Engineering your Future
Primary-school students from across the Mid-West have been encouraged to engineer the Ireland of tomorrow during a series of events organised by Mary Immaculate College (MIC) to coincide with STEPS Engineers Week 2023. The annual week-long celebration promotes engineering and the importance of the profession in Ireland.
We welcomed two schools a day into the CRAFT Maker space for Engineers Week to complete STEAM activities using the Engineering Design Process. We also asked the children what they thought an engineer did, and while builders and car mechanics were still popular we did have some children talking about making shampoo (a chemical engineer) and fixing planes (an aeronautical engineer). On Tuesday, employees from H&MV Engineering joined us to talk about their jobs and the children got to examine some solar panels. On Wednesday, Scientific Sue delivered three shows in Newman Hall entitled “Devasting Dramatic Climate Show”. Ironically, a day later, unseasonal weather meant some workshops needed to be rescheduled. STEAM packs were also sent to seven schools across the mid-west to complete during the week.
According to the Director of Enterprise & Community Engagement, Dr Maeve Liston: “We were delighted to continue our work in delivering high-quality STEM outreach to schools and teachers during STEPS Engineers Week 2023. The engagement and enthusiasm from the children during the STEM Engineering Challenges was a delight to experience. Engineers Week also coincided with International Women’s Day, therefore throughout the week, the engineering sessions at MIC, placed an important focus on breaking down stereotypes and promoting girls in STEM.”
Discussing the importance of such events was MIC STEM Project Outreach Officer, Dr Eleanor Walsh, who said: “Our activities this week reached almost 700 children and their teachers, which we are really pleased about. We look forward to being able to expand that reach even further in the coming months. Children having that “Yes, it works!” moment never gets old.”
Further STEM outreach activities were also completed with MIC Early Childhood Care & Education students undertaking workshops and also Microsoft DreamSpace where the students got an opportunity to use some new technologies and examine and plan how they would be used in an early childhood and care setting, and what the benefits to the children would be.
