News

What James Vokes did with his prize money…

James won the I’m an Engineer Transport Zone in March 2012. Here’s how he spent his prize money… Despite destroying the first prize cheque I was given (by “testing” whether a cheque can survive a full washing machine cycle). I was extremely happy to win. My goal with the prize money was to try introduce and enthuse more people to Software Engineering. Fortunately at the same time a British charity Raspberry Pi Foundation was planning to release a new ultra cheap computer with their goal that it be used to “promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing”. So I used the prize money to buy some of these Raspberry Pi’s and the kit associated with them and plan to introduce them to pupils at tech fairs and hopefully in the future as part of a … Continue reading →

Posted on November 28, 2012 by ModShane in News, Winner Reports | Comments Off

Evaluating I’m a Engineer

In March 2012 we ran I’m an Engineer for the first time. We’ve had engineers take part in the sister I’m a Scientist event so running a version specifically for engineers was an obvious move. Before the event started we had some unknowns, despite considering ourselves well versed in running online engagement events. Would engineers want to take part? Would we be able to recruit Maths and D&T teachers? What questions would students ask? When it came to evaluation time these were some of the key questions to answer. We’ve collected feedback from teachers, students and engineers. We’ve used their responses and data from the site to evaluate the event, and have written up our findings in the report below. I’m an Engineer evaluation report Here’s a summary of what we found: Did engineers want to take part? Yes. By the end of the first three months we had over … Continue reading →

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ModShane in Evaluation, News | Comments Off

Putting the E Word into Engagement

A thought as I leave: there’s more difference between PR and PE than between science and engineering #eword — Steve Cross (@steve_x) October 25, 2012 The Royal Academy of Engineering hosted a day on October 25th about Engineering (the E word) Engagement. It was a very interesting day which left me with many challenges and thoughts. Just what you want from a seminar. The programme for the day consisted of two panel sessions in the morning, followed by an open session. After that we were treated to a series of 5 minutes briefings on past Ingenious projects and Mark Miodownik’s History of Engineering. I’m going to focus on the first three sessions: Is engineering engagement different from science engagement? Where are all the engineers? Open session: How do we tell what good engagement is? Is engineering engagement different from science engagement? There was a lot of crossover between the first … Continue reading →

Posted on November 2, 2012 by ModShane in News, Project News | Comments Off

What Chris Hill did with his prize money…

Chris won the Water Zone in I’m an Engineer back in March. We asked Chris Hill to write a brief report on what he’s done with his prize money. Here’s what he said.. I passed the cheque for £500 to OWL bikes and they were delighted. The work they do there is fantastic and passes on real, hands-on engineering skills to young people who may otherwise be overlooked by society and never given this opportunity. I am a huge supporter of this charity and have given lots of money and volunteer time to it over the years since it started. OWL Bikes provides vocational training for disabled and disadvantaged people by recycling and refurbishing unwanted bikes to sell to the public at reasonable prices. I met the three young people in the photos and their dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination has improved massively over the few weeks they have been involved … Continue reading →

Posted on October 30, 2012 by ModShane in News, Winner Reports | Comments Off

How do we visualise Engineering?

Hi I’m Gareth. I’ve designed the ‘I’m a Scientist’ and the ‘I’m an Engineer’ (so far) websites. On ‘I’m an Engineer’ we’ve got the basic design and colour ways in place but what we’re missing is the icons and graphics that make the site seem much more relevant to engineering. I’m a designer not an engineer so I’m looking for some suggestions from the engineering community about what things sum up or represent engineering to you. With I’m a Scientist we choose a conical flask and Van der Graaf generator symbols amongst others. Each zone also has a logo and you can see the most recent ones on the I’m a Scientist home page. What are the equivalents for engineering? Please don’t send designs I’m just looking to pick your brains and gather your comments on what sums up engineering for you. If you can help please leave a comment … Continue reading →

Posted on November 29, 2011 by ModShane in News, Project News | Comments Off

I’m an Engineer – The Plan

We can only run these events through co-operation with the Teaching and Engineering communities. That’s why we want to share our plan of action in the run up to the first set of events in March 2012. The plan is not comprehensive so please ask any questions in the comments section and we’ll try to answer them in future news posts. The action plan breaks down into five main sections: Planning, Recruitment, Event, Evaluation, Sustainability. Planning – October/November 1. Zone Selection The first thing we need to do is define the event. We will be running six zones in March. All will be themed. That means the engineers in those zones will need to have some connection to the theme. For example in the Transport Zone we could have engineers building oil pipelines, marine engineers in shipbuilding, or software engineers working on flight systems. It’s fairly general. A nuclear power … Continue reading →

Posted on October 6, 2011 by ModShane in News, Project 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