What do you get when you cross 55 Year 10 students, two engineers and lots and lots of pieces of the constructional toy K’nex? You get a lot of fun, a little frustration and the annual Siemens Science Experience.

Tailored for students entering Year 10, the three-day science experience was held at CQU from Tuesday January 21 to Thursday January 23 and involved local as well as out of town students. The students were involved in various workshops and activities that introduced them to the world of science.

On their visit to the James Goldston Faculty of Engineering and Physical Systems, the students were given the task of constructing a bridge using a standard K’nex kit. The exercise involved the usual challenges of engineering: dealing with an apparently simple problem; working with limited resources; not having enough information about materials or behaviour; and not having enough time.

Engineering lecturer Dr Steve Senini said the exercise aimed to expose the students to the types of activities engineers do.

“It also emphasised one of the most important aspects of engineering - team work. Overall the activity was fun, challenging and allowed the students to experience an (almost) real world situation.” Using their K’nex kit, the student’s brief was to construct the longest bridge they could that would hold a 2kg load carried by a test vehicle. The competition was extremely fierce and turned into a battle of the boys versus the girls. A team of girls finally took out victory with an 875mm bridge (just 5mm better than the boys team).

Photo: Bridge building champions Elise Kooiman and Sallyanne Van Mol from Biloela State High School, Emma Shields from Rockhampton State High School and Rebecca Nobbs from Rockhampton Girls Grammar with their winning design.