Last Friday, Biology Teacher Ms. Varney organised a visit for 15 Year 9 girls to a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) event at Sheffield Hallam University.
The event was held to celebrate ‘International Women in Engineering Day 2018’.
The sessions were led by Dr. Alison Buxton from STEAM WORKS and supported by a team of STEM ambassadors – six women who were either professional engineers or current students studying engineering.
The day started with an introduction and an overview of the many varied and important roles that engineers have in everyday things that most of us take for granted.
During the day, the girls were split into teams and had two building challenges to complete – an emergency bridge and an emergency power tower.
The girls had to assign roles to each team member and then design, manufacture parts and finally construct their bridges and towers.
There was a time limit for each challenge and the designs were tested to find the most effective. After a relaxed start, friendly competitiveness took hold and the girls worked with increased determination and enthusiasm to complete their models.
With seven teams from different schools competing, two Worksop teams managed a joint first place with another school for the bridge challenge.
Biology Teacher, Ms. Varney said:
“Our girls also had great success with the power tower. Although they didn’t quite make the winning power output at 92 milliamps, we did manage 2nd and 3rd place with 72 milliamps and 51 milliamps respectively.”
She continued:
“The STEM ambassadors were impressed with the girls’ exemplary behaviour, cohesive teamwork and designs.”