FFEI ARE VERY PLEASED TO BE SPONSORING THIS YEAR’S ROTARY TECHNOLOGY TOURNAMENT
Organised by Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted Rotary clubs FFEI look forward to sponsoring their 6th event
The Technology Tournament is an enjoyable day where secondary school students from local schools can demonstrate their practical and team building skills as well as their design and technology knowledge. Students, in teams of four, compete in three age sectors to devise and build a solution to a technical challenge that they are set on the day – it could be to make a money-sorting machine or design a small vehicle to remove debris from a bridge – all within a set time.
Participants are given basic materials such a wood, paper, small electric motors, elastic bands to accomplish the task in around 4 hours. When it is time to down tools they must then demonstrate their construction to the judges.
Tunnel drilling solutions being judged at the Hemel Hempstead & Berkhamsted Rotary Technology Tournament 2017
Marks are awarded on their success and also a written report that they develop during the project, describing how they approached the task, how the team decided on their design and details of how they built it. Certificates are presented to the top three winning teams in each age sector.
Very happy award winners being presented with their shield and certificates
It’s a great test of their knowledge, ingenuity, innovation, application, manual and team building skills. The team members must communicate with each other effectively, keep organised and focused on the task in hand, and be able to show the stages of development of their task solution in a design portfolio. The day culminates in the testing session when teams demonstrate their best solution to the task and can observe the efforts of competing teams.
As well as sponsoring the event FFEI staff will also be judging the final solutions. Andy Cook, Managing Director of FFEI commented, “With a shortage in skilled workers in the fields of science and technology, there is a real need to spark a greater interest in STEM subjects (science, technology engineering and maths) in younger people.” Cook continued “The Rotary Technology Tournament, organised by Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted Rotary clubs, is a fantastic event which really helps nurture the creative minds of budding young engineers and scientists. The student teams really get passionate about developing their winning solutions. This is the 6th time we have sponsored the event, and it’s always a pleasure to be involved. I’d like to thank all the Rotarians for doing such a fantastic job organising this wonderful event!”
Very much looking forward to meeting the winners of the 2018 event
This year’s Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted Technology Tournament will take place on Thursday 15th March at Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted.
Technology Tournaments are accredited by The British Science Association so that every participant successfully completing the TT day can apply for a CREST Discovery Award.
