Each year, the WCSIM works with the excellent charity Primary Engineer, which delivers a structured course that introduces and supports primary school teachers in how to teach engineering.
Every year, up to fourteen teachers, from schools in the London area, attend our Hall during January for a day, to take part in a Primary Engineer event, where they learn two courses, one for young primary school children, aged 5-7, and another for older pupils, of 9-11 year olds.
In both cases cars are built; one from a modified shoebox, another a scratch-built electric car with a motor, gearbox, wiring, and direction switching. Techniques in making, measuring, cutting, assembling, and building these vehicles, sows the seeds, and future capabilities plus confidence, with engineering and science.
The WCSIM supports these courses financially but also with SIM members partnering, plus mentoring each teacher, during the course work, as well as later at their schools, as they roll the projects out with their own classes.
This year, Past Master, Martyn Wheatley, was just one of the SIM crew at Hall, supporting the Primary Engineer initiative. His allocated teacher was Amanda Black, who is from the St Mary Magdalen School in Mortlake. They worked well together from day one, rolling out a four-week classroom schedule, to introduce and build ten electric cars, by groups of two or three students, from Amanda’s class.
Hardly any of the children had ever built models, and the basics of measuring and cutting components, plus the sequence of assembly and construction, were completely new to them. As for motors, and electric wiring, an elastic band gearbox, switches and a reversible drive model car, were all introduced, step by step to completion……and then the fun began!
After four lessons, both teacher Amanda, and her pupils, had successfully achieved the Primary Engineer objectives, and the classroom was full of excited shouts and conversations as each car came to life. First forward and then backwards, and then up a ramp as a trial, plus with an elastic band modification, to give it more traction – the fun had begun.
SIM makes this possible. Everyone involved works hard, and to see the satisfaction on young faces of children, who would never have thought they could build such a toy, only one month earlier, is rewarding.
Maybe, these engineering apprentices will now be inspired, to go on to study science and engineering subjects later in life, perhaps even become a member of SIM one day!
Martyn Wheatley