Last week, a group of Second Year pupils attended the ChallengED event. Joining over 90 other students from four partner schools, they enjoyed a morning of creative problem solving and engaging STEM tasks. In mixed school teams, they worked together to design space elevators and racing cars out of different materials. This event forms part of a wider calendar of partnership events and was an excellent opportunity for students to develop vital skills including teamwork, communication, critical thinking and leadership. Each pupil who participated did so with enthusiasm and interest and enjoyed getting to meet, and work with, new people.
Jacob, our Student Partnership Ambassador, said:
“When I walked into the room there was an instant air of team work. Children working side by side in groups of three with people they had most likely never met before. Yet they worked well together strategically changing and adding parts to their station to make it taller whilst still holding the stability overall. There were some pretty impressive builds that somehow held their shape even though they looked like they would not be able to. It was brilliant to see the enjoyment in the room as well as the logical thinking being done in order to solve any problems that arose whilst they were constructing it. There were two other groups as well who were building lego cars based off a motor elastic band system in order to race them. There were all kinds of wonderful and wacky designs being put together. It was amazing to see the children testing out different types of wheels in order to decide which one would work the best. There was a feeling of tension in the room as the children prepared to race those around them to decide whose car was the best.”
