STEAM at Mosslands.  IET Faraday Challenge Day

On Wednesday 21^st March, 32 year 8 students collaborated in teams to take part in the IET Faraday Challenge Day. Faraday Challenge Days are part of a nationwide competition aiming to pose real-world problems to pupils aged 12-13 years and provide them with an opportunity to engage in activities delivered by experts in the field of STEAM. The challenge consisted of designing and engineering a prototype to help manage and improve railway travel within a set budget.

Students began their day with an introduction to the Faraday Challenge and were given a project briefing detailing the premise for the challenge and their budgets. They were then asked to generate initial ideas and identify any early problems. The teams took very different approaches to this task, some focusing on passenger comfort and experience, and others prioritising efficiency of the station. Following this, the students completed a short engineering task, whereby they were required to complete a circuit including a buzzer and a light dependent resistor. Upon completion, students began development of their prototype, followed by a presentation at the end of the day.

The Faraday Challenge stretched the students, requiring them to think outside the box and use their initiative to come up with innovative solutions. Students showed resilience during the challenge, persisting despite sometimes struggling with the technical elements of the challenge. All of the students enjoyed the activities conducted throughout the day, stating that they were eager to take part in STEM events in the future. The Faraday Challenge certainly inspired students to think creatively about real-word problems, and acquainted them with some of the challenges faced by STEAM industries today. ZE/MNL

Student speak. Resilience and innovation

“ I found the Faraday Challenge very interesting and fun, it was difficult to come up with ideas but we got there in the end”

“STEAM was  amazing, making projects for places like train stations to help people who are blind or deaf”