Introduction
If the UK is to compete in providing products and services requiring technical innovation, it is crucial to produce chartered engineers in sufficient numbers to supply the needs of industry. Various initiatives have appeared over recent years to help in this and the Engineering Team Challenge is one such project.
The Engineering Team Challenge is intended to encourage 14‑year-old pupils in South Wales to consider a career in Engineering at professional level. It has been held in South Wales since 1999 and, each year, engineering organisations are invited to prepare a Challenge to arouse the interest of the pupils. The themes of previous Challenges have included bridge building, foundation engineering, hydro-electric power, aircraft wing design, renewable energy, earthquake engineering, environmental engineering and tower crane construction.
In previous years a team of graduate engineers from one lead company organised the event alongside the enthusiastic Alan Perry. Graduates were recruited from other companies in order to ensure that enough hands were on deck during the event days to make the challenge a success. This year, however, Alan Perry handed over the organising of the Challenge to a committee of graduate engineers. The committee consisted of David Cousins and Mark Legge from Atkins, Rebecca Wheway and Corinne Trobe from Halcrow, Thomas Corcoran from Parsons Brinckerhoff and Gemma Hancock from Arup.
Graduates were recruited from several other companies in order to help out with the running of the challenge on event days. A graduate trail day was undertaken on the 27th October at Halcrow’s Cardiff office prior to the challenge being rolled out to the participating schools.
The Challenge Instructions are attached.
Organising the Challenge
Over 130 schools across South Wales were invited to bring pupils to take up the Challenge. The following nineteen schools took part, with 267 pupils participating in the events:
Llanedeyrn High School
West Monmouth School
Pen y Dre High School
Whitchurch High School
Tuesday 10th November at the University of Glamorgan
Blackwood Comprehensive SchoolNewbridge Comprehensive School
Whitchurch High School
Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School
Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School
Maesteg Comprehensive SchoolBishop Gore Comprehensive School
Morriston School
Archbishop McGrath School RC Comprehensive School
Bishop Vaughan School
Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr
Friday 13th November at the Halliwell Centre, Carmarthen
Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
Sir Thomas Picton School
Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn
Ysgol Tregib
The teachers received joining instructions containing the programme and layout map for their chosen venue, a list of sponsors, Health and Safety information and a feedback questionnaire.
The pupils received Welcome Notes at registration with a programme and a feedback questionnaire.
Sponsors
The Challenge was to be self-financing and the sponsors were very generous. Most provided funding for the necessary prizes and materials. A panel showing the sponsors’ logos was displayed at the four venues.
Challenge Graduates
Graduates are essential to the Challenge, partly as role models for the pupils and partly to guide and encourage them. Twenty four graduates took part in the Challenge (not including the board members).
Thomas Corcoran and Mark Glendinning were the Challenge Co-ordinators and controlled all aspects of the Challenge during the event days. All graduates received a Certificate of Continuing Professional Development.
The graduates who took part on the event days were:
Ryan James, Andrew Davies, Thomas Corcoran, Andrew Thomas ,William Wormald, Darrol Hargreaves, Rebecca Wheway and Anna Rask
Tuesday 10th November at the University of Glamorgan
Mark Glendinning, Sean Bermingham, Mark Tambini, Sion Williams, Corinne Trobe, Ian Amos and Matthew Hartley
Thursday 12th November at Swansea University
Mark Glendinning, Alyson Hughes, Nick Ellis, Sam Williams, Ed Hartley and Kate Darlington
Friday 13th November at the Halliwell Centre
Tom Corcoran, Chris Davies, Dan Pritchard and Kris la Borde
Programmes
The programmes provided for a full day starting with
a welcome at each venue by the following individuals:
9 November at the University of
Glamorgan by Vassilis Konstantinou, Dean of the Faculty of Advanced Technology
10 November at the University of Glamorgan by Vassilis Konstantinou
12 November at Swansea University by Professor Alan Speight, Pro-Vice-Chancellor
13 November at the Halliwell Centre by Dr Brian Clarke, Director of Resources and Operations.
The Welcome at each venue was followed by three talks given by graduates:
The first, “What is Engineering?” gave the pupils a description of the work of qualified engineers with a generous use of slides and a definition of the work of engineers:
“Engineers apply the principles of mathematics and science to develop solutions to technical problems”
The second talk, “What is Bridge Engineering?” offered a specific introduction and highlighted some of the complexities and problems faced by bridge engineers.
The third talk, “Introduction to the Challenge”, outlined the requirements of the challenge to the pupils.
After the talks, the pupils and teachers had a short break with refreshments and then the pupils undertook the Challenge.
The Challenge
The pupils were to build a bridge using everyday materials, listed in the Challenge Instructions. Before starting, the pupils were given health and safety advice about the care needed when using the scissors and other materials. In particular, they were told of the possibility of accidents when using dowels and were required to wear the goggles provided and were told that there would be a “penalty” of £1000 for any team member seen without goggles during construction.
The pupils were in groups of four, each pupil from a different school, partly to encourage team building and partly to increase the chances of all schools winning at least one prize. Pupils had to “buy” the materials used and had to work out the final cost. A time of 1¾ hours was allowed to complete the task, including answering technical questions (attached to the Challenge Instructions) and calculating the cost of the bridge. Pupils lost marks for errors in the cost calculations or incorrect answers to the technical questions.
The bridges were then tested. They were required to have a 1m clear span and the supports were not allowed to be attached to any part of the table. The bridge failed when it sagged 100mm under an increasing load. The weights carried before failure together with the construction cost and marks for questions and costing determined the first, second and third prize winning teams.
