Making Human Engineering Real - Using bioengineering to inspire and engage young people

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This project will build on experiences communicating research at the Celebration of UK Engineering event. Young people (14-18 year olds) will be targeted in the proposed project, activities will be developed to promote the medical applications of engineering and encourage wider participation in science and engineering disciplines at university level.The reduction in application rates for engineering degrees continues to be a cause for concern, engaging young people is seen as critical to reverse this trend. We are proposing to develop interactive experiments and accompanying workshops to engage, inspire and motivate young people. The interactives will be a common theme throughout the project; these include a demonstration of the forces acting through the hip, and experiments looking as the friction and wear of different materials. The associated workshop activities will vary dependent on the age group to address different learning outcomes.14-16 year olds, the interactives created will be used in workshops, which will be designed to link into the learning outcomes of key stage 4 of the national curriculum. Workshops will be held in the University and researchers will be able to take them out to schools/youth groups. The availability of workshops will be promoted though the SetNet network. Additionally, the iMBE has an exhibition at the Thackray Museum (Leeds), targeting this age group, school groups visiting the exhibition will be given details of the workshops to use as a follow up activity.16-18 year olds will be targeted, with an emphasis placed on undergraduate recruitment. These students will be contacted through university admissions. Taster days will be used to replace more traditional open days. The interactives created in the project will be used for small groups to solve bioengineering problems, with links to the undergraduate medical engineering course highlighted.Interactives and workshops will be designed and written in collaboration with science educators and communicators. Full evaluation following activities will be undertaken.