Co-designing workshops to get young people interested in STEM careers.

CLIENT: Prince’s Trust, MAKLab
PROJECT: Making it at MAKLab and Creative Enterprise
DURATION: 3 weeks

THE BRIEF
Prince’s Trust, generously funded by Will-i-Am, set out to get young people into employment, education or training in STEM. They required assistance developing a STEM programme.

We designed and delivered a series of hands-on STEM workshops. The aim was to immerse young people in the world of product design, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. This offered a fantastic opportunity for young people to get hands on with using the latest digital fabrication equipment.

The first workshop 'Making it at MAKLab' enabled participants with the skills to manufacture their own customised audio-amplifier-speaker-docking-systems from scratch whilst building up their understanding of product design methods and techniques. Successful participants then went on to the second programme 'Creative Enterprise' an opportunity to make their innovative ideas real.

It was great to see young people prototyping their ideas, developing branding, talking business models and producing websites all in the space of a week!

Constructing a docking station.

PRACTICAL MAKING SKILLS:

Experience in 3D printers laser cutters soldering electronics> carpentry circuit design engineering microcontrollers graphic design sculpture model making fine motor skills craft skills fundamental design principles

DESIGN AND INNOVATION:

Learning about product design principles rapid prototyping building a brand identity creating a website

BUSINESS & WORK SKILLS:

Communicating ideas creating elevator pitches fabrication cost analysis Team work and leadership skills building the courage and confidence to present ideas integrity self-control commitment and perseverance self-belief.

Insight & Reflection

Many fantastic and potentially viable ideas were generated during the workshop. Two young people, Morven and Morag, took forward their brilliant concept for a low cost water purification product for Africa and are now talking with lawyers to patent their idea.

Steven had no previous experience in electronics but he now has plans to further develop his ‘wearable tech’ mobile integrated rave glove. It was great seeing him rush out to buy his own soldering iron!

It was very moving to see the confidence boost the young people gained. We saw the group becoming much more self-motivated; they left with new aspirations some wishing to pursue education or employment in technology industries.

Researching a quad-copter concept.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“TO SEE THE TRANSFORMATION AND JOURNEY THAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE HAD ON THE PROGRAMME IS GREAT, IT’S AMAZING HOW MUCH THEY HAVE CHANGED AND GROWN AFTER JUST ONE WEEK.”

Richard Clifford, Studio Director of MAKLab.

“THE PRINCE’S TRUST HAS HELPED TO BROADEN MY HORIZONS AND PUSHED ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, I’D NEVER HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT RUNNING MY OWN BUSINESS WITHOUT THEIR HELP.”

Alan, Young unemployed programme participant.

Contact us now to talk about making your event happen

explore more options.

Getting acquainted with the CNC router.