Thousands of UK schools are now running after-school ... - Ingenia

AFTER-SCHOOL CLUBS
SOCIETY
SUPPORTING STEM TEACHING
AND LEARNING
The Engineering Engagement Programme run by The Royal
Academy of Engineering has delivered continual professional
development training to over 180 schools and teachers across
the UK. Through this project, schools have been provided
with resources and activities to support and develop their
engineering clubs. Teaching resources have been developed by
the Academy, with activities including designing packaging with
thermochromatic pigment to ensure safe food storage, making
plastics from milk and devising applications for new materials.
STEM activities are also developed by the Academy, exemplified
by the classroom resource ‘Athlete or Machine?’ This investigation
into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics behind
the bob skeleton provides a truly cross-curricular activity, with realworld
applications to Olympic sport. Students are challenged to
design, build and test a model bob skeleton, while optimising for
maximum speed and minimum aerodynamic drag.
The Academy continues to develop and disseminate resources
through its own networks. It also works closely with STEMNET to
support and encourage STEM ambassadors to engage actively
with schools in delivering and developing engineering projects.
A programme of working with teacher coordinators is actively
developing networks with schools not previously engaged with STEM
activities. More information at www.raeng.org.uk/education/eenp/
North London STEM Club participants extracting plastic from milk. Students
heated up whole milk before adding vinegar, causing the protein caesin to
precipitate out of the milk as a white solid. Caesin is a long-chain molecule,
or polymer, and the students were encouraged to mould the solid into
different shapes, thereby making a comparison with other plastics
The approach adopted by
the vast majority of clubs is to
engage young people in ‘real
world’ activities, often using the
latest technologies, to build or
create something that works.
This has enabled thousands of
young people to see the study
of STEM subjects as fun, exciting
and relevant. Club leaders are
consistent in their view that
projects should be based on
themes or activities chosen by
the students themselves and that
they should be ‘hands-on’ and
closely related to what they can
see and experience in the world
around them.
Building eco-friendly
buildings or ‘green’ cars have
been popular choices for clubs,
as has the never-ending interest
in programming machines to
race each other, climb over
obstacles or carry out robotic
tasks. Remote-controlled
cars, jitterbugs and buggies
are commonplace, while
rockets continue to fire the
imagination. In a nod to the
television programme Scrapheap
Challenge, at least one club has
built go-karts from old bicycle
frames. Some clubs have
gone even further combining
‘classroom’ projects with a wider
interaction with their school or
local community based on ideas
related to medicine, health, and
consumer products, such as
clothing.
BUILDING
CONTROLLABLE
DEVICES
One major advance in recent
years has been the availability of
cheap programmable devices
that allow students to design
and make devices that produce
computer-controlled movement.
These allow pupils to experience
the concept of a programming
language and how logic may
be used to structure a series
of commands that control
mechanical devices.
Controlling movement in
a machine can be achieved
using a simple Peripheral
Interface Controller (PIC) or more
advanced microprocessors.
Microchips offer a useful
introduction to programming
without the need for expensive
computer suites. To make things
easier, a range of commercially
supplied kits are now readily
available, comprising simple
programmable devices with
software for as little as £2 each.
School clubs are also able
to purchase reasonably priced
microcontroller systems that
help with an introduction to
programming. PICAXE is a
UK-sourced system based on
a standard PIC microcontroller
chip. Arduino is an opensource
(free to use and develop)
single-board microcontroller.
Both systems are designed to
make the process of controlling
electromechanical devices more
accessible to people with limited
or no programming experience.
Schools also reported using the
GENIE 8-pin microcontroller
system, the Microsoft .NET
Gadgeteer open-source toolkit
and Lego Mindstorms.
The next stage is to consider
more sophisticated systems
such as the $25 Raspberry Pi,
a credit-card-sized computer
that can connect a television
monitor, keyboard and other
peripherals via a USB hub.
Despite its small size, each unit
packs considerable processing
power and can be used as part
of a toolkit for young people
interested in learning about
IMAGINEERING CLUBS
Imagineering Clubs provide
hands-on activities for one
hour a week throughout the
academic year to groups of
around 12 pupils. Most of
these out-of-school clubs
are run by engineer tutors,
providing real-life experiences
of engineering. Offering a
sustained programme of
development throughout the
academic year, sitting alongside
the National Curriculum, they
cover subjects as diverse as
electricity, magnetism, flight
and measurement. Where
possible, the youngsters are
taken on visits to factories and
other engineering facilities to
experience modern engineering
and technology in action.
Bob Young is a retired
engineer and volunteer tutor
at a long-running Imagineering
Club at St Richard’s Church of
England First School in Evesham,
Worcestershire. He finds that as
well as gaining practical skills,
the children are able to grasp
how things work and the science
and technology behind each
model. The youngsters learn to
read drawings, use checklists,
organise their work surfaces and
the disciplines associated with
these activities, gaining personal
confidence and a sense of
achievement by learning through
this practical experience.
Elizabeth Spencer, Head
Teacher at St Richard’s, says that
the involvement with engineers
and the opportunities for the
pupils to visit engineering works
has also proved beneficial with
pupils gaining in confidence
and becoming enthusiastic
about engineering as a result.
More information at
www.imagineering.org.uk
A youngster at an Imagineering Club at St Richard’s Church of England First School in Evesham constructs a Morse key
and buzzer using simple tools and learns the principles of electro-magnetism through practical experience
© The Imagineering Foundation
2 INGENIA INGENIA ISSUE 50 MARCH 2012 3