March 19 2014 | Kent & Medway | Views: 1924
The event was aimed specifically at Year 7 and 8s as well as Further Education students giving them the opportunity to take part in a challenge which will test their skills to the limit.
Teams of Year 7 & 8’s had the challenge of designing, building and testing a Crane out of Knex. They had to keep track of how much they were spending, giving a total cost at the end in their presentation where they also had to illustrate how their crane worked and the advantages of their build. This activity gave the students an understanding of the relationship of engineering and everyday life and how the two are linked. The children were all engaged and worked so hard and thoroughly throughout the morning, it was inspiring to watch. The finished products were incredible, they all worked as crane’s and looked superb.
The judges have looked at the cranes, assessed each team’s abilities to communicate, their teamwork and presentation skills. Money prizes were awarded to go towards school STEM resources in different categories. Presentation and team work: Chatham Grammar School for Boys, Chatham, 2nd prize of £250 was awarded to St George’s School, Broadstairs and 1st prize of £500 was awarded to Sandwich Technology School, Sandwich.
All the students had a brilliant day and worked very hard, we have some bright engineers heading towards the future from Charles Dickens, St Georges C of E, Sandwich Technology School, Leigh Technology Academy, Chatham Grammar for Boys and Hugh Christie Technology College and were supported by STEM Ambassadors.
In the Afternoon Further Education students from East Kent College in Broadstairs and Mid Kent College in Maidstone and Medway were competing in teams to Build Their Own Radio and had to demonstrate at the end how much they would sell it for, the advantages and any complications they came across in the build. All radios were very impressive and exceedingly interesting to watch being built and how the teams worked out what to do and listened and learned from each other.
Two teams from East Kent College won 3rd prize of £100 and 2nd prize of £250 whilst Mid Kent College claimed £500 for 1st prize.
A big thank you to Phillip Leanoard for presenting this event, Janet Chandler for organising it, the judges Ges Cocker, Phil Moffitt, Kevin Bush, Garry Wilkes ,Steve Turner and to East Kent College for holding this wonderful day which we hope to see turn into a regular event and a bit of a competition between schools!
