The result was a STEM Attack! a collaboration project between the two schools to design the ultimate catapault. Here we find out more.
Lead teachers Helen Olson of East Garforth and Nick Styles of Strawberry Fields Primary School worked with five engineers: Ben Clarke, Andrew Roberts - an Institution affiliate member – Robert Ellison AMIMechE and Philip Shaw AMIMechE all of Network Rail, and Ian Richardson CEng MIMechE of Atkins.
The engineers visited each school to introduce themselves and tell the pupils about their jobs. On his visit to the school, Ian Richardson gave the pupils an engineering challenge: to build the tallest tower they could just using spaghetti and marshmallows. Each team of children were given five marshmallows and ten pieces of spaghetti. They also had ten counters with which they could buy more resources in a designated shop. The height of the tower was added to the number of counters the team had left in order to determine the winner.
With four engineers from Network Rail supporting the project and given Garforth’s location on the East Coast Mainline, the children took a trip on the train to York to visit the National Railway Museum. Indeed, Andy Roberts gave the children an excellent talk on railway safety in preparation for their trip. Encouragingly, many of the children had learned about George Stephenson for an engineering project the previous year, and as soon as they arrived at the museum, they instantly recognised Stephenson’s Rocket.
In the course of the visit to the museum, the children completed a workshop on forces – knowledge that would later inform their thinking about the design of the catapult. The children undertook an experiment where different masses were loaded into a catapult. From this, they got a good sense of how this affected how far the load travels depending on its mass and how much force is required.
After the National Railway Museum, the pupils visited the Yorkshire Museum, where they learned about some of the different kinds of catapults used as weaponry by the Romans. Building a prototype catapult using lollipop sticks and elastic bands, the children fired small plastic balls to see how far they travelled.
With the engineers visiting each school again to share Hooke’s Law, the pupils investigated how changing the amount of force pulling back the elastic on a catapult alters the distance the load travels. As true budding engineers of the future, the pupils recorded their results in a series of bar charts, tables and graphs, learning or reinforcing valuable mathematical skills in the process.
Rob, Phil and Ben gave the children a practical demonstration of how if the tension of the elastic is increased, it will fire the load further. As part of their visit, the engineers also taught the pupils about pivots and levers. Using Lego Technic borrowed from the local secondary school, the children built a small lever which demonstrated that when force was applied to one end, the load was propelled into the air. They investigated how altering the position of the pivot affected how the load was propelled.
For Rob, Ben and Phil, taking part in the project was incredibly rewarding. Phil said: “It was a great project and it was fantastic to see the kids enthused with the hands-on engineering involved. The initiative the two schools have shown in planning the event should be an example for all, as no doubt the competitive nature of the competition only adds to the kids’ engagement.”
Ben agreed, adding: "It was great to see the kids’ enthusiasm while undertaking the challenges. The questions they were asking also showed an eagerness to learn about engineering and the sort of jobs you could end up doing. A very rewarding experience.”
Summing up, Rob observed: "This was the first STEMnet activity that I have participated in. Planning the lessons was an interesting challenge; conveying scientific principles through fun activities that the children could take part in with only limited equipment was very distant to the day job! It was fascinating gaining insight into the children's minds and their reasoning as to why things happen. It also highlighted the fact that we may be restricted in our analysis of problems because of societal rules.”
Once the initial valuable R&D had been undertaken, it was time to proceed to build stage. Ian, one of the engineers, built a prototype catapult to support the pupils and teachers during the build week. Ian said: “I could clearly see that the children all enjoyed at least one or more aspects of the project and everyone learned something. I personally found it a rewarding experience and enjoyed seeing the children develop their interest in the project as it unfolded over the period."
The children worked in teams to build their catapults, hoping to win the ‘best dressed catapult’ certificate. Several parents came into the schools to help build the catapults; their efforts were much appreciated by the children, who wrote wonderful letters to express their thanks.
Writing to Andy Roberts, Cameron said: “Thank you for helping us and going away from work. You have been an excellent engineer in our school. Thank you for your great help and time. I will hope you can come and be our engineer next year.” Cameron’s classmate, Lily, agreed with that sentiment, adding in her letter: “We were so excited, so all thanks to you we all had a great time. We couldn’t’ do anything without you, so we all want to say thank you so so much. THANK YOU!!!”
As part of the project, the children were given homework to design their own STEM challenge. One of the engineers, Andy, talked to the children about building bridges. Some of the pupils were so inspired by this that their STEM challenge involved building structures. There was a huge array of different ideas, but among the most innovative was Niamh’s challenge for teacher, Helen Olson, to build her own stethoscope using supplied equipment - including a balloon, a piece of tubing, two small funnels and a timer – and to investigate her heartbeat before and after exercise.
From art and CDT to literacy, maths and history, throughout the project, the children were involved in a number of learning opportunities incorporating all aspects of the curriculum.
On the day of the final competition, children, staff, parents and volunteers headed to Strawberry Fields Primary School. There were different competitions in order to build up points for each school. The first activity was the catapult that could first the furthest. The second was an accuracy test. The idea was to fire bean bags on the target: bean bags that landed in the centre were worth three points and bags that landed on any other part of the target were worth one point.
Helen Olson said: “In the end, both schools had scored exactly the same amount of points – even in the tie breaker competition. Therefore, both schools get to share the shield this year.”
Both Helen, and Nick Styles from Strawberry Fields Primary School, were extremely pleased with the success of the project in engaging the pupils from both schools, and were grateful for the support of all the engineers who made the project happen.
Helen said: “Large scale engineering projects are an excellent way to highlight STEM careers at a young age. The children were challenged and focused throughout the project, linking ideas together through different experiences and through the support of practising engineers. They gained knowledge and understanding not only of different engineering techniques and scientific theory but also in skills like working in a team and communication.”
Nick added: “The project was a great way for the children to combine the development of engineering skills with their fascination with all things related to historical violence! With the support of the Network Rail engineers, the children gained a real understanding of pivots, elasticity and their application in the modern and historical world. The project also made many of them consider engineering as a possible future career because of the challenge and reward that they experienced.”
