This week, our lucky fifth and sixth class students took part in an engineering workshop presented by Criodán Ó Murchu. Criodán works with 'Midlands Science' which is a company based in Tullamore, Co Offaly. They work with people of all ages, discussing issues of scientific interest and encouraging young people to consider a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
Criodán spoke to the children about the many different types of engineering - computer, electrical, environmental, civil and bio-medical to name but a few. He then tasked the children with building a tower made only from straws and sellotape. Each group were given 16 straws and had 10 minutes to build the tower.
Afterwards, they were given lollipop sticks, a small wooden spoon and some elastic bands. Criodán showed the children how to make a catapult. Needless to say there was quite a lot of fun when the catapults were made.
Thankfully, only rolled up pieces of paper or tissue were used because those catapults were very
