Hands On Engineering

I was lucky enough to participate at Melbourne University’s hands on engineering program last year.  This was not only a memorable and fun event for me, but also gave me the chance to meet other like minded students from different schools who had all gathered because of their interest in engineering.

The day started of with a bridge building contest, members from different schools were placed together in groups of 5 to create a bridge that could hold 10 kilograms. Our group started by brain storming possible ideas for our bridge and then moved on to discuss key points to consider when building our bridge- such as pressure on each panel of the bridge. We then started to construct our bridge and divided ourselves into subdivisions each specialising in making one part of the bridge. Not only did this allow us to make the bridge faster, but also gave us the chance to concentrate on our task. After construction it was time to see how much our bridge could hold. We watched in anticipation as the judges placed different weights on each bridge, and laughed in our heads as the bridges of other groups crumbled. Although my group didn’t win, our bridge was able to hold 7kg and came 3rd.

The next part of the day was perhaps the most funnest. We once again got into groups and were told to look for samples of items that we would like to view under a microscope. Each group went all around Melbourne University and collected interesting items to view under a microscope. This expedition to find items gave us a chance to explore the huge campus of Melbourne University and allowed us to appreciate the architecture of the buildings. After finding substances each group were given a small box. We then realised that we’ld have make our own microscope using the box. Our group rapidly attempted to create the microscope, although our first few attempts were a fail we were finally able to create it on our 4th trial. We then admired the beauty of our samples. This gave us a chance to appreciate our surroundings and to realise how much detail everything around us had.

The final part of the day was related to software engineering. Each group were now given a computer with a 3D design program. We were each told to create designs for a flower and judged for the beauty of our work.  At the start we thought this was an easy task however, we soon realised that we were to use the program with no instructions. It took as a while to learn the program and then we started designing our flower. It was at this activity we all realised how powerful team work was, as each members of each group were able to unite to achieve the common goal of learning to use the program.

Overall the hands on engineering program was a really enjoyable experience. Not only did I it give us an opportunity to meet other likeminded students, but also gave us the chance to learn some critical engineering skills. I would highly recommend it to anyone- whether your interested in engineering or not as it is a really fun and interesting program.

Rohhan