The WESBath networking event started with some keen speakers reflecting on their careers and how they have come into their roles. The speakers spoke about how a mentor has been essential to their success, having someone push you to achieve more than you thought you could achieve and supporting you when things do not go as planned. They also discussed their issues faced as a woman or a trans woman in the workplace and the strategies they employed to assert dominance in their managerial roles, and how quickly a team came to accept them. Many interesting questions were asked reflecting their struggles as mothers, gender percentage differences in managerial roles.
Atkins kindly sponsored a STEM competition; students were asked to design an educational toy or a classroom activity. I designed a toy aimed at the younger years to aid their maths skills. The concept was a toy duck named Lucy who asks maths questions, such as “What is 6 x 7?” and then allows the child time to work out the answer before telling them. This toy was designed to help children who thrive using auditory learning techniques.
To enhance the educational aspect of my design, it can be adapted to be a technology classroom activity as the circuit is quite basic. It could be made using breadboards, allowing the students to learn about resistors, chips, speakers, capacitors and other elementary circuit elements. I was very pleased that I was awarded the winning prize!
Joanna Hones, MEng (hons) Computer Systems Engineering (Final year)
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