{"id":8437,"date":"2022-03-29T11:52:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slcontrols.com\/sl-controls-engineers-introduce-engineering-to-primary-school-children-as-part-of-steam-initiative\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T12:01:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T12:01:59","slug":"sl-controls-engineers-introduce-engineering-to-primary-school-children-as-part-of-steam-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slcontrols.k8s-stg1-global.sq1.io\/en\/sl-controls-engineers-introduce-engineering-to-primary-school-children-as-part-of-steam-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"SL Controls Engineers Introduce Engineering to Primary School Children as Part of STEAM Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talk to any business leader in the field of engineering and they will tell you we need more people to enter the profession, particularly from under-represented groups like women. So, when the opportunity came up to participate in a STEAM initiative, we were excited to get involved.<\/p>\n

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths. It is an organization that works to inspire children about these subjects<\/a> through a range of different initiatives. One of those initiatives is for companies like SL Controls to engage in a 10-week co-teaching program with a class of local school children. Given the work we do, our specialist subject would be engineering.<\/p>\n

We put the message out to our engineers and received a number of enthusiastic responses, including from SL Controls Validation Engineer Fiona Chung and Systems Engineer Philip Nicholson.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching is something I have done before,\u201d said Philip, \u201cso I am familiar with what is involved. The STEAM program looked like a fantastic opportunity to bring the principles of engineering to a group of young people in a way that is fun and engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiona said: \u201cI was really keen to get involved, too, as I think all children should get the opportunity to learn about engineering to see if it is something they want to pursue further as they continue their education.\u201d<\/p>\n

SL Controls was paired with a 5th class in Strandhill Primary School. Fiona and Philip will be co-teaching for one hour a week alongside Strandhill National School teacher Stephanie Collins. The first lesson took place on Friday 25 March.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"SL<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Co-Teaching Engineering to Enthusiastic 11-Year-Olds<\/h2>\n

Reflecting on the first lesson, Fiona said: \u201cI was buzzing from all their energy, and they were great kids. They loved the activities, and they were really enthusiastic. It was fantastic that they all got involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked lots of questions and some of them knew the answers to the questions that we were asking them. Things like what is the strongest shape \u2013 many of them knew already that the strongest shape is a triangle.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they had good knowledge, and they thrived on the activities to the point where they were challenging themselves beyond the initial task. The main task was to build a bridge using various different materials and the aim was to make the bridge support a water bottle.<\/p>\n

But some of the kids started challenging themselves to make their bridge support more than one water bottle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was also a lovely team of girls who had added extra support to their bridge, and they added tape to make it look prettier. I told them how good their bridge was, both for the extra support they added and for making it aesthetically pleasing, and they were thrilled with that feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the kids got a lot from the feedback we gave them, and they really wanted to learn and do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each week in the 10-week program covers a different engineering topic. Examples include engineering and energy, biomedical engineering, and electronic engineering. At the end of the 10 weeks, the pupils will present a project based on what they have learned.<\/p>\n

The topic for the first week was an introduction to engineering with the theme of infrastructure. The pupils had two tasks during the session:<\/p>\n