Making KNexions

Year 6 pupils took part in an engineering workshop called ‘Making KNexions’. They were joined by 29 pupils from Nash Mills School and worked together in mixed teams. Their task was to build a wind turbine out of KNex, which was required to be a certain height and to produce as high a voltage as possible when put in front of a fan.

We were delighted to welcome a number of STEM ambassadors to assist with the judging of the task.  

Each of the teams were mentored by two Senior School pupils who are part of the Young Engineers Club, they acted as Project Managers for their group. The Year 6 pupils took on the roles of Design or Construction Engineers. They worked together to design and build the turbines to the specified decisions and all of the teams successfully completed the task.

The turbines from each team were then tested. The groups were judged on their teamwork, communication skills, how they solved the problem and how the final structure satisfied the design brief. 

Aims

To support and encourage the use of STEM activities 

To run a collaborative activity involving older pupils, pupils from AHS and pupils from Nash Mills working together in mixed groups

To celebrate the teams achieving a built final product that conforms to the success criteria given

Background

Nash Mills is a long standing partner school of Abbot’s Hill and the pupils in both schools have been working collaboratively on many projects.  This has become a yearly event run by the school and this year the school bought enough KNex sets to run the workshop independently.

Resources

venue, KNex kits, resources, supervision, preperation

Impact

It was lovely to see our pupils so engaged with the activity - the level of excitement when they saw the sails of their models turning was a delight. The allocation of various roles from designer to construction engineer was a great idea, but the overall benefit concerned the teamwork, both between our pupils and those of Abbott's Hill Year 6 girls. The leadership of some of their older peers was very good. One of our special needs children was totally engaged with his task and as a result was very animated on the walk back to school.

"That was brilliant, the best DT lesson  ever!"

Rosie Washford Mower

Headteacher

 

Nash Mills C of E Primary School 

Pupil Involvement

29 Year 6 pupils from Nash Mills School