From bionic hands to Mars rovers - nothing is off limits for the talented Year 9 and 10 students taking part in this week’s national Science and Engineering Challenge.
The program, run by the University of Newcastle, has seen 1200 NSW students put through their paces at Homebush in Sydney.
Nishika Sharma and her team from Holy Spirit College in Lakemba were tasked with building a bionic hand using straws, pieces of string and a rubber glove.
“Basically you have to work out how to construct the hand and then how to be able to put it together so it’s able to pick things up,” the Year 10 Student told SBS World News.
The program is sponsored by the New South Wales government in partnership with Rotary and four universities.
Students are awarded points throughout the day based on their problem solving skills.
Year 10 student at Castle Hill High School, Steven Young says friendly competition keeps them motivated throughout the day.
“Oh yeah, we’ve got a lot of rival schools around here,” Mr Young said.
“We’re building a Mars rover for the challenge mission. We have to get it over rough terrain by building a suspension system out of rubber bands.”
Emmanuel Garley is already well versed in science, technology, engineering and maths - also known as STEM subjects.
“I'm doing chemistry and physics in Year 11 and 12 next year,” the Year 10 student at Holy Spirit College said.
“I'm hoping to study medicine [at university] when I graduate.”
Using simple objects like strings and rubber bands, these students are expanding their knowledge of challenging subjects like engineering and maths.
It's hoped they'll be encouraged to continue learning about these topics in the future.
“We go to a lot of regional and remote areas so we do try and reach not only a high multicultural area but also different genders,” team leader of the Science and Engineering Challenge and the University of Newcastle, Jessica Kearney said.
“This week we’ve seen more females than males which is fantastic.”
A state final will be held next week ahead of the national grand final to be held in Dubbo in November.
