It's Good To Know
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According to a report from the Royal Academy of Engineering, schools need to concentrate less on teaching subjects and fix more attention on problem solving. We are experiencing a lack of engineering talent, according to the experts, and by encouraging this type of mental process at school it will hopefully result in a new wave of young talent in the field.
Schools have been asked to “rethink” (Prof Bill Lucas, Winchester, BBC) their approach to teaching the physical sciences and mathematics. There is also call for people already in the field of engineering to spend some time with the younger generation to fuel interest in the subject. As populations rise, the demands on the planet and each other increase with every new individual. Of course, we all bring our unique gifts and talents with us, and raising populations can also mean great things but there is also a strain on the environment and resources to keep up. Engineering is the only subject that can offer real life fixes to some of the major problems we are facing. Being the one to invent the next world changing technology, being the person to discover tomorrows technique for disposing of poisonous waste, or being the person to invent a new material that can house people at little cost, these are all incredible opportunities that wait for someone to find. It's vital that if the human race is to begin making amends to the planet Earth for all the debauching done over the past few hundred years since the industrial revolution, we must begin teaching the young how to think like a problem solver. Being able to see patterns, see problems, and dedicate time to thinking about how what we know can do something new and helpful, is something that many of us are able to do. The tool kit is a critical mind and an appreciation for nature. Only when we stifle children with books worth of facts and figures but give them no tools for using them in life, do we cut off the route to progress. It's not up to us to let others think for us, it's up to us to teach others how to think for themselves.
Encouraging young people to take an interest in engineering, mechanics, and the AI computing which works with it in modern machines, is not easy.
The Bristol based engineers secretly wrenching and casting bits of 3D printed titanium, are working in an nondescript unit on suburban trading estate on a world class record breaking supercar. The land speed record is set to be broken at a whopping 1000mph. A drive to encourage young learners to look into the world of engineering and mechanics, alongside a close patriotic sense towards British ingenuity, the idea is to encourage new talent for the country as a whole. Lord Drayson, in his then role of Minister of Defence Procurement, gave the starting signal for the Bloodhound project once the idea to encourage and inspire was finalised. "The primary goal is to inspire a generation of children to engage with STEM education, and create a legacy for British engineering," Mark Chapman – Project coordinator. He goes on to impress with more fascinating detail about exactly how fast this new car is planned to be, “If you blink your eyes, your blink reflex is a fifth of a second. So if you were in a football stadium, and you blinked your eyes, Bloodhound SSC would come into the stadium on one side and leave on the other during one blink. You wouldn't see it, and you wouldn't have heard the car coming, either, because it's supersonic. Explain it in simple terms, and people start to understand just how fast it is.” Chapman. Getting the thrilling speeds and technology in one package gives the emotional and methodical approach to learning, the element of Risk being another key factor. When one man does a crazy stunt, it encourages others to do more medium sized things which do wonders for their own lives. A wide variety of commercial entities have shown significant interest in the Bloodhound Project over the past decade since it has been slowly and significantly being produced. Aiming to thrash several records including the fastest horizontal moving vehicle at the altitude of 2500ft, land speeds, and innovating Artificial Intelligence to allow the car to learn how it works for itself, interest is multi-field. Ten thousand build it yourself rocket car kits have been made available to British School children via a government scheme. This is of course aimed at harnessing the buzz created around the Bloodhound Project which is aiming to make an initial run of 800mph in South Africa in 2017. The top speed record smash will take place the following year once all the data is gathered from the tests, and used to finely tune the vehicle even more. |
AuthorRowan Blair Colver for Alternative Fruit Love free education? Want more of it? You can show your support! Thank you so much to everyone who does.
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