Liz: Do you remember those snippets of film from factories they used to show on educational kids’ shows when we were little? I have a very lucid memory of an episode of Playschool which (via the arched window) took you through the making of a rubber glove, and another segment featuring the manufacture of chocolate biscuits.
The manufacturing process is fascinating for us grownups. It’s even better if you’re a kid. So Code Club took a group of kids from Saint Saviour’s School in Paddington, London to the Pi factory in South Wales. Here’s how they got on. Thanks to Nick Corston for this post, which you’ll also find at http://sscodeclub.blogspot.co.uk/.
To do our bit for National Science Week we took a trip to the Sony factory in South Wales where they make the Raspberry Pi computers – in fact they make 18,000 a week. A real success story for British manufacturing.We met at Paddington and, not to waste a school day, got stuck straight into a Code Club lesson using the programming language Scratch.
Thanks to Clare and Linda at Code Club HQ for lending us a a pile of netbooks with Scratch on them. We had enough for half the group – – so while they were waiting the other half got stuck into some
worksheets to prepare them for the visit.
We were delighted when a passenger getting off the train, said how perfectly well behaved the children were, which, while not the be all and end all, made us very proud of them as they’d had lots of fun on the journey but also worked very hard.
We had a quick change of train at Cardiff station, before getting a much smaller train to Pencoed, where taxis were waiting to take us to the factory (if you ever do the trip, don;t even consider walking the short distance as the dual carriageway is UNCROSSABLE and dangerous).
Then we were at the Sony factory, a massive building in the countryside where Sony used to make televisions. Now they make the best TV cameras in the world as well as Raspberry PI’s and servicing Sony electronics devices from TVs to PlayStations, PSPs and camcorders providing much needing employment for the local community.
We then had a briefing all about Sony and the Raspberry Pi sat round the Sony Director’s board table.
Before entering the factory we had to put on special shoes that make sure that any static electricity in us went to the ground and not into any thing we touched, as it can damage the sensitive electronics in the factory.
We saw the Raspberry Pi production all the way through the process. We learned how the circuit boards are coated in solder and saw then the tiny pin head size components put on the boards really quickly by a robot arm.
Some parts still have to be put on by hand and there is a line of ladies who do that job.
The boards then pass on to a solder bath on a conveyor belt where these components are fixed in place.
Here one of the groups poses for a photo with Mr Corston who organised the trip and was helped on the day by Ms Bennett and Mr Lee.
A real bonus of the day was a visit to a company called Wales Interactive, who Sony are helping by letting them use some of their office space. They are a games development company and we saw how they create games for the PlayStation and iPhones and Android devices. They had some great free and paid for apps – we think Ms Woodford might particularly like their cat and dog calculator app!
Dave Banner who runs the company showed us how they create illustrations that get turned into computer graphics to go into the games.
A really interesting aspect of this was the role of coding and computer programming in creating games. We saw the software they use, which uses flow charts a bit like Scratch to bring the games to life. We saw how important maths is to create the equations and physics formulas to make the games as realistic as possible. Dave said they only consider employees who have worked really hard at school and been to university.
Finally on the way home the children completed a quiz sheet based on what they had learned on the day and six lucky winners got a Code Club t-shirt as a souvenir of the day.
Thanks to all the children for being so well behaved, their parents for letting them come. Mr Corston, Ms Bennett and Mr Lee for their help and Sony TEC Pencoed for their amazing hospitality. Code Club for loaning us a bunch of netbooks with Scratch on and the prize t-shirts.
More photos in a
slideshow here and watch this space for exciting news re a movie of the day.
Then we were at the Sony factory, a massive building in the countryside where Sony used to make televisions. Now they make the best TV cameras in the world as well as Raspberry PI’s and servicing Sony electronics devices from TVs to PlayStations, PSPs and camcorders providing much needing employment for the local community.
6 comments
ukscone
>I have a very lucid memory of an episode of Playschool which (via the
>arched window) took you through the making of a rubber glove, and another
>segment featuring the manufacture of with chocolate biscuits.
wasn’t Hamble scarey?
Raspberry Pi Staff liz — post author
TERRIFYING. As it happens, I was at school with Fred Harris’ son some years later, and mentioned my fear of Hamble. Fred Harris himself said that the presenters all loathed Hamble too, and used to take turns kicking her around the set.
Play School was franchised in a lot of other countries, and they all used the same set of toys – only nowhere outside the UK took up the option to use Hamble.
(If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s Hamble. Shudder.)
exartemarte
Sounds like a really great day out for a group of children who were there because they wanted to be, and not because they were sent, and whose parents probably had to cough up a bob or two towards the expenses. It’s all good stuff, helping to inform and inspire a new generation of engineers and computer scientists; Eben should be pleased.
Nice, also, that someone commented on how well behaved they were.
I like the thought that went into occupying the youngsters during the train journey, too, though I do wish teachers would be a bit more careful with their worksheets and not feed their charges guff such as “the UK is famous for literally inventing the internet”.
exartemarte
I just looked through the slideshow and noticed the young lady who keeps a pencil in her hair. I think she will go far.
BJ
I don’t think I will ever stop being simultaneously giddy that clubs like this exist now and jealous that they didn’t when I was a kid.
DT
Well done Sony and everyone else involved!
I’ve recently retired after a lifetime in electronics, and we used to do a lot with schools before “Elf & Safety” and risk assessments got in the way. These young people are the future of the country and need all the support we can give them.
Keep up the good work.
DT