Not just a classroom...

Dr Who fans who watched the episode entitled “The Interstellar Song Contest” first broadcast on 18 May 2025 will have spotted or may recall that the hologram described our beautiful planet inexplicably disintegrated on 24th May 2025.  Fortunately, that did not happen as the day after was the culmination of the five day long “Festival of Artificial Intelligence” hosted by the inter and multidisciplinary King’s (College, London) Institute for Artificial Intelligence.  Being invited to present the Intelino Engineuity Challenge on the Festival’s closing Family Day was such an honour for so many reasons.

Firstly on a deeply personal level, it was almost a year ago to the day since I last stepped foot on campus of King’s College.  In March 2023 I was offered a scholarship place on the MA in STEM Education programme by the School of Education, Communication and Society.  I made a proud return to part-time study that September 2023 but had to temporarily suspend or withdraw my participation following the death of both my parents in March 2024.  To say that trying to be a part-time Postgraduate student whilst having a full teaching timetable and family commitments caring for terminally ill parents was unimaginably tough is an understatement.  I am therefore exceedingly grateful for the overwhelming support shown by my family, colleagues, the pastoral care provided by King’s College as well as the kindness and connections I have cultivated on social media.

It was through a combination of those social media connections as well as my professional, indirect contacts that I was able to secure an invitation to submit a proposal to be part of the “Festival of Artificial Intelligence” Family Day.  I have been immensely proud to have established a collaboration since Autumn 2023 with the creator of the Intelino SmartTrain system which are essentially programmable model trains which make learning about computational thinking and algorithmic structures relatable, relevant and real.  Such is the success of the collaboration with Intelino, a set will be on interactive display as part of Network Rail’s bicentennial aboard the custom built exhibition train named “Inspiration” touring the UK from June 2025 https://railway200.co.uk/inspiration/ (last visited: 25 May 2025).

Although the current model of the Intelino SmartTrain system is not strictly speaking harnessing the full potential of technology driven by Artificial Intelligence such as returning to depot when its rechargeable battery is critically low or self-regulating obstruction avoidance, the teaching notes I have written and the learning resources I have compiled have given me an insight into how it is possible to brigade learning outcomes from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for children as young as pre-schoolers with a product that engages, enthuses and enriches teaching and learning for students as advanced as those preparing for University entrance.

By simply handling a fixed or specified quantity of the three types or shapes of Intelino SmartTrain track already enables children as young as aged 3 to exercise what Lucas, Hanson and Claxton (2014) describe as “engineering habits of mind”.  With eight curved pieces forming a complete circle, the children are able to learn about the arc of a circle and how each arc or segment forms a turn of 45 degrees.  Assembling the track to a given layout enables children to practice fine and gross motor skills as well as their listening

Introducing the children to following track system designs provides the basis for comparing closed and open layouts.  This leads onto or enables children to be introduced to network topologies where even older learners such as those preparing for GCSE and A-Level Computer Science can benefit by attempting to construct scale replicas of bus, star and mesh topologies or use the engines to model data packet transfer.  Elevating the track using bridge support extensions means being able to consider concepts of forces and motion from Physics.  The fact that the Intelino SmartTrain track can by use of its special adapters be connected with classic wooden train track of the same gauge enables Primary aged children to work scientifically by comparing the performance of the Intelino engines between the wooden and SmartTrain plastic track.  It was using a set of the Intelino SmartTrains on a simple circular track layout to describe how electrons are distributed within an electrical circuit which initially inspired me to think about how to make best or most efficient use of using Intelino for teaching across all year groups.

Since being appointed in 2020 to the role of subject specialist in Computing, my bosses ‘can do and want to’ attitude to working collegiately across our ‘family’ of schools has meant that with their support, I have found myself in a dream role where my experience and training as a classroom based Primary teacher has been combined with my over forty years experience of ‘thinkering’ around digital technologies by or through supporting GCSE and A-Level students prepare for their Computer Science examinations.  It has been through this collegiate approach which inspired me to successfully apply for support from the Ogden Trust in 2023 and devise a ‘free’ workshop offer to schools which ran until Summer 2024.  This workshop offer was able to be continued through support from the Greater Anglia Rail Customer and Community Improvement Fund.  As the Community Lead for Waltham Forest, it would be fantastic if schools closer to ‘home’ as it were are able to take up future opportunities to collaborate, especially those who are looking to making their teaching and learning more inclusive and accessible through the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) route.

Taking part in University hosted outreach events and activities such as the King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence Family Day today served as a reminder too that whilst on a day to day level, Computing is considered by both children and their families one of the more popular subjects at the school I work for, its true measure of its popularity is how many children or young people go on to elect to study Computer Science at GCSE, A-Level and beyond.  Computing might be considered ‘fun’ to learn but ultimately ‘we’ as a global community of teachers, parents, policy and decision makers need to collectively ensure that every young person we have the privilege and honour of working with have the best opportunity to become digital citizens of the future, able to successfully, safely and securely navigate our ever-evolving online world.