Last week, a class of Year 3 students from Cabot Primary were inspired by a STEM workshop at UWE’s School of Engineering based upon the children’s book, ‘Izzy Gizmo’ by Pip Jones.
The workshop was a collaboration between the Inspire Sustainability team and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, as part of the development of a stage-show based upon the book.
‘Izzy Gizmo’ is a young global majority girl with a passion for inventing all sorts of wacky machines. In the book, she discovers that engineering is all about finding success by trying again when her inventions don’t always work first time. One day, she finds an injured crow on her way home, and sets about trying to invent something to allow her new friend to fly again.
The children in the workshop, were delighted to be joined by the author, Pip Jones. Pip introduced the children to the character of Izzy, and also talked to them about how inventions have changed their own worlds over time. The children then were challenged to think like Izzy and design and build a flying machine for the crow, named ‘Fixer’.
All students were awarded the ‘Izzy and Fixer’s Award of Invention!’ by Pip for attending the workshop and had a really inspiring day building and inventing!
More pictures from the day will be added here soon!
Learn more about the Bristol Old Vic here: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/
You can read about and order the Izzy Gizmo book here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Izzy-Gizmo/Pip-Jones/9780857075130
To find out more about this workshop or the other outreach from the Inspire Sustainability team, please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk