Category List – Page 5 – About I'm an Engineer

What Mark Greaves did with his prize money

Mark won the Cities Zone in June 2014. We asked him to tell us what he’s got up to with his £500 prize and this is what he said… I’m an Engineer — What a brilliant experience! It started as a bit of fun with the added benefit of speaking to a wide audience of young people. As the two weeks went on, I began thinking more about the skills required to be an engineer and it struck me… Communication skills are of the utmost importance! I had never thought of that before I had done I’m an Engineer. It’s great to see more and more I’m an Engineer events being run, the regular updates and twitter feed do genuinely bring a smile to my face 🙂 I wanted to use the prize money to design and build a demonstration rig which exhibits some aspects of mechanical engineering in the water industry. The … Continue reading →

Posted on August 12, 2015 by ModShane in Winner Reports | Comments Off

How does I’m an Engineer affect students understanding of engineering?

We know that I’m an Engineer gets students interested in engineering and inspired to become engineers themselves. However, one of the key objectives of the project is to smash engineering stereotypes; that the students learn that engineering is not just about car mechanism, spanners and hard hats. Measuring the students’ change in understanding of engineering has been difficult: closed questions tend not to work when assessing this, as they can be very leading. We decided to ask students to evaluate their own learning. Of course, this has its own limitations, but so far it is the best method we have found. We asked students for their degree of agreement on whether since taking part in I’m an Engineer, they know more about different aspects of being an engineer. Responses from 131 students told us that taking part in I’m an Engineer helps them to improve their understanding of what engineering is and what … Continue reading →

Posted on July 28, 2015 by ModShane in Evaluation, News | Comments Off

“You all helped remind me what an amazing field I work in”

After each event we ask the winning engineers to write a short blog that is sent to everyone who took part in their zone. It’s a chance for them to reflect on their I’m an Engineer experience and thank the students for their questions and votes. Here is what the winners from June had to say… Lizzie, Artificial Body Zone It was great meeting you through the chats and answering your questions. So many of you asked really good and insightful questions that really made me think. You all helped remind me what an amazing field I work in and have encouraged me to continue doing my research and future outreach. You have inspired me and I hope I have inspired some of you – both boys and girls to study engineering. Lee, Energy Zone I am delighted to have won an amazing competition. I was really impressed how the students had the confidence … Continue reading →

Posted on July 27, 2015 by ModShane in Engineer Quotes, Event News, News, Quotes | Comments Off

How does I’m an Engineer affect students’ attitudes to engineering?

We know I’m an Engineer has a positive effect on students. Teachers tell us their classes “got fired up about engineering”, some students “chipped a nail typing to the engineers” and others admit they “didn’t even know that was a job, how cool!!” Anecdotes are fine, but as evaluation geeks we want numbers too. We asked students if they think engineers had an interesting job, and whether they’d like to work as engineers in the future, before and after taking part in I’m an Engineer. We gave them a choice of 5 options – from the very positive to the very negative, with a middle neutral one – to reply. 76 students filled in both the pre-event and post-event surveys. Students have a good perception of engineering, and I’m an Engineer improves it The majority of the students thought engineers had a “very” or “fairly interesting” job, and none of them thought it … Continue reading →

Posted on June 29, 2015 by ModShane in Evaluation, News | Comments Off

What Graham Wiggins did with his prize money…

Graham won the Apprentice Zone in June 2014. Here he tells us how he decided to use his £500 prize money as donations to outreach programmes … I know what you are thinking…. “ why choose a donation, and why those recipients? “ I hope the next 229 words will explain my thoughts. Having read the guidance notes for the event, I needed to get as much effect for the cash as I could, while providing a traceable paper trail at the same time. This favoured a donation, but to whom? I decided to split the cash into 3 unequal parts, £200 to WISE, £200 to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, and £100 to Science Oxford. WISE spent their cash on their Create Your Future project which is a series of workshops around the country to encourage more girls to consider STEM careers and, in particular, apprenticeships. The cash for Vulcan to the Sky went on their public engagement and … Continue reading →

Posted on June 3, 2015 by ModShane in News, STFCWinner, Winner Reports | Comments Off

What Andy Hearn did with his money…..

