Last week saw a huge number of young students from local schools engage with fun and engaging ‘STEAM’ activities at an event hosted at Trowbridge townhall by Wiltshire Council. (https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/)
STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths) are an influence on every aspect of our daily lives, and the industries will continue to grow as we aim to move to a more sustainable future. For the young people whose future careers will be deep rooted in these skills and subjects, the Wiltshire STEAM event was an opportunity to come and experience some of the potential jobs, industries, and inspiring technology they could grow to be a part of.
UWE Bristol’s Inspire Sustainability team also attended the event, and held a stall showcasing the range of STEAM workshops and sessions that are available for the schools to book. These included the unique ‘The West in Minecraft’ worlds, which invited the young people to design and build solutions to problems in a virtual Bristol and Bath. Also, the ‘Engineering Curiosity’ top trumps cards that show real-life diverse engineers from the area. To find out more about these school workshops and what’s on offer, please visit digitaltrailblazers.net/resources or email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk
There was a whole host of amazing activities for the young people to be inspired by at the event, including a huge working robot used in film and TV that tracked their movements, driving simulators, and first aid training. There really was something for everyone!
Feedback from the young people showed that it was a really worth-while event and successful in inspiring them with the STEAM subjects.
“I liked being able to make the kazoo and bring it home”
“I loved finding out about new jobs and how everything worked”
“My jumping bean family will be with me forever!”
“I found it really interesting with all the stuff they had. The robot was really cool”
“I think STEAM was really fun and cool and I learned a lot of good things”
“I think the thing I enjoyed most was the cyber security because it was fun cracking the code”
“I thought STEAM was really fun. The thing I enjoyed most was the one where you had to drive the car”
“Steam was good. I enjoyed the small controller robot”
“I like Steam because I liked doing all the activities. I liked doing the art and craft”
“I really liked steam it was fun. I would definitely go again. My favourite part was putting on the space suit”
“I liked the dinosaur stall because it was interesting”
“I liked the experiment with the air and the cup”
“It was nice, awesome, amazing, astonishing, outstanding”