecessarily age.

There are clubs throughoutAustralia, in the Manning Valley,Maitland, Port Stephens, LakeMacquarie and Terrigal in theHunter/Central Coast region.

BMX Racing Australia offersmany different memberships fordifferent ages but a special mem-bership program for childrenunder eight is called Sprockets.

Sprockets Racing is about fun,learning to ride bikes around thetrack and developing racingskills.

Ange Rogers’s children, Levi, 5and Xavier, 7, participate inSprockets at Lake Macquarie.

This is Xavier’s third year andLevi’s first.

Ms Rogers believes it has led toan increase in confidence forboth children, and she has seen areal difference in Xavier’s socialand friendship skills.

This family-oriented sport alsogives children the chance to getoutside and ride a bike for real,rather than just experiencing iton a game console.

Go to bmxaustralia.com.

Brave new tech worldBy BENJAMIN CURREYand KAITLIN DEACON

NEW AGE: Waratah students working on computers. Picture: Kaitlin Deacon

STUDENTS at Waratah PublicSchool are excited about learningin a different type of classroom, thetechnology class.

This class offers students theopportunity to experience educa-tion from a different

perspective.This is a classroom where all

students have access to their owncomputer and can access and shareinformation instantly.

Class teacher Robyn Christie saidit greatly increased the generalknowledge and interest levels ofstudents, who get a say in theirlearning.

“There has been a huge increasein the confidence levels and inde-pendence of students in terms oflearning,” Mrs Christie said.

Students in the class still followthe curriculum and learn the samesubjects as other classes but theyshow what they have learned indifferent ways, by using technologysuch as computers, cameras andiPods.

Students also use different typesof software and websites to helptheir learning; this includes learn-ing how to tell which sites arereliable and how to interact safely,respectfully and responsibly online.

Students show what they havelearned through movies, music,

spreadsheets and graphs as well asinteractive presentations.

‘‘Children are excited, enthusi-astic about their learning; the chil-dren don’t want to leave the class-room at break times,’’ principalMaria Williams said.

But being in a technology classdoesn’t mean that the students onlywork on computers.

Students also write stories intheir books, create artworks, parti-

cipate in hands-on and group workin mathematics and science exper-iments, including seeing how long acheese burger would last – whichturned out to be a while.

Books still play a very importantrole in the technology class,although sometimes they may beelectronic books.

Parents are also excited aboutthe possibilities that the technologyclass gives students.

‘‘It’s hard to imagine a worldfuture without technology playing ahuge part,’’ Waratah Public SchoolParents and Citizens president Ver-ity Currey said.

‘‘My 12-year-old son alreadyknows more than I do about com-puters so I feel confident he will bewell prepared in the coming yearsto take advantage of all that theWPS technology class teacheshim.’’

Save money and the environment

EXPERIMENTAL: Todd Hodgson and Dallas Hayes testsolar power. Picture: Ty Rickard

By DALLAS HAYES andTODD HODGSON

THIS is the InternationalYear of Sustainable Energyfor All.

One of the ways to combatrising electricity and petrolcosts is the use of solarenergy.

As part of the AustralianGovernment’s RenewableEnergy Target (RET), solarenergy is becoming much

more important.Newcastle City Council’s

Michelle Lindsay said thatsolar panels reduced fossilfuel dependency and green-house gas emissions.

Solar panels are made withphotovoltaic cells which col-lect light and convert it intoelectricity.

Technology class studentsat Waratah Public Schooltested the benefits by makingsolar- powered cars.

They found that a disad-vantage is the weather.

If it is raining or overcast,the solar panels may not getany sunlight so a backupelectricitysourcemayneedtobe used.

It also depends on thesurrounding area.

If there are lots of trees orlarge buildings the sunlightmay not be able to get to thepanels which then won’tprovide power.