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We like to regularly look at our impact as a school, related to how well we are living out our school's core mission and vision. Below we touch on a key impact area that we can confidently highlight.
Academic: 'Foster a community of learners where students and adults engage in experiential learning, built upon international best practices'
Reimagining the Jungle Gym: A Grade 8 CAD Design Challenge
This year, Grade 8 students at Lighthouse took on an ambitious and engaging 3D modelling project in their ICT lessons. Using TinkerCAD, students were tasked with recreating the jungle gym from our own school playground. As a structure they interact with daily, the brief offered an immediate connection to their real-world environment and challenged them to apply their existing CAD skills in a purposeful and creative way.
Students began by sketching out the key elements of the jungle gym before moving into the modelling phase. Core features such as platforms, bars, ladders, and slides were required. Those working towards excellence were encouraged to include more complex structures such as ropes and to add their own creative touches. Throughout the project, students were guided to think critically and work efficiently, identifying repeated components, using align and duplicate functions, and breaking the structure into manageable parts.
The project aligns with the Cambridge Lower Secondary Computer Science curriculum, particularly in developing computational thinking and understanding of digital tools for modelling. It also supported our wider commitment to project-based learning. Students were not only demonstrating their technical proficiency but also learning to plan, iterate, and refine their ideas with increasing independence.
As a school, we have seen our ICT curriculum grow steadily into a space where students can create, design, and problem-solve. This shift reflects our belief that technology is best understood when students are actively using it to build meaningful projects. The jungle gym task gave students the opportunity to take ownership of their learning while applying abstract concepts to something tangible and familiar. Their final models reflected both technical skill and a sense of pride in their work.
By Dylan Langheim, ICT Teacher
Screencast 2025-07-10 11.24.38.webmPage updated
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