As part of British Science Week, Year 5 of Hugh Gaitskell Primary School have been set an engineering challenge by staff from the neighbouring DePuy Synthes factory.
Four graduates from DePuy, assisted by a skeleton called Boris, gave the pupils a full briefing this morning (Monday 12 March 2018). They explained how they make products for the medical profession to help fix broken bones and joints and set the children the following challenge:
“Design a new device to fix a broken bone.”
The pupils will work in small groups each afternoon this week and present their finished project on Friday morning. Staff from DePuy will be popping in through the week to help the children.
The DePuy staff discussed the qualities that a good engineer needs: science and maths skills, inventiveness, team working, problem solving and resilience when things don’t work. They also looked at why we have bones watched a video showing some of the ways bone breaks can be fixed these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPRddQcfD9s
Finally the pupils were told how their projects will be judged. The mended bones will be tested by pushing them from both ends, by pulling apart and by twisting. The teams must also draw a poster which includes their team name, their design, the materials and costs, the advantages and disadvantages of the design and any special features.
South Leeds Life will be back on Friday to find out how our Year 5 Engineers get on.
