The TeenTech experience is a highly interactive event designed to inspire young people aged between 12 and 13 years old and their teachers about how Science, Engineering and Technology is used in the business world. The event targets students before they make their GCSE subject choices, with the aim of dispelling gender stereotypes and shifting perceptions of careers teenagers may have considered "difficult", "geeky" or "boring".
Students from 26 schools from Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset took part and 24 companies, mostly local, participated such as Airbus, Rolls Royce, Dyson, JVC, NCC, Active Robots and National Grid. The event also profiled work from Bath and Bristol universities.
Students at the event met with experts from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) companies and played with cutting edge tech with the aim show how technical careers are exciting. They also discovered first-hand the meaning of flight by testing the performance of aircraft parts in a wind tunnel and by flying their own model planes, controlled the movements of a Humanoid Robot and learnt about programming. Alongside this, students designed their own motors from the use of basic materials and built electronic guitars.
At the end of the day there was a positive change in student’s perspectives of STEM subjects and careers. To begin with, 56% children said they technology careers are interesting, clever and well paid, and only 16% were keen on becoming a scientist. After experiencing a day at TeenTech, the number of possible scientists more than doubled to 35% and the number of students that thought the people they met on the day were interesting, clever and well paid increased to three quarters of the room.
Maggie Philbin, the co-founder of TeenTech and presenter of Bang Goes the Theory, said;
“Today technical businesses have shared the excitement of their work right within the heart of science and technology. TeenTech has let the students see the real, intriguing side of what a career within STEM can do, in the hope that it will dispel the boring attitudes assigned to scientists and engineers and to reveal the opportunities that are accessible to them.”
Neil Scott, Vice President of Airbus Engineering in the UK, said;
“This event has let young people see for themselves what job they could be doing in a few years’ time by giving them hands-on activities that test their knowledge, showing them the latest technology and letting them grill industry experts on what they do. This is a vitally important project for Airbus because we need to motivate the next generation of engineers to design the aircraft of the future.”