Three day event to raise aspirations and encourage team work across science, engineering and medicine - <em>News</em>

Thursday 30 October 2008
By Naomi Weston

Over 100 local school children attended a three day interactive learning event focusing on raising aspirations of pupils from London's disadvantaged communities at Imperial College London this month. 

The ‘Creative Futures: Achieving your Potential’ event, organised by Imperial As One, the College’s race equality advisory group, took place on the 13, 15 and 17 October 2008.

The event gave pupils from year six through to year 12 the opportunity to learn about science and get involved in hands-on exercises including designing and building bridges, studying waves through music and learning about stem cell research.

Christine Yates, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Consultant at the College, helped organise the event. She said: “Imperial as One has established an annual event aimed at raising the aspirations of young pupils specifically from disadvantaged communities. The aim of the event is to provide a day of excitement and interactive learning for young people, role models, and mentors."

She added: “Creative Futures focuses on aspirations, collaboration, and team working with pupils participating in a laboratory experiments and campus tours. The event sows the seeds of aspiring to higher education, and gives a practical demonstration that science and engineering can be fun.”

The three days were hosted by Dr Sunday Popo-Ola, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who held a workshop on building bridges for year 6 pupils. Working in teams, the groups had to each design and build a bridge made out of straws which were tested for their strength at the end of the week.

He said: “The Creative Futures event has grown year on year and is now three days long. There has been demand from more schools to get involved and the activities we run have real relevance to the wider world. The London Olympics in 2012 will require new structures and bridges to be built and these pupils could turn into the engineers and designers of the future.”

Over 30 pupils attended the workshop on building bridges

Over 30 pupils attended this workshop on designing and building bridges. Courtney McKellar, year 6 pupil from Princess Frederica CE VA Primary School, took part for the first time. She said: “I’m having fun being creative and thinking up different design ideas for our bridge. We are using a triangular shape as we have learnt it is a strong shape to use. Today has given me lots of ideas about the future, it has taught me that designing is not just about clothes. I want to go to university when I’m older and become a designer.”

In addition, fellow year six pupil Jessica Hunter, from St Bernard’s Catholic School, added: “I’ve met lots of new people today and really enjoyed working in teams. It’s given me a really good experience and I’ve learnt about design, maybe I’ll be doing something like this when I’m older.”

Dr Mark Richards, from the Department of Physics, hosted the workshop ‘Working with Waves’. This included a demonstration showing how Dr Richards’s research uses light waves to monitor air pollution. The year 11 and 12 pupils also had a session on sound waves in the College’s music technology suite.

For the first time this year the event has expanded to include medical activities. Dr Sara Rankin, from the National Heart and Lung Institute, gave pupils an insight into stem cell research and its medical applications. Students also toured laboratories and collected stem cells from bone marrow with the help of post doctorate students.

Schools involved included Princess Frederica CE VA Primary School in Kensal Green, St Bernard’s Catholic School in High Wycombe, Northbrook Church of England School, in Lewisham, and Vitaleet Supplementary School, in Hackney.

For more information about Imperial As One and upcoming events please see: Imperial As One 

For details of the College’s Outreach activities please visit: Imperial Outreach