Celebrating Science Week

Drones, Droids and Robots

It's National Science week, so let's take a break from books and study, and enjoy some of the amazing things that are being done around the world in robotics.

For decades books and movies have been using robots for anything from cleaning our houses to fighting our wars. We have asked questions about what makes us human, and can we trust Artificial Intelligence. But for all that, it is only relatively recently that we have been able to manufacture humanoid robots that can actually walk (when you take uneven ground into account, it is actually quite hard!).

Take a look at this clip of some of the most advanced humanoid robots around today:

 Drones, quadcopters, remote controlled aeroplanes - they are fun to fly, getting more advanced all the time, and a bit scary when the military gets involved. But what about some of the cool non-military applications?

Check out this (short) article about some of the great ideas out there:

http://www.airdronecraze.com/drones-action-top-12-non-military-uses/

Finally, for a bit of fun, check out this video of Boston Dynamics testing the capabilities of Atlas (don't worry, they weren't really bullying the robot, they were just making sure that it could still perform its job!)

Book Club - tomorrow

The ILC is pleased to announce the first Book Club meeting tomorrow at lunchtime.

Tomorrow students will have the chance to talk about the books they have been, or are, reading. They can recommend books for other students to read. They will also have a chance to talk about how they would like the book club to be run - what sorts of activities and/or challenges they might like us to set up - as well as having a chance to think of what they might like the book club to be called.

So, grab a book, and come along and join in the discussion.

ILC Closure for the VCE exams

 

The ILC will be closed from Thursday 29th of October, reopening on Wednesday 18th of November.

This is to allow the year 12s to have enough space, and enough quiet to complete their exams.

The ILC staff will have a number of arrangements in place to make sure this closure impacts you as little as possible. Here are the answers to a number of the questions you might have:

I have a book on loan. When will it be due, and how can I return it?
Books will have their normal due dates (i.e. 2 weeks after the day it was borrowed). ILC staff will be visiting homerooms in the mornings to collect any books students want to return.

How can I borrow something new, or renew something I have already borrowed?
The easiest thing for you to do is to email ILC staff via the library email address: library@ignatius.vic.edu.au. If you let us know what you want to borrow/renew we will organise it for you.

Will I still be able to play Uno or Chess at lunchtime?
You will not be able to come into the ILC at lunchtime, but there will be space provided in the Xavier Centre, and many of the board games will be moved across there during the exam period for you to play at lunch and snack.

What if I need help finding information for an assignment or help creating a bibliography?
ILC staff will be very happy to help you. All you need to do is email them using the library email address library@ignatius.vic.edu.au and someone will get back to you with email help, or to arrange a time and place to give you face-to-face help.

Any other questions? email us and we will do our best to help!
library@ignatius.vic.edu.au

Feast Day!

Racing Spheros

Feast Day was enjoyed by one and all. In spite of the amazingly beautiful weather outside, the ILC saw its share of traffic with students enjoying gaming on the Xbox and Wii. The spheros were also out with students racing them around a track, while others played on the school MineCraft server.

MineCrafters hard at work

Outside the petting zoo, mechanical bull, sumo suits, jousting, jumping castles and obstacle course , talent show and so much more provided loads of entertainment. Congratulations to all the organisers.

Students relaxing playing Xbox and Wii

James Phelan visits the ILC

On Tuesday the ILC hosted a Literary Evening for parents. Around 20 people gathered for wine and nibbles, and a chance to chat to our guest speaker James Phelan before his presentation. Later were then entertained as James talked about his beginnings as both a reader and an author.

 James is a phenomenally successful author for adult readers, as well as writing very popular books for teen readers. His series The Last Thirteen was inspired in part by nightmares he experienced as a young child, and his father’s advice for him to imagine taking a backpack of useful things into the dream to help him escape.

Anime in the ILC

Licensed under Creative Commons, from WikiHow

Learn to draw manga style with our guest tutor

Relax watching anime on the big screen

Join in folding origami







For term 3 the ILC will be hosting an anime club for all year 7s and 8s. This week students were watching Howl’s Moving Castle while learning the art of origami folding. Later this term we will have a tutor available to help teach you to draw your own manga-style characters.
Come and join in, relax and try something different.