Working together earns Bayswater School prize

Engineers and communities working together earns Bayswater School prize

A Bayswater School students’ project to design and build an adventure playground area won the school a merit at the 2007 Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Awards.

The annual Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Awards recognizes the best and most innovative collaboration between students, teachers and volunteer engineers. The aim of the awards is to create a greater awareness of the engineering profession and encourage innovative thinking in the areas of engineering and technology.

Bayswater School along with: Green Bay School, Green Bay; Browns Bay School, Browns Bay and Clevedon School, Clevedon, were all awarded merit prizes which consisted of $500.00 each.

Transpower and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) will present Bayswater School at 9 am on Friday 7 December 2007.

Around 12 students worked with engineer Craig Schipper of Emc2 to develop a playground area for senior students. The students learnt about: the effects of gravity and friction on sliding and moving objects; an applied knowledge of forces to the real life situation of play; and created models of their designs

Mr Schipper said he personally gained a lot from his experience. “The children were great, eager, interested and thoughtful. My confidence and communication skills with children are improved through this experience. I learnt that the class responded best by getting them to think by asking probing questions of them, rather than lecturing them with ideas.”

Bayswater School class teacher Carolyn Stennard said her class’s collaborative work with an actual engineer worked to her students’ benefit.

“The students enjoyed Craig’s participation in the class and when he wasn’t there they formulated questions which I emailed to him. He was able to give specific, detailed answers when he came in. This proved to be very successful as the students received correct and easy-to-understand information about exactly what they wanted to know.”

Papakura’s Sunnyhills School and Glendowie’s Churchill Park School each won the primary award worth $2000.00 for each school.

ENDS

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