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A mixed group of 40 students aged 13-16 from four secondary schools across Greater Manchester took part in an immersive 2-day bootcamp at the Bright Building in Manchester Science Park. Without any prior experience, students competed in teams to design, programme, 3D print and assemble the best autonomous vehicle. During the challenge, they were mentored by professionals working in the automotive sector, who volunteered to pass on their knowledge, expertise, and careers insights.

The project was developed with industry insights from our partners and sponsors that are working to make autonomous vehicles a reality, from both technical and legislative perspectives. In the process, students learned about the different levels of autonomous driving as well as the types of enabling sensors and technologies. Ultimately, they applied their new knowledge by working with proximity and light sensors to give their vehicles autonomous capabilities.

While the winners, from Manchester Academy, received a trophy and took their creations back to school, the main prize was the experience itself in which students developed not only technical but social skills, resilience, and inspiration. According to Fahima:

“These past two days completely changed my perspective. I have started researching careers in 3D design because I can’t stop thinking about it!”

Immediate Impact

In terms of impact, students from Manchester Academy said that the experience motivated them to create a fundraiser to purchase a 3D printer. Their ambition is to use it to design and make prosthetics for people in need as well as to make products they can sell to raise further funds for the school.

All schools were able to improve their careers provision, particularly on Gatsby Benchmarks #4 (linking curriculum to careers) and #5 (encounters with employers and employees).

of students reported being
engaged or very engaged

of students said they were
inspired to learn more

of students felt motivated to
pursue careers in technology

Long-Term Impact

From ‘Intro 2 [Industry]’ to Curriculum

Subsequently, we mapped out the Autonomous Vehicle project to the OCR Engineering Design curriculum. This provided an opportunity to expand on the original bootcamp content and provide context about the industry value chain, its history, future, and careers, whilst expanding on subject specific knowledge.

This is just one out of a rich pool of engaging projects mapped to specifications for OCR Engineering Design, GCSE Science, Computing, Design & Technology, and Art. To learn more about our Curriculum offering 👇

Curriculum

To contact us about Intro 2 [Industry]
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Curriculum & CPD
Intro 2 Industry