The face of engineering is changing, and the #Lottietour – where a Lottie doll tours the varied world of engineering – helps to showcase that.
Science Stereotype Challenging Stories
This years tour has begun, with Lottie sitting in on a story about a young inventor, told by Marine Engineer, Tamsin Dobson. Tamsin read ‘Rosie Revere Engineer’ to children at Aerospace Bristol last week in one of many storytelling events held across the city during Bristol’s half term Storytale Festival.
STEM Ambassadors read books that challenged science-stereotypes at 10 different locations. These ‘Curious Stories for Curious Children‘ were run by the Curiosity Connections team (the Bristol primary science network), including UWE Bristol’s Laura Fogg-Rogers and Louisa Cockbill, alongside Liz Lister from the STEM Ambassador hub for the West of England.
While perceptions of science and engineering were challenged for over 150 children across the city, Lottie moved up to UWE Bristol’s Frenchay campus to witness how Engineering Education is changing….
Challenging Engineering Education
Nearly all of UWE’s 700 first and second year engineering students,turned up for the first Scenario Project week of the year. Challenging the students with regional and global problems is a foundational part of the new engineering curriculum, all designed to improve inclusivity.
I think historically the education system precludes certain types of people from being successful, because it’s heavily examined and a lot of young people don’t find that an easy process to go through. We are trying to create a curriculum with a range of different methods to assess students, so that regardless of background and qualification, there’s the opportunity to succeed.
Lisa Brodie, Head of Engineering, Design and Mathematics
Read more about ‘Curious Stories for Curious Children‘ and hear Lisa Brodie wax lyrical about engineering.