On Friday 7th June, Laura Daniels took part in a workshop run by the IMechE at Winterbourne Earl’s Primary School called ‘Our World in 2050’ – adapting to climate change.
Year 5 and 6 students took part in the day which looked at how communities will use engineering to adapt to climate change in the future. Climate South East presented to the students some of the issues that the country and their local area may face and Laura tried to hint to some ‘answers’ that engineering may be able to provide in the future. Then the fun began! Students were asked to come up with an engineering solution to one or some of the challenges they thought Salisbury may face in the future.
The students were given all day to develop their solutions and with the help of some mentors, were able to discuss the issues of engineering feasibility, cost, sponsorship, policy, and combining solutions. The presentations were all of fantastic quality and were marked on ‘wackiness of idea’, feasibility, sustainability, detail of solution and team work.
Prizes were awarded to a year 5 group and a year 6 group for their wacky ideas including transportable funnels to deal with drought and flooding. This was the first Primary School to receive the training and the feedback was very positive so we cannot wait to be involved in future activities with the IMechE.
Many TSBE researchers are STEMnet Ambassadors – if you would like them to participate in your event please contact the University at: R.Tranckle@reading.ac.uk
