UCEM launches website to raise awareness of engineering in schools
Posted on: 12 September, 2024
Back in May 2024, UCEM was awarded funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering, as part of its commitment to Widening Participation to Higher Education and the built environment.
UCEM’s project, known as ‘Eerie Engineering’, is part of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious public engagement award. This scheme looks for projects ‘that will reach diverse and underrepresented communities across the whole of the UK’.
A curated website has been developed featuring a variety of mixed media materials (videos, images, and games) that use gruesome historical stories of buildings and scenarios from different cultural settings to introduce engineering concepts, such as physical forces and force-resisting elements in sustainable building construction.
Detailed lesson plans for teachers, schools, youth group leaders, and parents offer a range of activities for various age groups, supporting both simple and more challenging tasks for guided learning outcomes and required resources. The lesson plans also outline practical activities using household waste (e.g., egg boxes) and LEGO to provide hands-on, play-based experiences.
One activity example includes medieval long drop toilets found in castles, along with stories about cleaning and hygiene. Early toilet facilities were merely seats over holes with a long drop to the ground or a pit below, allowing waste to be disposed of or removed later. This unappealing history, including tales of the “Gongfarmers” who cleaned up the mess, will captivate young people and encourage them to consider the engineering of a building.
Charlotte Thackeray, Outreach and Inclusion Lead, commented: ‘It has been amazing to see this website come to life. The lessons that have been designed really reflect what we wanted to create as part of this research project and it is great that they are open for anyone to use.’
