Introducing the School STEAM Challenge 2025
Posted on 27th January 2025 at 19:20
This year, we're excited to lunch the Yorkshire & Humber Institute of Technology School STEAM Challenge.
Open to Year 9 pupils at schools across East Yorkshire and Humber, this challenge gives students the chance to develop and demonstrate technical and creative skills in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
With a focus on building and engineering, teams will handle both a materials handling challenge and a marketing challenge. Both activities will be scored separately with a winner in each category and overall
MATERIALS HANDLING CHALLENGE
In the construction industry one of the biggest challenges is safely and efficiently moving building materials around on site. The engineering and machinery for materials handling is a massive industry (and one which offers many exciting career opportunities).
You must design and build a machine which is able to pick up blocks from around ‘the site’ and neatly and precisely stack them on top of each other to build a ‘pyramid’.
Points will be awarded for build quality, design, aesthetics and sustainability as well as speed and accuracy of completing the task. Scoring will be weighted so that most of the points are for the effective operation of the machine.
Schools will be provided with all the materials necessary to complete the challenge. There should be no cost to schools. Each team will be provided with timber, nuts and bolts, pulley wheels, string and elastic and a range of brackets and fixing plates.
Whilst teams will be provided with everything they should need, they are also free to supplement the kit and use other parts or materials. Teams are not restricted to the basic kit and can be as creative and inventive as they wish.
For full details of this challenge, please contact hannah-wilson@yorkcollege.ac.uk
MARKETING/VIDEO CHALLENGE
Teams are also asked to produce a short, 5-10 min video journal of their work, the design journey and the prototyping - There is often an element of trial and error in the design process. It is rare that your first idea or first attempt will work perfectly.
Teams are encouraged to include the ‘bloopers’ as well footage of the team working together. We’d love to see how you grew as a team of engineers as well as how your machine has evolved along the way.
You will also need to produce a veideo blog cosumenting your journey, your approach, teamwork, successes and setbacks as well as how you sresolved any problems and learned lessons along the way. You will also need to present a marketing plan, with a unique name for your mechanism, a logo and tagline and you must prepare a short pitch explaining why your mechanism is innovative and valuable.
For full details of this challenge, please contact hannah-wilson@yorkcollege.ac.uk
THE COMPETITION FINAL
Teams will present their marketing materials and their mechanism at Bishop Burton College on the 10th July. There, their entries will be judged and a winner will be chosen.
OUTCOME
This challenge provides students with a tangible demonstration of how combining technical and creative skills can address real-world problems. Additionally, it offers hands-on experience in prototyping, collaboration, and presenting their ideas to a wider audience.
Good luck engineers, builders, innovators and creatives!
HOW TO ENTER
FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO ENTER AND FOR FULL COMPETITION DETAILS, PLEASE EMAIL Hannah-Wilson@yorkcollege.ac.uk.
Download our STEAM Challenge flyer below for further information:
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