Primary teachers from across Scotland were given an engineering lesson recently at Forth Valley College's Falkirk Campus to help them pass on STEM knowledge to their young pupils.
The event held in the main hall on Friday 29 April and organised by Primary Engineer proved to be very useful for the teachers who had a main task of building a battery powered vehicle on the day and driving it up a ramp.
Joe Basquill from Primary Engineer said:
"All the training events for these teachers have been very kindly hosted by Forth Valley College, organised through FVC's Head of Electrical, Instrumentation and Chemical Engineering Dean Williams. We are a non-profit organisation, founded in 2005, with the aim of increasing engagement with and awareness of STEM-careers, specifically engineering, with young people. Through a series of practical-based CPD courses, we give primary school teachers the skills, resources and - often most importantly - the confidence to deliver a STEM activity with a whole class, linking to the Curriculum for Excellence and embedding activities as part of the children’s learning.
"The course the teachers were doing is called Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics.
There are two models covered in this course, one for the younger children (first level) which is a shoebox-based model which has to roll down a ramp as far and as straight as possible; and the second one is for upper primary (second level) which is more technically involved – asking the children to manufacture a chassis out of wood and power their vehicle using an electric motor and gears, so that it can go in forwards and reverse and climb a ramp.
"Babcock International at Rosyth, have provided funding for 12 schools from the Falkirk area to register with Primary Engineer, attend the training event, and send teams of children to the East of Scotland Regional Final on 7 June."
The pic shows Gillian Sim from Hillhead Primary School in Glasgow operating her vehicle and Amy Gray from Fox Covert Primary School in Edinburgh recording the moment as Joe from Primary Engineer looks on.