Mairangi Bay School Year 5 and 6 students came joint 6th with 250 points in this year’s EPro8 Challenge competition. Just 60 points behind first place tied winners, Browns Bay and Devonport Primary schools, the result was a great achievement.
The EPro8 Challenge is an inter-school science and engineering competition held in early September, attracting more than 25,000 students nationwide, competing first within their schools and then onto inter-school competitions. These STEAM events are designed
to promote science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics through collaborative problem-solving.
This year, Mairangi Bay School had the honour to host 48 teams of four drawn from over 25 school teams across Auckland.
Activities include such challenges as storm-proofing a dog kennel. The task
is to build a kennel that can withstand floods, rain, and hurricane-force winds. It will have a flood level alarm and a drawbridge that will automatically
close when it is flooding outside. This challenge teaches structures, bracing, measurement, leverage and electronics.
Another task was to construct a full-size pinball machine, complete with launching mechanism, paddles, obstacles, and scoring, which teaches mechanisms, experimentation, problem-solving and electronics.
Other challenges involved helicopters, secret agents, robotic dogs, burglar alarms and even perfecting a Royal Wave.
The EPro8 Challenge is organised by
a small team passionate about science and engineering. Having run over 1000 EPro8 Challenge events throughout New Zealand, the EPro8 Challenge continues to grow and improve.
Further details can be found at www.epro8challenge.co.nz
