Impact Level 2 case study:
SATRO: Building Bridges Challenge
Impact Level 2 case study:
SATRO: Building Bridges Challenge
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SATRO: Building Bridges Challenge
Context
Context
SATRO is an educational charity which has been working across the South East of England since 1984, focusing on STEM, Construction & Employability.
The charity's aim is to inspire and develop the aspirations of young people, supporting them to nurture their passions and explore pathways to a successful career, which will benefit our regional economy, wider society and all our futures. SATRO works in schools with young people between the ages of 7-18 of all abilities.
In the 2022-23 academic year, SATRO supported over 10,900 young people, delivered over 29,500 unique sessions, and engaged over 5,200 employee volunteer hours.
SATRO brings together schools, employers and their staff, on a one-to-one basis, at classroom or year group level to participate in workshops, regional challenges and large-scale events. Delivering to all abilities and within all settings including mainstream, specialist, pupil referral units, alternative provision and home education.
The Building Bridges challenge supports students in Years 3-7 to learn the concepts of bridge design, using their knowledge to design and model their own solution to a set problem.
Working in teams, students use kNex to explore a range of engineering bridge designs: Arch, Cable Stayed, Cantilever, Suspension and Truss. They then build some examples from instructions before being set a problem to solve as a team, the task of designing and modelling their own bridge to span a specified distance and support as much weight as possible.
How the programme has achieved Impact Level 2
Students are supported to reflect on their transferable, essential skills during the Building Bridges workshop and SATRO have worked with the Skills Builder team to identify the specific skill steps that align to the session content and activities. These skill steps were identified as they support students most effectively to achieve their objectives within the workshop, and are most relevant for students in Years 3-7 from a range of settings.
The workshops provide students with the opportunities to reflect on how they:
Explore problems by investigating the pros and cons of different solutions (Problem Solving Step 5)
Generate ideas to improve something (Creativity Step 4)
Keep trying when something goes wrong and encourage others to keep trying too (Staying Positive Step 6)
Work with a positive approach to new challenges (Aiming High Step 4)
Contributing to group decision making (Teamwork Step 6)
SATRO STEM Tutors introduce the focus essential skill steps at the start of the workshop and the names and definitions of the skills are used consistently through the session. Visual reminders are highlighted to students on workshop slides at appropriate points, to raise awareness of how that skill step is supporting them to be successful. Targeted questions are also displayed to encourage self-reflection against the Universal Framework.
At the end of the workshop, Tutors then ask the group to rate their ability to do the essential skills steps via a Clikapad live quiz. This makes the self-assessment accessible and relevant and allows for the quantification of where students are to be shown on the screen, sharing this reflection with students and their teaching staff.
Links between the use of the essential skills and positive outcomes are made clear as Tutors highlight the importance of essential skills in education, employment and wider life. This supports further reflection and development of the focus essential skill steps beyond the workshop, as schools are encouraged to revisit the Universal Framework and Skills Builder tools and resources to reflect on how these skills support them to be successful in other situations and contexts.
Benefits for the organisation
Benefits for the organisation
Utilising the shared approach of the Skills Builder Universal Framework allows for a common language to be used across settings, and the benefits of this are demonstrated clearly through SATRO’s work.
The workshops give students the opportunity to see the essential skills they are developing in school and their wider life, and make connections with how these will support them to be successful in a STEM activity. Tutors integrate this language into activities so students reflect not only on how they are applying these skills within the specific context of the workshop, but also reflect on how these will support them through later life and into employment and that they are able to articulate these skills..
“The framework helps provide a consistent approach to raising young people’s awareness of the skills they need, but also helps them appreciate the skills they already have and see more clearly how they can progress in their development.”
Andrew Whitby-Collins, CEO
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