Taking the next STEPS: young engineers build for the future
Third-class students Will Crawford, Georgia Green and Alex Murphy from Robertson National School, Ballintra, Co. Donegal, have been crowned national winners of Engineers Ireland’s STEPS Young Engineers Award.
Three third-class pupils from a small Donegal school, who dreamed of creating an environmentally-friendly car for the Irish climate, have scooped a top engineering award.
Alex Murphy, nine, Georgia Green and Will Crawford, both 10, are the only students in their class at Robertson NS, Ballintra, Co Donegal, though they share a classroom with 13 others because their teacher, Wendy Patterson, also teaches first and second class.
Ms Patterson says the trio – who’ve been crowned national winners of Engineers Ireland’s STEPS Young Engineers Award – set about identifying something they wanted to improve in their community.
“They looked at global warming and use of fossil fuels. They were very much inspired by current climate conditions and wanted to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
“So they decided they’d build a clean-energy car that’d be sustainable. They felt the best would be a car powered by the sun and by the rain,” explains Ms Patterson.
Calling themselves the Robertson Eco-Roadsters, they created an innovative two-seater car comprising a creative roof system to collect and funnel rainwater to a hydraulic pump – and solar panels to absorb sunlight to help power the car.
To create the working prototype of this futuristic car, they used Lego and a construction kit, as well as “lots of imagination and teamwork”. They were inspired and motivated by local engineer Gerard McGranagahan – his visits were facilitated by STEPS Young Engineers.
“He gave wonderful feedback and gave them confidence,” says Ms Patterson.
Alex Murphy says the team are very happy with their creation overall, though they’d “like to improve the quality of the wheels so the roadster will move more efficiently”.
Will Crawford helped make the motor and gearbox and also liked making the design on the bonnet.
Georgia Green said: “I enjoyed building the project, seeing our design come to life. We were very worried when our prototype didn’t work on the first occasion. We had to deconstruct and rebuild it. Problem-solving’s a very important part of engineering.”
Ms Patterson says the big learning for the children was working as part of a team. “Challenging their own thinking, delegating the roles that suited each other’s strengths and being flexible and inclusive to everyone were all part of it. It was interesting to watch them be very fair to each other. It really benefitted their problem-solving skills.”
Alex says: “I learned that sometimes we have to compromise and be flexible. Problems cropped up. We had to think of ways to solve these rather than get annoyed.”
Proving that what they learned went far beyond engineering.
Robertson National School’s students faced stiff competition from 428 schools across Ireland.
These schools submitted almost 500 projects to this year’s STEPS Young Engineers Award.
The Award is coordinated by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme, funded by the Department of Education and industry leaders.
The nationwide competition encourages third- and fourth-class pupils and their teachers to explore the world of engineering by developing a project that would help improve their local community.
Get involved in STEPS Young Engineers Award: exa.mn/Young-Engineers-Award
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