We are delighted to announce that we will be participating in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) Engineering-in-a-Box programme for the second year in a row.

The Engineering-in-a-Box programme allows us to connect with our local community and inspire children through fun and engaging learning. We show the pupils how to look at problems and challenges that have faced humans throughout history and how we work to solve them.

Last year two of our Jones Engineering Group engineers, Dave McSweeney from our electrical division and Shane Fitzgerald from our mechanical division, completed a 10 week programme for the 4th class in Carrigtwohill Boys National School with teachers Katie Forrest and Sandra McCarthy and it was a resounding success.

Rory Duggan and Sandra McCarthy this year’s 4th class teachers said “The boys are still talking about the fantastic experiments that were done with them and how enjoyable it was.  Both instructors who came from your company were absolutely fantastic and a credit to you. . . . . It is an invaluable experience to our school and the feedback received from the parents, teachers and pupils was fantastic.”

The topics covered included shelters, bridges and process and chemicals and the children were tasked with challenges such as creating a bridge of 15cm capable of taking the weight of a sweet jar using only 20 lollipop sticks and 15 elastic bands.

Another challenge involved creating a free standing structure as a base for a shelter using only spaghetti and marshmallows. As well as the practical challenges students also spoke about the concepts behind the designs and recorded their findings in journals. They examined the process for cleaning water, farming and food production and watched videos relating to the process in a chocolate factory as well as bridge designs gone wrong.

To read more about the challenges and to see photos of how the pupils got on check out the Carrigtwohill website here.

Following the success of last year’s programme we will be expanding our involvement this year. It is our mission to inspire the next generation and starting in October Ian Davy and David Leddy from our mechanical division will be delivering the programme to Inchicore National School while David McSweeney from our electrical division will be returning to Carrigtowhill, Boys National School in February.

STEAM Education is a not-for-profit social enterprise, to find out more about the work they do or to get involved visit their website here