‘Bring Your Daughter to Work’ event takes flight
Robotics and AI Social responsibility 2nd May 2017
The labs at MACE were buzzing with excitement on Wednesday 26th April, as girls aged nine to 15 turned their hand to landing an Airbus, flying drones, programming robots and building a skyscraper.
This was MACE’s first Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, inspired by the WISE Campaign for gender balance in science, technology and engineering, and it was open to the daughters of all staff members in MACE. The aim of the day was to get girls interested in STEM subjects and encourage them to choose these at A level and beyond.
The event marks a commitment from the MACE Social Responsibility team to reach out to local communities and help them deliver a ‘call to action’ for future engineers from underrepresented groups. The world needs engineers more than ever, and with girls representing barely 9% of engineering professionals, it’s time we do what we can to change this.
“Isn’t engineering just fixing cars?”
The first question of the day from one of the pupils, “isn’t it just about fixing cars?”, reflected the problem of just how narrowly engineering is perceived . But before too long, the pupils were discussing how exactly engineering could address global challenges related to water and food supply, and the level of enthusiasm on show was inspiring.
Such was the success of the event, the organisers hope it can be rolled out across all of the Faculty’s schools next year. Organiser Rachael Ashworth said: “It’s been found that children of primary school age – like the girls attending today – are at the best age to get them involved and thinking about science.
“Hopefully, with this foundation, it can be an interest they have for life.”
“Fun and engaging”
The day kicked off with a challenge: build a structure from paper that can support the weight of several stacks of printer paper. The results were impressive, with one creation even supporting the weight of a brave volunteer! But in the end, victory belonged to Team Fat Fish, who constructed a near-solid cylinder of paper tubes.
Next, there was a chance for the attendees to meet a panel of MACE lecturers and graduates – and to ask them anything. Technician Natalie Parish said her daughter had been “thrilled” at the opportunity to come and see where her mum worked. She added that the chance to visit real, working labs was “fun and engaging” for kids, and that the graduates and lecturers the pupils met had inspired them.
“I didn’t get into engineering until I was 25. I actually did an English degree and it wasn’t for me. If someone had told me what engineering involves and how exciting it is, I would have done it [from the start],” Natalie revealed.
Rising to the challenge
After lunch, the group was split into teams and set out to take on more challenges. The first was to build a tower from spaghetti, string and sticky tape that held a marshmallow at the top – tallest wins. Svetlana Kuimova, who organised the challenge, said: “It takes a while to get going, but as soon as you say ‘two minutes’, it’s amazing what they can make!”
The teams we saw put in a gallant effort, but in the end both towers bowed under the weight of the sweet. Luckily, the teams got to split the marshmallows afterwards, which certainly eased any hard feelings.
Next up were the Lego robots. The teams had to program the vehicles before driving them around a Mars-like landscape (okay, polystyrene rocks and hills on the floor of a computer science lab). Everyone got a go at the controls, although it took quite a while to get the hang of it. At least these would-be engineers had the chance to quickly correct their mistakes. If they were controlling a real Mars rover, they’d have to wait eight minutes between each instruction – the length of time it takes a signal to travel to the planet from Earth.
From rovers to drones, and a challenge led by undergraduate Anna Urquhart. When asked who wanted to have the first go flying, every hand in the room shot up. And while it wasn’t long before a drone was flown straight into the ceiling, the pupils mostly showed amazing control. After taking the drones for a spin, the girls got down to the challenge – to modify the drones so they could knock over a pile of cans. And it was harder than it looked – they had to use everything they were given and ensure that not only could the drone take off with the additional weight, but also that it maintained its balance.
Finally, the pupils took to MACE’s flight simulators. Working in pairs, the girls had to either take off or land an Airbus A320. Kyra, one of the pupils taking part, said: “My favourite bit of the day was going in the flight simulator. It was really fun, even if I did crash.”
Her teammate Lucy added: “I really loved going on the flight simulator because it was really nerve-wracking but really fun – it felt just like flying a plane.”
Encouraging girls to consider A levels, a degree and, eventually, a career in STEM is a key part of WISE. Analysis conducted as part of the campaign reveals that just one-third of girls who take maths and science at GCSE go on to take a Level 3 core STEM qualification, compared to 80% of boys. Encouraging more girls to pursue a STEM qualification in higher education could go some way to making up the UK’s annual STEM worker shortfall.
The University of Manchester is also committed to encouraging and promoting women in STEM. Last year, we launched our Women of Wonder campaign, which you can learn more about here.
Words – Hayley Cox | Images – Enna Bartlett
