Interviewer:
I’ll just take you over to Blairgowrie High School here and see what they have been doing, because this is a real example of what is going on when technical education gets in touch with sponsors, as well, in the local area. Sir, before you begin what you were going to do, let us know very quickly what you’ve been doing and the success you’ve had up at Blairgowrie.
Teacher:
This is a national competition called ‘F1 in Schools: Technology Challenge’ so, as you can see from the display, we design cars, we build them, we race them and it’s really exciting fun.
Interviewer:
And this is you that is driving this, of course.
Teacher:
Yes it is me that is driving it at school. We have had a lot of success since we started competition, and this year the boys went to the international final of the competition in Birmingham and competed against seventeen teams. Unfortunately we didn’t win but we had a great time when we were there.
Interviewer:
I believe the international final next year is somewhere else.
Teacher:
It’s in Australia and these boys are really sick as a parrot because they are not getting to go, but I am getting to go. So there we go!
Interviewer:
Explain to me, because they actually look like a Formula 1 team. Look at this. They have Team Technic on the back of their shirts and they have got all the sponsors on there.
Teacher:
This has all to do with sponsorship, because, through enterprise, we actually go out and seek sponsorship for the competition and this year this team raised £3,000 worth to cover their costs, their travel costs, accommodation costs and any other bits and pieces they required.
Interviewer:
Blairgowrie High School. Things are looking pretty busy here. A lot of interest in what’s going on. I will just stick the mike underneath and see if we can hear.
Boy from the team:
The only thing with this car, it’s heavy. But, compared to the amount of money the other international teams had, we did quite well for our car.
Interviewer:
What actually propels the car?
Boy from the team:
This here – the charge - and that is why it is so important to be aerodynamic, because, once the charge is gone, you are just depending on how well your car can go down that track on its own, and that’s where ours was heavy and not the most aerodynamic. It was our first year. So it’s just trial and error really and just getting used to it.
Interviewer:
How do you test? Do you have a wind tunnel set up?
Boy from team:
A wind tunnel programme. We don’t actually have a wind tunnel ourselves but we just use a that program and it gives a good enough idea.
( Background chat )…
Interviewer:
Not every school is going to have one of these Peter. It looks pretty technical equipment.
Peter:
There is a lot of specialised training that has to go in with this sort of machinery. This is a Denford Microrouter and the guys will have had a day’s training down at the Denford Centre in Yorkshire. It is an expensive piece of kit but the things that you can do with it across the curriculum are very, very widespread. It has many applications. Not only that, it gives the pupils an understanding into an industrial application. You are using CNC technology. It’s high-end engineering and, coupled with the software we are using, you are looking at wind turbine no, not wind turbines, but wind tunnels, so you have got aerodynamics there. You are bringing in cross-curricular areas, you are bringing in mathematics, physics and in terms of that, getting the interest of pupils, it’s a real, real hook for them. And, given the fact that these boys were at the Birmingham national championships and next year they are going to Melbourne, that’s a big incentive.
Interviewer:
It’s a huge incentive. I remember when I was at school, you would maybe make a racing car out of some wood and, if you weren’t good with the plane or varnish or whatever or the sandpaper, you weren’t particularly proud of what you finished up with. However, when you design something like that on a computer and it is done by the router, you see that it is all there for all to see.
Peter:
I think the important thing to take from this is that pupils of all abilities can have value to add to this. They can use the software with the training, and that’s what this conference and this showcase is recognising is the contribution that all young people can contribute into their own education, bringing their confidence by actually saying “I can model this on a piece of software rather than physically drawing it”. They can use the computer to aid them draw that, produce a solid model at the end of that, test it and see it work. So, it’s empowering their learning, it’s challenging them and it’s building their confidence. I think the benefits are very evident.