Change The World With an Egg Box!

We were delighted to join Year 3 at Pocklington Prep School this month to run our ‘Change The World with an Egg Box’ workshop linked to their spring term topic ‘Who cares about the environment?’  A perfect session to explore the role and responsibilities we all have in looking after our environment, climate change, and recycling.

We have an impact on our planet with the actions we take every day, and the workshop began with a discussion around the little steps we already take to change the world when we get dressed, brush our teeth, eat breakfast and travel to school. Where do our clothes come from? Did we turn the lights off when we left the house? Do we turn the tap off when we brush our teeth? Where does our food come from? Did we walk to school?

We were impressed with the thoughtful responses from the children when asked to consider why switching off or walking to school makes a difference to our planet. They were able to draw on previous knowledge to discuss greenhouse gas emissions, power, plastic pollution, recycling, and waste. Having recently completed a litter pick and an environmental survey of their school grounds, litter was something they had strong feelings about.

Year 3 at Pocklington Prep were then presented with a challenge: They had to create a machine to counteract one of the problems we’d discussed. Working in teams the students planned their original designs, thinking about what the machine would do, and what materials they would need to make it. Once their design sketches were ready, they began making, using a range of recycled rubbish to engineer a solution to change the world. A real lesson in problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork.

A room full of scientists set to work and accomplished inspiring feats of engineering. Each group then presented their model to their classmates – describing how it was made, what it could do, and how it would work to change the world. Group 1 created The Litter Motor – as you drive around the town, the bike picks up litter and then creates something new. Reusing and recycling!

Group 2 invented The Litter Hoover 2000 – A portable machine for anyone to collect rubbish and recreate from waste. It reduces the amount going to landfill and stops them getting full.

Group 3 designed BobRose the Robot – picks up litter and converts it into a NEW BobRose! Meaning there are litter picking robots all over the world, whilst Group 4 engineered The Friendly Solar Generated Big Boat – shaped like a crocodile it floats around the sea with a tank to collect rubbish. It has an emergency light and warning if animals are collected by mistake. It mixes up the rubbish, squashes it down to make new things.

Group 5 tackled a different problem, wanting to reduce the amount of power we use, they invented The MOBO ROBO – The lights off Robot. It patrols places and when people forget to turn the lights off it does it instead! The MOBO ROBO has a complicated control panel with wires and buttons, making it possible to solve many problems. And Group 6 wanted to combat pollution in the ocean with the Picker  5000 – The remote controlled litter picker floats across the Atlantic Ocean with lots of tubes to suck up the litter into different bins, clearing the oceans of rubbish.

“Engaging and relevant the workshop gave our school excellent opportunity to embed and extend pupils knowledge and understanding of how they can protect our planet as individuals. The passion and subject knowledge from fairandfunky shone through and the children’s motivation in building their ‘machines’ using recycled materials was testament to how well pitched the session was.” Year 3 class teacher.

Well done to all the Year 3 children at Pocklington Prep School for taking your own little steps to change the world. With a class full of future engineers who care about the environment we know the world is in good hands.