Lunch followed the testing and the pupils and teachers were taken on a tour of the Civil Engineering Division of the University of Glamorgan and the School of Engineering at Swansea University. There was no tour at the Halliwell Centre as there is no engineering facility.
Prize giving followed. A £20 gift token was given for each member of the winning team at each venue, £15 for the second and £10 for the third.
The prizes were presented at each venue by the following individuals:
9 November at the University of Glamorgan by Mike Fuller of Careers Wales
10 November at the University of Glamorgan by Kim Jenkins, BSc (Hons), CEng, FICE, MCIHT Technical Director for Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Cardiff office
12 November at Swansea University by Dr Robert Y Xiao BEng MSc PhD, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering
13 November at the Halliwell Centre, Carmarthen, by Steve Rees BSc (Hons), CEng, MICE, Operations Manager of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
The Winners
9 November at the University of Glamorgan Presented by Mike Fuller of Careers Wales
1st Prize
Llanedeyrn High School
Whitchurch High School
West Monmouth School
Pen Y Dre High School
2nd Prize
Llanedeyrn High School
Whitchurch High School
Pen Y Dre High School
3rd Prize
Whitchurch High School
West Monmouth School
Pen Y Dre High School
10 November at the University of Glamorgan presented by Kim Jenkins
1st Prize
Blackwood Comprehensive School
Newbridge Comprehensive School
Whitchurch High School
Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School
2nd Prize
Blackwood Comprehensive School
Whitchurch High School
Blackwood Comprehensive School
Whitchurch High School
3rd Prize
Blackwood Comprehensive School
Whitchurch High School
Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School
Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School
12 November at Swansea University Presented by Dr Robert Y Xiao
1st Prize
Bishop Gore Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr
Archbishop McGrath RC Comprehensive School
Bishop Gore Comprehensive School
2nd Prize
Maesteg Comprehensive School
Morriston Comprehensive School
Archbishop McGrath RC Comprehensive School
Bishop Vaughan Catholic School
3rd Prize
Archbishop McGrath RC Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr
Maesteg School
Morriston Comprehensive School
13 November at the Halliwell Centre Carmarthen Presented by Steve Rees
1st Prize
Ysgol Gyfun y Strade
Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
Sir Thomas Picton School
Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn
2nd Prize
Ysgol Gyfun y Strade
Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
Sir Thomas Picton School
Ysgol Tregib
3rd Prize
Ysgol Gyfun y Strade
Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
Sir Thomas Picton School
Ysgol Tregib
An additional prize of £600 was awarded by SWIEET (South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational Trust) to schools represented by the members of the overall winning team from the four venues. This team took part in the University of Glamorgan and the winning schools, each receiving £200, were:
Cardiff City Council:
Llanedeyrn High School
Torfaen County Borough Council:
West Monmouth School
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council:
Pen Y Dre High School
Feedback
The teachers and pupils completed feedback forms. A summary of the feedback from the teachers shows that the Challenge was very well received.
Most of the teachers had taken part in the scheme in previous years and considered that interest in Design and Technology had increased again since last year.
A summary of the feedback from the pupils showed that the challenge was enjoyable and their interest in engineering had increased as a result of the event. However, when the pupils were asked about whether they would be interested in a career in engineering the lowest results were obtained.
Conclusions
The Challenge was another success.
The increase in interest in Design and Technology is very encouraging and the Challenge could claim some credit for this.
The pupil feedback highlighted that the introductory talks were very well received which is an improvement on last year’s challenge.
The lack of interest in pupils planning to follow a career in engineering is very disappointing and not understood in the light of the increase in interest in Design and Technology in schools. Analysis of the feedback indicates that the score was reduced by a small proportion of the pupils strongly disagreeing with a career in engineering. This is most likely a preconceived attitude as many of these pupils scored all other aspects of the Challenge very highly.
Thanks are due to…
The newly formed Graduate
Engineering Team Challenge Management Board for organising the successful
events
Alan Perry and his continued
support for the challenge. Without him the
required continuity between this year’s graduate board and previous
Engineering Team Challenges may not have been maintained.
Tina Crimp from STEM
Ambassadors and Jo Harris of The British Science Association for their hard
work in completing all the required CRB checks for the graduates taking part
in the events.
The Twenty Four Graduates,
without whom the Challenge would not have been possible;
The Graduates’ organisations
for encouraging them to take part;
The sponsors, without whom the
Challenge could not have been produced;
The participating schools, for
supporting the Challenge;
Vassilis Konstantinou, Dean of
Faculty of Advanced Technology, University of Glamorgan, Professor Alan
Speight, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University and Dr Brian Clarke,
Director of Resources and Operations at the Halliwell Centre, all of whom
spared the time to welcome pupils to the Challenge;
Dr David Tann at the
University of Glamorgan for arranging tours of the University’s Civil
Engineering Division on 9 and 10 November
Rhian Nurse at Swansea
University for arranging a tour of the University’s School of Engineering
on 12 November;
The staff of the Business Unit
of the University of Glamorgan, particularly Stacy, Gemma, Richard, Cara and
Ceri; the staff of Swansea University, particularly Rhian Nurse and Pam
Walden and the staff of the Halliwell Centre, particularly Ceris and Ann;
The teachers who supported the
Challenge yet again!
and, most important of all, the pupils, who made it all worthwhile.
Engineering Team Challenge
November 2009
comms@engineering-team-challenge.co.uk
http://www.engineering-team-challenge.co.uk