Benefits

We’ve outlined the key benefits for students and teachers, engineers and funders. The benefits are collected from teachers, students and engineers who have taken part, through feedback forms and interviews for our evaluation reports.

Benefits for engineers

  • The most mentioned benefit is that taking part develops communication skills – “the best crash course in science communication”. 
  • Engineers can take part from their desk or lab. There’s no time wasted travelling and very little preparation is needed.
  • It’s an opportunity to understand what the public really think about engineering and engineers.
  • Engineers hone the way they talk about their work, using phrases they coined during I’m an Engineer years later.
  • Gives engineers the opportunity to talk to students about engineering as a career

“If you get any joy from explaining the world, or think you might have some aptitude for it, then don’t hesitate to apply! For the sake of a couple of weeks with a little extra work-load, the experience is an amazing one!” – Matt Maddock, Measurement Zone

“this has been the most rewarding outreach event I have been part of and would thoroughly recommend it to both engineers and teachers – it was a great pleasure to be part of it” – Martin Wallace, Health Zone

Benefits for students and teachers

I’m an Engineer brings real engineering to life for your students.

  • Students see that engineers are normal people
  • Students are introduced the wide range of careers within engineering – it’s not about spanners & hard hats.
  • Students get an introduction to a potential profession which is rarely taught as a subject in schools.
  • The students guide the event – they ask the questions and vote for the winning engineers.
  • Being online gives all students a voice“by far the best public engagement activity I have been involved in. The set up allows everyone to have their chance to ask questions, whether they are the loudest person in the class, or the quiet curious student”
  • Easy (and free!) for teachers to organise as it’s supported by a teacher pack & differentiated lesson plans.
  • Schools build partnerships with engineers who’ve taken part “the children love it and we have made so many great contacts” 

“[In] the initial part of the project, the students were asked what they thought engineering was and they all thought it was repairing cars. After taking part in the activities, they had a much wider concept of what engineering is about”

“The biggest plus for me was one of my pupils coming up to me three days later and saying ‘I’m going through my options sheets at the moment and I’m interested in engineering’ and you think ‘we’ve won one!’”

“I’d definitely enrol for next year. And we asked the students afterwards if they’d like to do it again if they had a chance and they all said yes”

Benefits for funders

We are looking for organisations to fund zones for their engineers to take part in. Events are run in March and June each year.

  • The event supports staff development – it develops skills, and also their motivation for communicating their work.
  • I’m an Engineer is a great way of reaching young people – is allows in-depth engagement with hundreds of young people, without the engineers even having to leave their desk.
  • It introduces the possibility of engineering as a career to hundreds of students who might never have thought about it before.
  • It’s a good way of foregrounding the great work your engineers are doing and results in positive PR.

Please get in touch if you’d like to know more! Email Antony or call 01225 326892 and we’ll be happy to help.