Our Year 9 students had an exciting and action-packed day exploring the world of Aerospace Engineering, taking on the challenge of designing, building and testing their very own aeroplanes!
Working with Ami, we began by learning about aircraft design, engineering and the science behind different wings and empennages (the tail section of an aircraft). We even kicked things off with a team challenge to see who could build the tallest tower using nothing but paper!
We then became aerospace engineers ourselves! We designed and tested different aeroplane prototypes, experimenting with different wing and tail designs to discover which flew best.
The main challenge was where things really took off! Working in teams, we were each given specific roles and tasked with creating our own aerospace company. This involved designing and building an aeroplane, developing a company logo and slogan, and producing a poster and presentation to showcase our ideas.
We also had to think like real engineers by working within a budget, purchasing resources from our very own materials shop and considering how we could reuse materials to keep costs down.
After lunch, it was time to pitch our designs, explain our roles and showcase our engineering ideas before heading outside for the ultimate test… seeing whose aeroplane could fly the best! It was a brilliant opportunity to put our learning into practice and discover just how much goes into designing and building an aircraft.
Throughout the day, we developed some really important Power Skills, including:
- Creativity – coming up with original designs and ideas.
- Critical Thinking & Problem Solving – testing, adapting and improving our aeroplanes.
- Collaboration – working together and sharing responsibilities.
- Communication – presenting our ideas and explaining our designs.
We had a fantastic day full of creativity, teamwork, challenges and plenty of fun! It has certainly given us a fascinating insight into the exciting world of aerospace engineering and the careers that could be waiting for us in the future.
Who knows, we could have some future aerospace engineers in the making at Futures!