Science Museum Skills Fair – 600 students, six Coachmakers

Our involvement in the Science Museum Skills Fair developed further this year, as has the event itself, which attracts ever more students aged between 11 and 16. A core part of the Museum’s learning vision to “enrich lives by igniting curiosity in science”, the event helps to build young people’s career aspirations and boost their STEM skills through hands-on activities and engaging in an honest Q&A with people in engineering roles.

This is a great event with which to be involved as it aligns closely with our own STEM objectives of engaging with young people to stimulate their awareness and interest in careers in engineering.

Our stand ran ‘The Plug Game’ – a race between students to dismantle and re-assemble a three-pin plug – for groups of up to eight, demonstrating skills such as practicality, observation, spatial awareness and problem-solving. We also had a few old computers for the visitors to dismantle and maybe re-assemble – the Museum calls this ‘Wreck your Tech’.

So, what happens on the day itself? We arrived around 9am at the back entrance to the Museum, were given wrist bands as ID and shown to our ‘space’. The Museum provided tables and a large screen: we brought pop-up banners, the kit for the activities, a laptop to run a rolling screen about the Company and careers in engineering, and business cards with QR codes to our career guides in engineering and in the automotive sector.

A quiet lull and then the unmistakeable noise of large groups of young people out of school for the day, descending in groups of various sizes to get involved in the plug game, or take a computer apart. Some wanted to talk about careers – it is always fascinating to engage with bright young minds. In theory the students are accompanied by teachers but in practice it’s a bit of a free-for-all. Some teachers were keen to find out more about engineering: others just happy their charges were being kept busy. The event ran all day without a break until mid-afternoon.

In parallel, there were group session with 50-60 students to ask questions of panels of engineers and technicians. Katherine Keogh represented the earlier stage of an engineering career, and I did the same for someone whose career has run its course. Katherine’s LinkedIn post on the event can be found here.

Nick and I put the exercise together: we benefited from a training day at the Museum’s academy on how to engage with young people, backed by the knowledge and expertise of its staff who spend their working lives creating activities to engage and inspire. This knowledge will be invaluable in our wider STEM activities.

A huge thank you to the whole team comprising Master Steve Fitz-Gerald, Steward Roger Woodbridge, Liverymen Nick Lyford & Mike Malone, and Freeman Katherine Keogh (Under-35 Coachmaker and previous aerospace award winner) who made the day such a success. We now have a stronger group of members willing and able to help run these STEM days, but there’s always room for more. For further information on our STEM work please email charity@coachmakers.co.uk .