All our Year 8 students recently took part in a morning long STEM challenge. STEM incorporates the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and this challenge was run in partnership with Medway Education Business Partnership and STEM Kent. The task was called the ‘LEGO – build a house challenge’ and it involved students in solving real life problems.

Students had to read and interpret design drawings in order to build a LEGO house to the exact requirements. From that point onwards, students had to design and build their own LEGO house and order the materials they required to a specified budget. Success was measured by how well the students own designs matched the actual physical model that they had built.

It was great to see how enthusiastically all of our students embraced this challenge. They all worked tirelessly in their teams in order to produce the best design and model for their house. The students’ ability to work together to solve this real-world problem was amazing to see. Their communication with each other enabled every group to produce a working design that could then be manufactured into a model.

Mr Simm, STEM Coordinator, commented, “I am so proud of our students for the way in which they faced this challenge. As the morning developed it was clear that most teams came across problems and difficulties, but to their credit, all students simply worked together to overcome these hurdles.”

When reflecting on the morning, one Year 8 student said, “Thank you for such a wonderful morning with the STEM activity. I really enjoyed doing group work with my friends but also learning things in a fun way”.

Another student simply commented, “Great morning and good to get creative again”.