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On Wednesday 19th June, all of Year 8 took part in the very first GDST Women in Engineering Day.
The day was designed to help students develop an understanding of possible pathways to engineering and to give them practical experience of working in teams to solve a problem.
Year 8 started the day by listening to interviews with GDST alumnae who now work as engineers or study engineering at University. The alumnae explained how to get into their profession, what they do on a daily basis and how to grow their confidence when unsure of their next step.
“I’ve learnt about the qualifications that you need to work in engineering and that it might be important to do other things, such as a languages, so that you can show your broad knowledge.”
Students then moved onto their practical engineering challenge for the day. They were given a mission brief informing them they were required to move a ‘meteorite’ across a distance of 2 metres. The added challenge was that no member of the team could be closer than 1 metre to the meteorite when attempting to move it.
The teams worked together to solve the challenge resulting in a wide range of outcomes. Teams tested their ideas and each attempt was timed.
The final challenge of the day was to complete a relay of teams moving the meteorite a total distance of 20m. Their attempt was filmed and willl be judged by the alumnae and a trophy given to one school in the GDST family.
It was a fantastic day, the students enjoyed the chance to problem solve with different members of their class. They learnt a lot about engineering and collaboration, important life skills to take forward.
We spoke to some of our Year 8 students to hear their feedback:
“I have learnt things like the skills required (e.g. we have learnt how and been encouraged to problem solve) and also how I could get into engineering in the future (e.g. what types of GCSEs to take, what A levels and degrees, etc.)”
“I have enjoyed the teamwork and the problem solving as well as the supportive surroundings (teammates and everyone in the year including teachers). I also enjoyed the relay!”
“I enjoyed being able to try and problem solve and be creative, also whilst being community minded. However, I feel like the thing I enjoyed most was having a finished product that (eventually) worked as it gave me (and I am sure the rest of my group) the satisfaction that we had succeeded, even though it was not entirely successful.”
“I have enjoyed the whole day. I thought the idea and project was a really creative idea and was super fun. I worked well with my team and we bonded well.”
