Creating and maintaining an interest in Engineering in high schools through a Year 11 Engineering Report Competition
RIS ID
13647
Abstract
In 2000, the Board of Studies in New South Wales introduced the subject Engineering Studies Stage 6 in Year 11. One of the major emphases in the subject is the Engineering Report. With the aim of improving student interest in High Schools towards studies/careers in Engineering, the Illawarra/Sutherland Regional Group of Engineering Australia developed its High School Engineering Report Competition. The thrust of this Competition is to invite High Schools to submit for judging the best 2 Engineering Reports prepared by their students. These Reports are assessed by a Judging Panel of 6 Professional Engineers and a significant number of Prizes and Awards, all sponsored by external sponsors, are determined and presented at 2 prestigious Presentation Events.
The Illawarra/Sutherland Regional Group’s Competition has been so successful that from 2005 onwards the Competition will be extended into all of Engineers Australia Sydney Division Regions. This will mean that the vast majority of the average enrolment of 1,250 students in Engineering Studies Stage 6 in Year 11 will have the opportunity to enter the enhanced Competition.
The initial and ongoing success of the Illawarra/Sutherland Regional Group Competition will be highlighted in this paper. This success includes a significant increase in enrolments in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Wollongong and a phenomenal increase in sponsorship of the Competition.
Publication Details
Wheway, R. T., Spence, A. Yastreboff, M. (2005). Creating and maintaining an interest in Engineering in high schools through a Year 11 Engineering Report Competition. ASEE Global Colloquium of Engineering Education (pp. 1-10). Australia: Australasian Association for Engineering Education.