TESTIMONIALS
JULY 2019 - Grassington Primary School
I am a teaching assistant at Grassington Primary School in North Yorkshire and started working with the Project in January 2019. I can quite honestly say that it is the best thing I have ever worked on with children. It has provided so many learning opportunities for the children - both STEM related and life skills - whilst also creating a huge amount of enthusiasm and excitement from the children. The project has been of immense value this year and I have no doubt that this will continue in future years.
The Project was run as an after-school club for children in years 5 and 6 from six local primary schools working in teams of between two and four children. Each group of children had a six week block of sessions during which they learned a little about the aerodynamics of car design and used their knowledge to design, build and improve their cars according to the design process in terms of the time taken for them to travel along the race track. The Project ended for this year with a finals day held at the local high school, Upper Wharfedale School, at which all of the teams raced their cars against each other.
The Project finished for this year with a 'Finals Day' at which the teams from all of the six schools got together and raced their cars. As well as an overall champion team, there were four sub-competitions held on the day. These were the Best Car Design (taking into account aerodynamic features, build quality and team identity), the Best 'Pit Lane Display' (a poster that each team produced on the day to show their journey from chassis to completed car), the Fastest Car (taking the fastest of two runs along the race track as the qualifying time) and a Knock-out Race Competition. The day was a huge success and I have received a great deal of positive feedback from teachers, children, parents and visitors, including many children who can't wait to take part in the Project again next year!
Although the focus of my sessions was aerodynamic improvements that would develop the fastest car possible, there are many different ways that the Primary STEM Project equipment can be used with the children. These include developing aerodynamic features to slow the car down and stop them from 'falling down' a chasm printed on the race track, varying the weight of the race cars and varying the air pressure in the launcher to see how changes in weight and air pressure will change the speed of the cars or the distance they travel. The launcher can even be used to launch paper planes or rockets by varying the angle of the launch pipe!
In summary, the Project is superb and provides a wide range of ways that children can be taught and enthused about STEM.
Stuart Willis
Grassington Primary School
Hebden Road
Grassington
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 5LB
I am a teaching assistant at Grassington Primary School in North Yorkshire and started working with the Project in January 2019. I can quite honestly say that it is the best thing I have ever worked on with children. It has provided so many learning opportunities for the children - both STEM related and life skills - whilst also creating a huge amount of enthusiasm and excitement from the children. The project has been of immense value this year and I have no doubt that this will continue in future years.
The Project was run as an after-school club for children in years 5 and 6 from six local primary schools working in teams of between two and four children. Each group of children had a six week block of sessions during which they learned a little about the aerodynamics of car design and used their knowledge to design, build and improve their cars according to the design process in terms of the time taken for them to travel along the race track. The Project ended for this year with a finals day held at the local high school, Upper Wharfedale School, at which all of the teams raced their cars against each other.
The Project finished for this year with a 'Finals Day' at which the teams from all of the six schools got together and raced their cars. As well as an overall champion team, there were four sub-competitions held on the day. These were the Best Car Design (taking into account aerodynamic features, build quality and team identity), the Best 'Pit Lane Display' (a poster that each team produced on the day to show their journey from chassis to completed car), the Fastest Car (taking the fastest of two runs along the race track as the qualifying time) and a Knock-out Race Competition. The day was a huge success and I have received a great deal of positive feedback from teachers, children, parents and visitors, including many children who can't wait to take part in the Project again next year!
Although the focus of my sessions was aerodynamic improvements that would develop the fastest car possible, there are many different ways that the Primary STEM Project equipment can be used with the children. These include developing aerodynamic features to slow the car down and stop them from 'falling down' a chasm printed on the race track, varying the weight of the race cars and varying the air pressure in the launcher to see how changes in weight and air pressure will change the speed of the cars or the distance they travel. The launcher can even be used to launch paper planes or rockets by varying the angle of the launch pipe!
In summary, the Project is superb and provides a wide range of ways that children can be taught and enthused about STEM.
Stuart Willis
Grassington Primary School
Hebden Road
Grassington
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 5LB