Arup ran “Engineer for a Day” where kids and their parents learned about the Engineering design process by designing, building and reflecting on a design of something that they would like to see in their city.

Arup were invited by Cairns Regional Council to participate in the Cairn’s Children’s Festival on 15th May 2016. Arup’s exhibition was located in Tank 4- the Tinkering Tank at the Cairn’s botanic gardens. Building on a similar exercise run for the World Science Festival in Brisbane the Arup team had 5 activity stations in their exhibition:

• Brainstorm – Writing in the activity books that were provided, kids were asked to brainstorm ideas of things that they thought were missing in Cairn’s;
• Design- With their idea developed in Round 1 design details were drawn into a plan utilising available materials.
• Building – Children and parents got to create their model using cups, paddle pop sticks, straws, blue tac, tape, string and other building materials.
• The final model was photographed with the child and stuck to the wall.
• For the final exercise children were asked to reflect on their final product to think about what worked well and what they would do differently in the future.

The project introduced thousands of children to the engineering process, not only inspiring them to become engineers but also allowing them to work with their parents to design and create something they would like to see in their community. Most of all the process made the children slow down and think about the design before they launched into building. There were many children that returned to do another project later in the day and the stand was still busy half an hour after closing as people wanted to complete their projects.

The project introduced thousands of children to the engineering process, not only inspiring them to become engineers but also allowing them to work with their parents to design and create something they would like to see in their community. Most of all the process made the children slow down and think about the design before they launched into building. There were many children that returned to do another project later in the day and the stand was still busy half an hour after closing as people wanted to complete their projects.

The project saw us expose many young people to the idea of becoming an engineer. The stall also gave Arup the opportunity to introduce Arup to many people that were not familiar with the brand as well as reintroduce ourselves to people who already knew about the firm.

The project saw us expose many young people to the idea of becoming an engineer. The stall also gave Arup the opportunity to introduce Arup to many people that were not familiar with the brand as well as reintroduce ourselves to people who already knew about the firm.

We managed to introduce thousands of children to the engineering process and work with their parents to create something they would like to see in Cairns. It was great to see so many children stop and think through the engineering process. Anne Kovachevich (Foresight Leader, Arup), Brisbane

We’re so grateful for the generosity and enthusiasm shown by everyone who took part in Tinkering Tank, it really helped make the event a success. Chris Stannard (Cairn’s Regional Council, Curator), Brisbane