Control Technology – Empowering Minds
This project began as part of the NCTE's SIP initiative in 1998. Four schools were selected for the first phase, representing the main school types prevailing in Ireland - large middle class suburban, inner city disadvantaged, medium-sized semi-rural, and two-teacher rural. The second phase involved a targeted expansion to include more small rural schools, disadvantaged schools, single-sex schools and children with special needs. At present there are 13 schools and 29 teachers participating in the project. The teachers' level of experience with technology ranges from complete beginner to experienced. The project builds on previous research on educational applications of control technology at the MIT Media Laboratory. We are using LEGO Mindstorms, the commercial version of the MIT “programmable brick”.
Tommy Maher has been teaching in primary schools for almost thirty years. For the past 18 years he has been principal of Scoil Naomh Fiachra, a two-teacher rural school in Co. Kilkenny. He has been an ICT tutor with Kilkenny Education Centre for many years and has been involved with the Empowering Minds project since its inception in 1998. The school has exhibited projects each year at the Robo Show, the Young Scientist Exhibition and at Media Lab Europe.