We think Engineering is really cool in Esker. We did so much engineering work last year we really wanted to build on that this year but we also wanted to incorporate more technology into our engineering.
Engineering 2018-2019
Design and make
During Aistear we build using blocks in Junior Infants. Firstly, we plan our building and then we work together to make it. For our Aistear theme of “Fairy Tales” we built lots of castles with towers and turrets.
In Senior Infants we used our maths knowledge of 3D shapes to do some construction with blocks. In fact we love working as Engineers in school and do lots of construction work during Aistear using polydrons.
Engineers week classroom packs
Here we are in 2nd Class building bridges with the help of our Curiosity Boxes that our teacher got for Engineers Week. If you want a Curiosity Box you can follow this link! http://www.engineersweek.ie/curiosity-boxes/
3rd Class wanted to get involved with the Curiosity Box challenge so they had a go at designing, building and testing their own bridges.
Fifth Class didn't want to be left out either!!
We created our own designs before trying to build those designs in 3 dimensions with Lego.
Tinkercad
We experimented with Tinkercad, too, which is a 3D design tool very similar to the programme used by architects to create their designs!
Skype call with an engineer
We had a fantastic opportunity in 1st Class to Skype with inventor and engineer Dominic Wilcox.
Engineering 2017-2018
Wow! This year Esker really got into engineering, pupils, teachers and parents learnt so much and had a lot of fun doing it. Each year we work on engineering projects but this year we decided to go all out and have a BIG whole school Engineering Week just like we do with Space Week, Science Week and Maths Week. Engineers Week coincided with the "Beast from The East" but that didn't stop us having a wonderful Esker Engineers Festival to showcase all the amazing projects we worked so hard on.
Junior and senior infants love engineering. In Aistear we work as engineers. We build with polydrons, building blocks, stickle bricks, big blocks. We also love lego and and work on lego task cards. We have lots of fun when 6th class come to work with us. They help us look at our task cards, draw a plan, build and discuss our work. Thank you 6th class!
3rd Class Green really inspired other classes in the school, they introduced us to Caine's Arcade and inspired lots of classes to develop and create their own working arcade games for Engineers Week.
4th Class made lots of wonderful engineering projects this year. We really liked their air propelled cars! 4th Class also did lots of mini engineering investigations like the picture below testing how strong they could make a paper bridge.
Skyping an Engineer Our 6th Class group participated in a Skype call with Jason Whyte, a chemical and electrical engineer working at Pfizer in Grange Castle. Jason spoke to the children about the role of an engineer and the types of tasks he completes each day in Pfizer. He spoke about the importance of safety and quality control. The children then discussed the role of engineering in the future.
We hosted Eskers first ever Engineers Week Festival. 6th class took the lead on this one and you can see lots of photos and videos from our Esker Engineering Festival if you click on the STEM Showcase tab. It took lots of organisation. 6th class first had to learn all about engineering and what different engineers do. They used resources from the Engineers Week website and the DPSM website to do this. They then had to promote engineering in our school. They created posters to promote our event to other classes, teachers an parents. They made posters about what different engineers do and put them up around the school. They went to senior infants and had 5th class go to junior infants to work on a lego project for Engineering week and they encouraged everyone from 3rd to 6th to investigate and create something for the Esker Engineering Festival.
In 1st and 2nd class we learnt about engineering from the older classes. We worked on our own projects and we got to visit the Esker Engineering Festival. Our amazing 1st class pupils went out to investigate engineering in the local area. They did a trail around Lucan looking at different types of bridges, making sketches, taking notes and investigating how bridges work. What a lovely afternoon they had.
As part of Engineers week our very lucky 6th classes went to W5 in Belfast. W5 is an award winning science and engineering discovery centre. 6th class got to take part in roller coaster workshops with Seán. They learnt about the engineering behind roller coasters and had an opportunity to design and make their own. They were scored on Duration, Design and Danger! PS. We were able to do some bridge spotting on the drive to Belfast and went over a very impressive suspension bridge on the M1!