Bridge Building Bonanza at Oliver's Battery Primary School

Children at Oliver's Battery Primary School jumped at the chance to design and build model bridges as part of a recent workshop run by Janice Hendry, a graduate engineer at Roke Manor Research Limited, a Siemens Company.

The workshop was a key activity during a "career's week" recently held at the school, and was designed to not only enthuse the children about science and technology, but also to give them a taste of the skills and qualities required to become an engineer.

Janice ran a brainstorming session to give the children an understanding of what engineering is all about. She then divided the class of 10 & 11 year olds into teams and gave each of them a kit of simple materials – straws, split pins, scissors, a ruler and hole punch. They were then tasked with building a bridge which could hold at least one egg!

One of the winning structures was designed in 3D and another had extra supports. Both held a very impressive 6 eggs.

The best part of the day, however, was the positive feedback from the children, and the huge leap in their enthusiasm and understanding for science and engineering after they had taken part in the workshop.

The children learnt a lot about the different roles within engineering through the brainstorm, and the value that good teamwork plays in delivering successful projects. Their final comment “Engineering is we, not I” summed up their feelings about the day beautifully.