81 ACADEMIC Review Grade 8’s have to cover the basics initially: word processing, email and file management, amongst others, after which we can cover more interesting subjects such as graphic design and movie creation. The grade 9s are introduced to more complex topics such as web design and an introduction to programming using an intuitive language called ‘Scratch’. The boys really enjoyed these modules and a good number of them have elected to continue with I T next year. A number of grade 9s also elected to take a 3D modelling course where we sculpted monsters using a freeware application called Blender. The grade 10s were introduced to programming in Java and produced Tic Tac Toe for their end of year projects. They are an enthusiastic group who grasped the basic concepts quickly. The grade 11 group is very talented and were required to create a towerdefence game in the first half of the year. This is an extremely challenging task requiring some serious headscratching. All the boys produced excellent final products. In the second half of the year the boys coded their first business applications (a far easier challenge) which they enjoyed thoroughly. We hope that a third of our matrics will achieve distinctions this year. They have worked hard on their major programming projects and produced high quality business applications. I wish these boys all the best for their studies next year. Matthew Conradie InformationTechnology Information technology is mostly about problem-solving and requires boys to make use of the knowledge gained in Mathematics and Physics and builds on the critical thinking skills developed in English. Artist: Todd o’Reilly grade 12 With grateful thanks to Leander, Leanne, Lyle & Julia Jarvel
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