Bumper entries for this year’s 3M Young Innovators Challenge

THERE have been a bumper number of entries for this year’s 3M Young Innovators Challenge

The annual competition, for pupils and students at schools and colleges throughout the Loughborough Echo circulation area, has been going since 2013.

And this year a total of 32 schools, (26 primary and eight secondary) have entered.

The Young Innovators Challenge was devised by the science-based technology company 3M with the aim of inspiring the next generation of original thinkers and supporting the STEM curriculum of science, technology, engineering and maths.

It is supported by the Loughborough Echo, the Loughborough Learning Alliance and the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) College in Loughborough.

Julie Owen of 3M told the Echo: “We are delighted with the huge response to our two new engineering-based challenges created to mark the government-led initiative designating 2018 as the UK Year of Engineering.

“These challenges are all about developing interest in engineering at an early age and making it fun.”

The Cargo Carrier Challenge tasks primary school pupils with designing and building a floating vessel that can hold up to 5kg of cargo while minimising the weight of construction.

There will be more than 40 floating vessels competing to win this challenge, with intriguing names like Thunder Flash, Super Squide and Floaty McBoaty.

The Slo-Mo Marble Challenge to design a marble run that maximises the time taken by a standard glass ball to roll from the top to the bottom. Primary school pupils will have been busy over the last few weeks investigating material properties, friction and gradient in the design of their run.

The challenge will be contested by more than 50 entrants, with creative team and project names such as: The Blue Whales team from St Bartholomew’s School C of E Primary School in Quorn with their marble run appropriately named The Whale Track …. and Thorpe Acre Junior School’s team named: We’ve Lost Our Marbles with their Magic Marble Run.

The judges for the challenges are all looking forward to an exciting competition.