Apprentices scoop top award for new invention
A TALENTED team of apprentices has been awarded a top prize for their development of a special tool to be used in additional needs schools.
Louis Kane and Darren McCaig, from car retailer Arnold Clark, created an interactive board to be used by teachers at Abercorn Secondary School as a resource to promote Science, Technology, Energy and Maths (STEM).
Taking five month to build using garage equipment, the invention has now secured Louis and Darren as winners of the 2018 Glasgow Apprenticeship Challenge.
Darren said: “I have really enjoyed being able to use my knowledge and the skills learned through my Engineering Apprenticeship with Arnold Clark.
“The challenge also gave me an opportunity to learn additional skills outside my apprenticeship.
“I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to participate and have really enjoyed my experience.”
The competition, co-ordinated by Developing the Young Workforce (DWY) Glasgow, which is hosted by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, challenged teams of apprentices from across the city to plan, coordinate and execute projects using the skills they developed through their apprenticeships.
The board contains visual clues which, once found, will unlock sections of a website also designed by the apprentice team.
Developed in close conjunction with Arnold Clark’s marketing team, the website teaches students about key Scottish figures in the history of STEM, such as James Watt and Alexander Graham Bell, and provides instructions for tasks including bicycle tyre repair and making a cup-andstring telephone.
The centrepiece of the project is a bike, which the team stripped and repainted with thermochronic paint.
This causes the bike to change colour when exposed to certain temperatures, so that students can see the effects of heating technology.
The bike is also connected to a watt-metre, so students’ pedalling can be converted to electricity and horsepower for measurement.