FEATURED STORY

Students enjoy engineering experience

From 5th to 8th July, Tyler Cutts, Sadat Huq, Kieran Morgan and Daniel Raynor benefitted from a unique hands-on experience at the University of Wolverhampton.  The four-day residential programme was organised by The Smallpiece Trust and sponsored by The Institution of Mechanical Engineering to engage with sixty-seven students and provide them with the opportunity to learn about engineering through a series of presentatations and practical hands-on workshops.

In teams, the 13 and 14 year old students worked on 'real-life' challenges organised by The Royal Navy and The Smallpiece Trust.  The projects were to design-and-make an egg crash vehicle and to build a boat which was capable of travelling at a certain speed and was able to withstand a certain amount of weight.

On the first day students also took part in an icebreaker activity called the 'shelter project'.  Students were set the task of building a stable shelter out of cardboard tubes and sticky tape to house the tallest member of their group - this resulted in some interesting and tall designs.

During the course students benefitted from careers talks delivered by JA Envirotanks and Siemens Wind Power, which gave them some inspiration about where a career in the engineering industry could take them.

The students also had the opportunity to develop skills such as team work, communication, problem solving, time management, finance and presentations over the four days.

Spokesperson Gemma Murphy from The Trust commented "We are delighted that with the support from The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, we have been able to give these budding engineers an opportunity to learn all about what a career in engineering could be like.  Judging by their dedication and enthusiasm to their projects I am sure the students are now in a much better position to make clear and sensible career choices."

Head of Education at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Chris Kirby, said "Giving young people an opportunity to discover for themselves the excitement, challenge and reward of engineering is a vital step in encouraging the engineers of tomorrow.  In 10 years some of these young people will be helping to solve some of the major challenges our society faces."

The Engineering Experience course is run by independent charity, The Smallpiece Trust, and is part of an ongoing programme of residential courses to help young people aged 13 to 18 learn and develop skills in engineering, design, technology and manufacturing.  Through running residential courses and STEM enrichment days, The Trust has reached out to 17,677 students across the UK in the past year.