Inventions Week: Water Travel

During Inventions Week in March, we teamed up our STEM Ambassadors with a local school to explore the theme of ‘Water Travel’ with Year 5 and 6 students.

The students were challenged to plan, design and construct a pair of shoes which had the capacity to walk on water. Prior to our visit, the students designed their shoes and were able to investigate and test the properties of different materials in order to determine which would work best for their creations.

On the day of our visit the students were constructing their shoes, with the aim of a teacher testing them at the end of the day. Throughout the day our Ambassadors spoke to each of the different teams, assisting with their construction processes. We engaged with students in explaining their designs and reasons for their material choices and we challenged them in order to improve their creations.

Once all of the teams had completed their creations, everyone made their way to a paddling pool outside in the school grounds. One of the teachers then had the job of testing each of the shoes in the freezing cold paddling pool. Some of the shoes even managed to float.

The visit had a brilliant atmosphere, and it was lovely to see the pride and joy of all the students as they worked together to meet the challenge of the day with such creativity and enthusiasm.