Tasmania’s engineers of tomorrow gathered to face-off at the University of Tasmania’s Newnham campus on Tuesday.
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The final round of the Science and Engineering Challenge saw the top eight schools from around the state compete in eight different activities.
Included among the activities was tower, virtual city and prosthetic hand building.
One of the biggest events of the day was the bridge building competition, which saw some of the grade 10 students build structures out of balsa wood and paddle pop sticks.
The bridges were tested by rolling small trains loaded up with varying numbers of ingots across them.
Olivia Wenn from Riverside High School competed in the event with three other students.
“We didn’t have cardboard, which we did on Friday [in the Launceston heats], which added another challenge,” she said.
“Our bridge had a structure, an arch in the middle and then had bracings.”
The Science and Engineering Challenge is a national competition, which aims at encouraging students to take up STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – in grade 11 and 12.
The not-for-profit organisation is a Newcastle University initiative, however the Tasmanian event was co-ordinated by UTAS.
“The whole purpose of the Science and Engineering Challenge is to try to encourage students so they can follow into those STEM subjects for year 11 and 12,” UTAS College of Sciences and Engineering outreach and placement officer Susie Haley said.
“We want them to be inspired and know there’s a whole world of different careers out there in those areas.
“One school said last year they could barely fill a grade 9 and 10 science class and now they’ve got one for each class.”
Ms Haley said a sizable number of UTAS engineering students had competed in the challenge.
“Within the school of engineering, I know that 50 per cent of our domestic students will have done the Science and Engineering challenge as a [high school] student,” she said.
“I ask them questions in an entry questionnaire and of the 50 per cent of students who have done the challenge, 50 per cent of those said it made them more interested in following that career path.”
One pupil who hopes to follow in that career path is grade 10 Sacred Heart College student Lauren Ashwood.
“I want to be an engineer, because I love maths and problem solving,” she said.
Stefan Boscia
Stefan came to The Examiner after working as a copywriter at a digital media firm in Melbourne and interning at The Conversation. He is enthusiastic about reporting on business, local government and environmental issues. When he is not chained to his work desk, Stefan enjoys getting brunch, reading Saul Bellow novels and watching Carlton games.
Stefan came to The Examiner after working as a copywriter at a digital media firm in Melbourne and interning at The Conversation. He is enthusiastic about reporting on business, local government and environmental issues. When he is not chained to his work desk, Stefan enjoys getting brunch, reading Saul Bellow novels and watching Carlton games.
