Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers
30 Jan 2008
Who said engineering couldn’t be trendy? Plenty of school pupils think it is - thanks to a gripping initiative from
BAE Systems, which shows youngsters that the engineering sector offers fabulous career opportunities.
Young people are being given a novel chance to think about engineering as a career thanks to a BAE Systems roadshow aimed at promoting an interest in science and engineering.
The show includes a live, interactive theatre performance by the CragRats Theatre Group. It is taken into participating schools along with a series of workshop activities which can be tailored to fit available time and space.
The bespoke programme, aimed at children aged from nine to 13, is designed to be fun as well as inspiring and is linked to the school curriculum. It aims to motivate youngsters, challenge their perceptions of engineering and meet STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum objectives.
As well as the roadshow, BAE Systems’ ambassadors also visit schools. These employees raise awareness of engineering as an exciting career, support the event, encourage participation in school challenges and competitions and respond to requests from schools for information and support.
The programme aims to engage pupils before they choose GCSE options which are likely to shape further education and career routes. The roadshow covers more than 100 schools, located close to the company’s manufacturing sites, every year.
The 2008 roadshow’s seven-week northern tour kicks off in March, with a seven-week tour of southern England planned for the second half of the year. Business In The Community has recognised the appeal of this exciting project by giving it a ‘Big Tick’ award.
One of the schools visited is Carr Hill High School and Specialist Engineering College at Kirkham, close to BAE Systems’ Military Air Solutions business in Lancashire. The company originally supported the school’s bid for specialist engineering status and has maintained regular contact since.
Matthew Rushton, Head of Year Seven at the school, was clearly pleased by the reaction of the youngsters. “The students really enjoyed their time in the workshop, designing autonomous rescue vehicles as well as watching the performance by the CragRats Theatre Group. A career may seem a long way off for Year Seven students but introducing engineering in the right conditions, as this has done, will do anything but turn them off.”
BAE Systems’ Surface Fleet Solutions and Submarine Solutions businesses have also been regularly involved in the initiative, with visits to schools around Glasgow and Barrow.
The latest shows began with a giant computer screen used by the CragRats team to get pupils thinking about how they would project manage a stage set to deliver messages about BAE Systems’ products such as the Astute submarine and Type 45 destroyer.
Submarine Solutions’ schools ambassador Alan Robson explains: “CragRats were getting the children to think – how can we articulate these messages to audiences of thousands? How can we do what within a budget? What materials would we use?”
Armed with these basic management skills, selected pupils were then split into groups for the workshops and charged with the responsibility of designing an unmanned vehicle capable of entering a disaster zone and looking for survivors.
Alan adds: “The two disaster scenarios were a volcanic eruption and an earthquake. Pupils were asked to consider what type of machine could go over the terrain, how it would operate and what it would be made of. This is where the earlier project management learning came into play. The school ambassadors helped by offering ideas and guidance to the groups.
“The ambassadors not only encouraged students to think about engineering and project management principles but also about BAE Systems, its products and career opportunities.”
In another educational initiative, the company is running a 2008 Schools Challenge. This year pupils are being encouraged to be creative by designing and then creating a piece of scrap art from recyclable materials.
Last April, the company supported National Science and Engineering Week by sponsoring the annual 2007 Rotary BAE Systems Technology Tournament. More than 1200 students from about 100 secondary schools in Lancashire and Cumbria gathered at 10 regional venues to compete.
From Preston to Carlisle, more than 300 teams of youngsters as well as some teacher teams spent most of a day tackling a common design-and-build task. Each team was given an identical set of materials with which to work, including a small electric motor, garden wire, drawing pins, pulleys and paper clips.
From this they had to design and build a small scale pipeline vehicle and, at the end of the day, demonstrate this vehicle to a panel of judges. Each vehicle needed to show it could travel along a simulated pipeline and – for the intermediate and advanced teams – carry out a blockage clearance.
Robert Dunn from the Rotary Club of Lytham, who was the overall event organiser, said: “The response from the region’s schools was fantastic, with a record level of participation. Our partnership with
BAE Systems as the title sponsor goes from strength to strength. ”
Nigel Whitehead, Group managing director of Military Air Solutions, adds: “We are keen to seize every opportunity to excite young people about science, engineering and innovation and to encourage them to consider these options when it comes to making a career choice.
“As we look to encourage more and more young people into engineering it is important that industry, government and educational organisations work together to promote the exciting opportunities available in this field.”
For further information please contact:
John Neilson, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384795
john.neilson@baesystems.com
Issued by:
BAE Systems, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6YU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384710 Fax: +44 (0) 1252 383947
24hr media hotline: + 44 (0) 7801 717739
www.baesystems.com