STEM Project Success!

JULY 2019

Qi are delighted to have mentored a group of talented students from The Langley School in Telford for the last six months on The Shropshire Star STEM Challenge 2019 and are even more pleased that their efforts paid off with award success!

What is the STEM Project and what was the brief?

The STEM Project was launched to boost the engagement of young people with topics- namely Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths- that are vital to success in a plethora of career paths. It serves to forge valuable links between local businesses and schools, as well as providing young people with the insight into the world of industry and the opportunities available.

This year’s STEM challenge comprised of teams from 14 different schools across Shropshire; each team was paired up with a mentor from a local business or organisation with experience in industry. The students were set a brief of designing and manufacturing a prototype product, using elements of STEM, that would have a positive benefit to an individual/group and the environment, or just the environment.

Development of the innovation

The team assembled and thought about existing designs as a basis for developing something new, with the brief in the forefront of their minds. They came up with the idea of a speed bump that retracts into the road, thus reducing response times for emergency services. They explained that the speed bumps outside their own school have hindered emergency services previously, so focussed on creating a prototype that would achieve this goal.

They planned for the use of recycled aluminium in their design, thus keeping the environmentally-friendly factor of the brief in the forefront of their minds. With some slight 3D-Printer related hiccups, and a little help from Qi the team came up with a working prototype alongside their presentation in time for the Judging Day.

What happened on the day?

After months of hard work, on Thursday 4th July it was finally time for the schools talented inventors to present their innovations to a panel of esteemed judges at the Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology in Bridgnorth.

The competition was stiff; looking around the room it was amazing to see what these teams of youngsters had achieved but The Langley School were confident with their product and it shone through in their presentations- the judges were genuinely interested and engaged- a couple of judges even doubled back at lunch break to ask more questions!

After lunch it was time to hear the verdict.

The first award to be announced was for ‘Best Presentation’, and we were delighted to hear Langley Schools name being called out. The team went up to collect their well-deserved trophy and were congratulated by the sponsors of the award, Avara Foods.

The winning entry really was remarkable- a group of pupils created a prototype of an electrical device that sits inside mains water pipes, using a generator to create power from the water flow.

Jacob from The Langley School said: “I’ve definitely learnt a lot, it’s especially helped with my maths and having business mentors come to speak to, it’s been a great way of getting outside the normal school routine and speaking to people from relevant businesses”.

Qi are proud to have been part of this schools STEM journey, so congratulations Langley School on their well-deserved win!

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