Drom National School students excel at Dream Space showcase in Dublin recently

This year, the children of Drom National School, took part in an exciting ten-week program called Microsoft Dream Space.
This program was brought to the school by Tina Mulhearne of Tipperary County Council in association with Tipperary Broadband Connection Points and Michael Barrett of Microsoft Ireland.

Broadband connection points see local authorities provide broadband connection points at specific locations to provide quality broadband services to local communities, particularly those in rural areas.

The Microsoft Dream Space program provides immersive, research-based STEM experiences for students, teachers, and communities to enhance their STEM skills alongside crucial social-emotional skills such as empathy, creativity, ethical decision-making, and collaboration.

The children of Drom National School spent five weeks engaged in creative projects such as designing a windmill or creating an obstacle course, followed by five weeks of coding where they learned how to create digital games, code activity pickers, send messages to each other on a small computer called a micro bit and create a temperature sensor.

The culmination of this ten-week program was the “do your bit” showcase which took place on June 16, 2023 in One Microsoft Place in Leopardstown, Dublin.

The do your bit challenge was founded by the Microbit Foundation and is a global competition for children to combine creativity and technology solutions to tackle the UN’s Global Goals. The goals are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity for everyone while protecting the planet.

In Drom National School, the children looked at Global Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being and coded several programs to help achieve this goal. This goal aims to achieve access to healthcare for everyone, everywhere.

The title of the project that the children of Drom National School undertook was “Weaving Wellbeing” as it sought to use technology to weave well-being into the lives of young people everywhere. The children created a step-counter on the micro bit to monitor and improve physical well-being.

They also coded a wellness picker to encourage their classmates to engage in a variety of activities to improve not just their physical well-being, but also their mental, social, and emotional wellbeing.

Another group created a positive affirmation program that sent positive statements to the children to help them feel more confident, while the Sixth Class group created a class digital pet called “Digi-dog” to demonstrate the power of collective effort in improving our well-being as was the case during the pandemic. The children then showcased their project “Weaving Wellbeing” at the “do your bit” showcase in One Microsoft Place on June 16.

With a remarkable 320 students, 60 teachers/parents/club facilitators, seven clubs, and one library service from Tipperary, Longford, and Louth, the Dream Space Showcase was truly a grand celebration of the innovation and creativity thriving in rural Ireland. Taking over the entire ground floor of One Microsoft Place, the event showcased the immense talent of the children of rural Ireland.

Nine awards were presented at the end of the showcase, five of which were awarded to schools and clubs from around Tipperary.

As one of those schools, we were delighted to be awarded the prestigious “Future STEM Leaders” award from Microsoft Ireland.

It is reflective of the huge work that the children put into the program and project this year. It is also indicative of the commitment that the school makes to the children in its care, to provide them with every opportunity possible to ensure the brightest possible future for them.

The school continues to liaise with Tina Mulhearne of Tipperary County Council and Michael Barrett of Microsoft Ireland to build on the success of the Dream Space program in the school next year and into the future.

It is determined to be the flag bearer for the use of digital technology in small rural schools in Tipperary.