Faraday Challenge
Leighton Park School provided a new experience in the form of a host school for the national IET STEM Faraday Challenge. Bulmershe, Emmbrook and Hall Grove students were invited to take part in the challenge involving six Year 8 students from each school. The 2018 challenge was to work as a team to plan to prototype and test a new facility or attraction for a designated site at Thorpe Park. Through a points-scoring system, the top schools nationally have the opportunity to go to the finals at Thorpe Park to see how their designs would be implemented or integrated into a real-life facility for visitors.
The engineering challenge started with the teams identifying their key roles and brainstorming a range of alternative innovations. These ideas were then decomposed into the form of schematic drawings, sketches and circuit designs. Using their Faraday currency, teams needed to select from a range of components including LEDs, motors, gears and connectors.
The prototypes constructed included a motorised cart for a ride, a hydraulic ride entrance and a centrepiece for a restaurant. Following the completion of these prototypes, members of each team then presented their work, detailed their journey through the project and reflected on their successes and challenges to provide ideas for further refinement.
Leighton Park would like to thank all the students that took part in the event, your ideas and energy was truly infectious. Well done to the winning team from Emmbrook school, a fantastic achievement.
"I really enjoyed working together with my team. I loved learning more about engineering and I think that I have a better understanding of it." (Eva, Leighton Park)
"I found this competition very fun and learned new things. the person taking this was very good at keeping us entertained and wow I have learned a lot." (Harry, Hall Grove)
"I loved today, and it has really opened up my eyes to engineering." (Connor, Emmbrook)
"It was a fun challenge that tested our skills. I really enjoyed being creative." (Emily, Bulmershe)
