Maggi Barnard

A multilingual IT teacher who allows his students to go on fantastic adventures through building and programming Lego models might sound like a modern day version of Mary Poppins, but this is a real life movie playing every day at the Parkes Christian School (PCS).

It is recess time and the computer lab of Clarence Goh, or Mr Goh as the students call him, is packed with kids in their element. It feels more like a hands-on high tech toy shop, but as the only Google Certified Trainer and Innovator in the Central West, Clarence is helping PCS move towards more project-based learning in the IT and Robotics department.

“The best way to learn is through play,” says Clarence. “Students need to know, see and feel when they learn, only then will learning become tangible.” The biggest project so far is an automated city built with Lego by primary students, and programmed by the more senior students to make it work on voice commands.

The cinema, playing real movies, is programmed with the world’s smallest computer. It has been in the making
for about a year and involves over 100 students. This is the project Clarence will be taking to show in Sydney next week where he was asked to represent Google at Edu-TECH Australia 2018, the largest education exhibition in Asia-Pacific and the Southern Hemisphere.

As the students proudly display projects they have been working on, Clarence points out several that will be entered into the Young ICT Explorers Competition for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related projects held in August. The Lego City will be entered, as well as the Rubik Cube Solver, built and programmed by Caleb Hill and Brayden Varcoe.

“It took us two months to build and then another year of problem solving to make it work properly,” said Caleb. “It was hard to build, and we had so many problems, but it felt so good to finish it,” said Brayden. While Alek Smith plays the Lego guitar he built and programmed, and Aaron O’Rourke demonstrates a Lego gear system he designed that can lift up to 100kg, Johnny the dancing robot shows off his gymnastic moves and Bellah Hewett fits a virtual reality device on her head to explore a new environment.

“I love coming here as I am learning so much about technology and other subjects,” says Bellah. In August Clarence will be taking hands-on learning outside with a very special project. “We will launch a robot, called a Raspberry Pi with a GPS, temperature and humidity sensor, into near space to an altitude of 50km using a high altitude balloon and broadcast live images to earth via telemetry.”

With his eyes glinting just talking about this space project, Clarence says: “It makes me very happy to see the students so engaged. It gives me a lot of job satisfaction.”

In addition, his lab is providing a challenge for students to prove themselves and this has brought about a significant reduction in anti-social behaviour and an improvement in other subjects too as students see the purpose of learning and attending school.

The computer lab, connected to wi fi, also doubles as a language classroom where Clarence teaches Japanese with the help of technology. At the mention of Japanese a student jumps up and asks Google: “How do you say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in Japanese?” … every school needs a high tech ‘Mary Poppins’!

Plans to build a rural medical school in Wagga Wagga have been welcomed by students and practitioners. Sam Roberts is a final year medical student at the University of NSW’s Wagga Wagga campus and applauded the move, saying it would open up opportunities for students unable to live and study in metropolitan centres.

“The medical school will allow students to study closer to home where they have support,” he said.

It was announced in the Federal Budget recently that the Government would invest $95.4 million to establish a medical network including the University of NSW (Wagga Wagga), University of Sydney (Dubbo), Charles Sturt University/Western Sydney University (Orange), Monash University (Bendigo, Mildura) and the University of
Melbourne/La Trobe University (Shepparton, Bendigo, Wodonga).

Member for Riverina Michael McCormack met with the Rural Medical School Implementation Committee (RMSIC), representatives of the University of NSW, Wagga Wagga general practitioner and obstetrician and medical students to discuss the highly anticipated project.

“We are all excited about not only what a dedicated medical school in Wagga Wagga will deliver for this region but also about what the wider network will mean for improved health services in rural and regional NSW and Victoria,” said Michael.

“Evidence shows newly-graduated doctors are most likely to choose to live and work in rural areas if they and/or their partner have a rural origin, and also if they have spent a considerable amount of their training time in regional and rural areas.”

The head of the University of NSW Medicine’s Wagga campus, Associate Professor John Preddy, said the Wagga Wagga medical school would provide a total medical workforce solution for the Riverina area.

“I think the Federal Government has developed an elegant solution in putting together a network of five rural medical schools,” he said. “By having five schools instead of just one they are not overburdening one individual city.”

The National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) team, together with Central West Local Land Services would like to invite you to an information evening focusing on the use of a species-specific virus known as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (the carp virus) as a biocontrol agent.

The community briefing session will be held on Wednesda, 30th May, from 6pm to 8pm at the Forbes Inn Hotel, 43 Rankin Street, Forbes. The event is an opportunity for Forbes residents to hear about proposed carp biocontrol measures first-hand from the NCCP and Local Land Services as well as contribute feedback to the plan.

This event is one of more than 40 community briefings that have been held in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Queensland. For more information on the briefing or to register your attendance, please contact Vivien Howard on 0439 387 603 or email vivien.howard@lls.nsw.gov.au.