Budding Young Engineers From Tiffin School Take Part in an Engineering Eggsperience (From Surrey Comet)

Budding Young Engineers From Tiffin School Take Part in an Engineering Eggsperience

3:14pm Monday 19th July 2010 in Kingston By Helen Edwards

From 12th to 15th July, Josh Thakrar, student from Tiffin School, benefited from a unique hands-on learning experience at the University of Portsmouth. This four-day residential programme was organised by The Smallpeice Trust and sponsored by The University of Portsmouth to provide nearly one hundred 13/14 year old students with the opportunity to learn about engineering through a series of presentations and practical hands-on workshops.

In teams the students worked on ‘real-life’ challenges organised by young engineers from BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce and the university’s engineering department. The Engineering Department at the University of Portsmouth led a project where students had to design, build and then fly a model hot air balloon that would be able to carry a small cargo of food (sweets!). BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce developed car projects where students had to design, build and test vehicles which had to negotiate a number of different obstacles and complete a series of tasks. Students also enjoyed watching several presentations including a presentation from Thames Water who had sponsored a number of the children to attend the course.

During the four days students not only developed engineering skills but also life skills such as team work, communication, problem solving, time management, finance and presentations.

There was also a first day project for all the Smallpeice students - 'the tallest tower' challenge where students were required to build a tall , stable tower from only 50 cardboard tubes and sticky tape - this resulted in some interesting and tall designs. Barbara Haward, one of the Associate Deans in the Technology Faculty said, “This is the third year running we have hosted the Engineering Experience course. Our staff always greatly enjoy their involvement with the course and aim to inspire and encourage students to be the engineers of the future as well as demonstrating that engineering and technology can be fun and also a worthwhile career. We also enjoy working with The Smallpeice Trust, who facilitate running these courses and organise everything perfectly".

Spokesperson Gemma Murphy from the Trust commented “During the course nearly 100 potential engineers learnt all about what a career in engineering could be like and judging by their dedication and enthusiasm to their projects we feel they took away with them some ‘food for thought’ about just how beneficial a career in engineering can be”.

The Engineering Engineering course is run by the independent educational charity, The Smallpeice Trust, as part of an ongoing programme of residential courses to help young people aged 10 to 18 learn and develop skills in engineering, design, technology and manufacturing. Through running over 32 residential courses and STEM enrichment sessions, The Trust has reached out to around 15,630 students across the UK in the past year.