YEAR 9 ENJOY PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING AT SPECIAL EVENT
Year 9 pupils enjoyed practical problem solving when they took part in a hands-on day of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in the David Russell Theatre.
They limbered up by trying to make a tall tower designed to hold a 100 gram weight from just ten sheets of paper.
Then it was onto the next challenge, to design, engineer and produce a construction to move an aeroplane wing across and up a set height and distance using nuts, bolts, a variety of structural metal sections and limited tools and equipment.
They also had to make a simple electro-magnet and learned the principles by making the coil and core.
The day was organised in conjunction with the Smallpiece Trust, an independent charity providing exciting programmes to promote engineering careers to young people and involved students taking Resistant Materials Technology.
“As the day went on some simple but effective designs were realised. Some were more complicated!” said Lloyd Ansell, Head of Design and Technology.
“Pupils gave a presentation to the year group at the end of the day. They explained their design and how it functioned; this went down very well with all present. Everyone enjoyed the day.”
Tertius Bonnin and Junshi Wace were chosen, because of the contribution they made, to go on a free four day residential engineering taster course with the Smallpiece Trust in Shropshire. There they will be solving live problems with university lecturers and professors of engineering.
