Engineering day inspires Milton Keynes school children
Above: The children get up close with a Boeing 737.
Courtesy Cranfield
This event was the culmination of a year-long outreach project by Cranfield University, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious awards. Staff from Cranfield had visited schools across Milton Keynes over the 12 months and introduced children to materials engineering to inspire the engineers of the future.
Activities on the agenda included getting up close with a Boeing 737, a visit to Cranfield Impact Centre and learning sessions on drones, materials and performance cars.
The pupils had also brought posters with them, each focusing on a particular materials interest and all went on display for a panel to judge the winners and award prizes at the end of the day.
Dr Joy Sumner, Reader in Energy Materials at Cranfield University, said: “I’m really pleased with everything we’ve achieved today. The pupils have had a lovely time and Cranfield’s engineers and volunteers are having a fantastic time, too. It’s been a really brilliant opportunity to bring everyone together and share what we love most about engineering with the next generation.
“We couldn’t have managed this without the support of the schools and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious programme funding. That’s what’s allowed us to engage with the pupils over the last year, visiting the schools and running competitions, and really building up the excitement that could be seen today.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Victoria Giles, a teacher from Putnoe Primary School, who said: “On behalf of my colleagues and all the pupils at Putnoe Primary we would like to share our heartfelt thanks to you and all your team who put on the fantastic event at Cranfield University. The pupils were ‘buzzing’ on the coach home, talking about their favourite parts of the day. I hope it goes some way to inspiring pupils to consider science or engineering careers one day.
“The gifts for the poster competition were extremely generous and the pupils were thrilled. We also understand and can fully appreciate the effort it has taken to put on this programme over the course of the year and we want to congratulate you on the success of the programme.”
Ingenious aims to help reach underrepresented audiences across the UK and change perceptions of engineering. The project has funded 15 similar initiatives across the country in the last year, and over 330 since it started back in 2010.
