The contest was fiercely alive during one of the more unusual events held at Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Casuarina campus.
Masses of eager to impress students from Moil and Jingili primary and Katherine School of the Air, made their way to CDU last week during EngQuest – a competition held as part of Engineers Australia’s 2006 Engineering Week.
“While it’s light years away from space shuttle design, the ingenuity and desire to win is just as passionate,” Bronwyn Russell, Engineers Australia, Northern Division, Director said.
“The amount of team work and communication that each group displayed was amazing, and it’s these traits we hope the children retain and build upon.”
While just happy to get out of the classroom, many of the teachers were appreciative of the opportunity to have their students participate in a project from start to finish and learn the traits of project management.
“As you can imagine the kids were over the moon with the results of their EngQuest projects and ideas are already floating for next year,” said Kate Hadow of Katherine School of the Air.
EnqQuest seeks to encourage primary and secondary student’s interest in engineering, science and technology through innovation and entrepreneurship.
EngQuest is a program of Engineers Australia and is supported by the Australian Government through a Science Connections Program Grant administered by the Department of Education, Science and Training.