A little bit of soldering

Mosslands School is one of 10 specially selected schools to take part in a new nationwide education project to engage Year 8 students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. Comprising of three elements, the ‘Listen, Engage, Discover’ one-day programme was delivered in partnership by The Smallpeice Trust and Tomorrow’s Engineers and aimed to encourage students to pursue an engineering career.

 

The day began with the ‘Listen’ element, in which the entire year group received an inspirational talk on STEM. The aim of this session was to demonstrate the ‘Journey into engineering’ and raise awareness of STEM subjects while encouraging students to think about how engineering has influenced their lives. 

 

Positioning the speaker

Session two then saw a pre-selected group of 60 students ‘Engage’ in a hands-on STEM Challenge designed to improve students’ creative thinking, problem solving and team working skills.

 

In their teams, the 60 students aged 13 and 14 years old worked on a speaker project where they had to design and build a new generation loud speaker to amplify sound, for use with a mobile phone or MP3 player. The project not only had time constraints, but also budgetary and aesthetical requirements.

 

Education Officer for The Smallpeice Trust, Megan Hubbard, said, “It is wonderful to see just how much students get from participating in the new Listen, Engage, Discover initiative as they develop their lateral thinking and problem solving skills, while gaining a greater insight into the field of engineering.  Thanks to the support from Tomorrow’s Engineers, students have had the opportunity to put their Science, Techology, Engineering and Maths skills to the test to tackle the task in hand. We hope these students will now be inspired to consider engineering when looking to choose future study options.”

 

Great designs

The school’s Gifted and Talented Coordinator and Careers Advisor, Brian Taylor, said, “We were delighted to take part in the Listen, Engage, Discover initiative. It has encouraged our pupils to link the classroom elements of Science, Design and Technology to what happens in engineering in the real world. By taking part in this one-day programme, we have found that many of our students have been inspired to push themselves harder in STEM subjects to achieve their future goals.”

 

The Programme Head of Tomorrow’s Engineers, Heather Williams, said: “The aim of the Tomorrow’s Engineers Programme is to work with employers, not for profit organisations and charities, like The Smallpeice Trust, to help schools to incorporate engineering into the current curriculum and plant the seeds needed to grow local engineering talent required by businesses. The Listen, Engage, Discover initiative provides a fantastic opportunity for us to work together to inspire young people to consider a career in engineering.” 

 

The Listen, Engage, Discover initiative is being run by the independent educational charity, The Smallpeice Trust as part of an ongoing programme of activities  designed to help young people learn and develop skills in engineering, design, technology and manufacturing.  For further information visit www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk, or telephone The Smallpeice Trust on 01926 333200.