STEM Activity – ‘Design and Build an Airport’
The CAA STEM Programme supported Balksbury Primary School with their STEM Week Programme by setting a challenge for 90 Year 6 students, the challenge was to; Design and Build an Airport. Caroline Moore an Airfield Advisory Team Consultant from the CAA joined the students virtually on Monday the 11th July to introduce the challenge and to go through the brief in full covering the key areas of the task and factors to consider. The students worked on the project throughout the week and Caroline joined them in person on the Friday 15th July to view the entries and select a winning design.
Caroline had a tough time selecting a winning design from all the incredible models made, she said:
“I was completely overwhelmed by the student’s efforts for this challenge. They put so much thought into how aircraft and vehicles move around an airport. While I emphasised that they think about the balance of congestion and time savings in their process, it was brilliant to see them thinking about environment and security too. What a special thing to see young people approach a problem with creativity and the freedom to attempt a solution.“
The STEM activity – Design and Build an Airport was a huge success, it inspired creative thinking, team work and included a great deal of maths and engineering elements from the student. A hugely impressive display from all involved. The feedback from Year 6 Team and children:
“We just wanted to say a huge thank you for your support during STEM week.
The brief was brilliant and facilitated some really complex thinking about the logistics of how their airports would work. It was lovely having Caroline. The presentation at the beginning really motivated the children and they were so excited to share their process with her. We have also had many comments from girls to say they now wish to aspire to study Maths at university as a result of meeting Caroline. The children LOVED the prizes and the STEM bottles have been well used this week! “
