Young Engineers Rise to the Challenge
Almost 200 pupils from primary and secondary schools all over Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire took part in the Schools Engineering Challenge 2008 which was held at Elphinstone Hall, the University of Aberdeen, on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th of November.
This year's scenario was based on the 2005 earthquake in the Kashmir-administered region of Pakistan. The challenge was to transport, by mechanical means only, urgent food supplies to a remote mountain village devastated by tremors and cut off by landslides. The supplies had to be lifted and negotiated across the unstable landslide; no assistance with the assembly of the construction would be available from the villagers above; and the structure should be fixed to the main access road.
Schools had been encouraged beforehand to research gears and pulleys and there was evidence that those who responded to this had a distinct advantage at the planning stage. The pupils, a significant proportion of whom were girls, were mentored in their design and construction by Science and Engineering Ambassadors from companies all over Aberdeen to enable all participants to maximize their learning. It was encouraging to see all the pupils so enthusiastic about their task and the level of collaboration throughout was gratifying.
The Primary School event, sponsored by the Wood Group, saw a full complement of 24 teams take part. This year's winner for the overall best team was Rothienorman Primary School with Pitmedden School runners-up. Dyce Primary School took the trophy for the pupils demonstrating the best team work.
The secondary event, with 22 teams participating was sponsored by KCADEUTAG. This year's overall winning team was the International School Team 1, with Albyn School Team 2 runners-up; the RV Jones trophy for the most innovative design was won by Aberdeen Waldorf School. RDS, the engineering division of KCADEUTAG donated a trophy specifically for the planning element of the Challenge and this was won by Albyn School's all-girls Team 1.
25th Nov 2008
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