Teams taking part in this year’s Go4SET scheme in the East Midlands received details of their energy conservation project at a launch event on Tuesday 18 November.
Go4SET is a national initiative, which is part of the Engineering Development Trust’s STEM initiative. Go4SET is aimed at stimulating the interest of young people in science, engineering and technology (SET) at a key stage in their education. The programme is funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and industry partners.
Each of the 17 schools taking part in this year’s East Midlands scheme is fielding a team of six 13 and 14 year olds working with their teacher and a company mentor.
The launch at the Centre for Effective Learning in Science (CELS) at Nottingham Trent University, involved the teams receiving project briefs and meeting their industry mentors. Each team must now begin an energy audit on their school site. Then they need to come up with ways of reducing energy usage at their school either by using less energy or using cheaper energy.
Teams now have 10 weeks to work on their proiect and during that time will visit their partner company. The projects will be showcased in March 2009 at a Celebration and Assessment Day attended by project assessors and guests.
Geoff Jellis, EDT’s Business Development Director for Midlands & Wales said, “Energy conservation is am important issue and I am sure the teams will rise to the challenge and come up with some interesting solutions.”