Andy won the High Performance Zone in 2012. We asked him to write us a brief report about how he used his £500. Here’s what he said: Raspberry Pis were my pledge should I win my I’m an Engineer zone. Back then they were only just emerging into the public consciousness. Now, as I write, these diminutive single board computers have long since made a big name for themselves. The prize money had to be put aside until the one Pi per customer limitation was lifted, so there was a Christmassy feel in the summer when the large package arrived. Two were dispatched to the schools that I interacted with over the two weeks of I’m an Engineer (hey schools, I’d love to hear back from you Re: the fate of these Raspberry Pis, whether they were put to good use or otherwise!), sticking with my promise to donate them – just because the … Continue reading →

Posted on February 18, 2015 by ModShane in News, Winner Reports | Comments Off

Food Engineers, the Prime Minister, and Women in Engineering

Danielle Epstein was the runner up in this June’s I’m an Engineer Food Zone. During the event, on National Women in Engineering Day she spoke with the Prime Minister about how to get more women into engineering by challenging stereotypes, and using I’m an Engineer as a way to help young people relate to engineers. Danielle wrote about her experience. On Monday 23rd June both the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne visited Coca-Cola Enterprises Wakefield facility, Europe’s largest soft drinks production plant. As part of this visit I was given the fantastic opportunity to meet them and speak to them about my first 10 months at CCE on the supply chain graduate scheme. As part of my discussion with them I brought up the fact that it was National Women in Engineering Day and how timely his visit was to raise the profile of this important … Continue reading →

Posted on July 9, 2014 by ModShane in News | Comments Off

What criteria do students judge engineers on?

When students take part in I’m an Engineer they get to vote for their favourite engineer to win £500 to spend on communicating more engineering. It gives them ownership of the project and they decide who gets, in effect, a small grant for public engagement. But what are students’ votes based on? This is how 109 students (or groups of students) have ranked certain criteria from most to least important when considering how to vote for engineers, since January 2012. The results come from a Drag & Drop ranking activity in the first lesson plan “You’re the Judges” that teachers run to introduce their students to I’m an Engineer. The top ranked criteria are linked to society, with engineering being used for good: saving lives, safety & reducing environmental impact. There are also insights into how students might perceive engineers and engineering companies. Reassuringly, the more superficial criteria lurk at the bottom of … Continue reading →

Posted on July 2, 2014 by ModShane in News | Comments Off

Engineer case study: Nicola Lazenby

The application for an Ingenious Award (funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering) asks for an example case study of an engineer’s public engagement journey after taking part in the project. Since I’m an Engineer started in 2012 we’ve had 40 engineers take part, many at different stages of their public engagement journey. Here’s Nicola Lazenby’s case study from our application: Nicola is a PhD student looking at how foundations can be used to produce renewable heat and energy from the ground. She won the Environment Zone in March 2013. Before taking part in I’m an Engineer she already had an interest in outreach, being involved with Engineers without Borders, a Student Ambassador at University and working with young people summer schools and taster days. She “wasn’t new to engagement, but not exactly an experienced professional”. Taking part in I’m an Engineer changed the way Nicola communicates. She now thinks a … Continue reading →

Posted on May 8, 2014 by ModShane in News | Comments Off

Ingenious evaluation surgery

On Monday, Rosie and I went to an evaluation surgery organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAENG) in Bristol. It was an afternoon workshop lead by Ben Gammon, which purpose was to help us evaluate projects awarded with Ingenious Grants, by completing an evaluation plan. Ben shared with us his 5 key points in evaluation: What do you need to find out? Is data going to be useful? Will it actually help you to change something? Consider the time and money that doing getting that data would take Choose an effective method to gather the data How are you going to disseminate the data? He also gave us very great advice on does and don’ts when designing a survey. As we are survey fanatics we took great attention to these. Here are some of them: Always avoid “and” in any survey questions, as you would be asking two different … Continue reading →

Posted on May 1, 2014 by ModShane in News | Comments Off

What can you do?

I want to take part with my class ❯

I want to take part as an engineer ❯

I want to find out about funding I’m an Engineer ❯

What is I’m an Engineer?

I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here is an online activity where school students get to meet and interact with engineers.

It’s a competition between engineers, where the students are the judges.

Students challenge the engineers over intense, fast-paced, online live Chats. Then they Ask the engineers all the questions they want to, and Vote for their favourite scientist to win a prize of £500 to communicate their work with the public.

Follow @IAEGMOOH