A BAND of budding Einsteins at a Greenock primary school have built go-karts, learned about 3D modelling and delved into the world of coding as part of a week-long STEM event.
The event at King's Oak Primary saw youngsters participate in a range of exciting activities while learning about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The school ran ‘make do’ sessions which saw pupils use child-friendly saws, screwdrivers and screws to build a variety of items.
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Some pupils have also designed go-karts with their families and showed off their impressive creations to the Tele when we visited the school recently.
Primary 6a teacher Tammy Johnston told the Tele that pupils had a fantastic time learning about the world of STEM and the careers they could pursue in it.
She said: “We decided to do a week dedicated to STEM and we tied it in with national numeracy week and trained up my class, the primary 6as, on lots of different elements of coding.
“They’ve taught the rest of the school about these things and shared what they’ve been doing with them.
“We also ran competitions, our infants had to design a chair for a bear, which they could make out of any materials they wanted.
“From primary four upwards they’ve been doing an egg drop so they have to design something they could drop out of a window and keep the egg safe.
“We’ve also done a challenge for them to do at home so they got to create go-karts with their families at home.
“I think they’re starting to make the links between what we’re doing in class and how that’s going to work in their future, they’re making links about how what we’re doing in class can actually take them forward.
“They’re understanding how this can take them from the classroom into the world of work.”
Staff from Morton in the Community have also paid a visit to the school over the course of the week to teach the youngsters about coding.
Earlier in the week the school held a ‘stay and stem’ event, setting up a variety of coding and IT=based activities.
Non class contact teacher Andrew Jamieson, who has been teaching STEM throughout the school since the start of the new term, said the week had been a big success.
He added: “The kids have brought their go-karts in and we’ll judge them on aesthetics, distance travelled on a wee ramp we’ve got and safety as well because we’ve given them a wee teddy bear to keep safe.
“They’ve done a great job. There’s even a motorised one using rubber bands.
“I’m enjoying seeing the children working in small groups on small projects and having to learn a whole different set of skills like compromise, working together, solving problems and supporting their teammates.
“It really helps to prepare them for going out into work.”
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