Hinterland Scholars' Engineer Success

The Hinterland Scholars club have enjoyed taking part in the 'Da Vinci bridge challenge' this week. The challenge required students to build a self-supporting bridge with no mechanical fasteners or adhesives.Six teams, made up of Scholars in Years 7-9, attempted the challenge with three teams able to successfully build a self-supporting bridge. Two of the teams even managed to build a bridge that supported a load, with the winning teams' bridge taking a top load of 560g.The Hinterland club meets every fortnight and all academic Scholars are welcome. To help encourage the Scholarly mindset, the club is also open to other students who wish to stretch their learning beyond the taught curriculum. The club covers topics which range from STEM activities to mini-debates and discussions on current affairs.One student said that they found the challenge “fun but challenging. It was really nice to do something that combined the science aspect with the physical hands on aspect!"Science teacher and organiser of the challenge, Mrs Peterson, said: "This was a really tricky engineering challenge which required a great deal of planning and preparation. The students had to watch videos and demonstrations of how the bridge could be built. They then had to think of ways to make it as strong as possible by maximising friction between the building materials and building on different bases. As the bridges neared completion you could cut the atmosphere with a knife and shaking hands caused multiple bridge collapses! This project was completed using ice-cream lolly sticks and kebab sticks but it would be great to try it on a larger scale with poles and planks in the future!”Well done to everyone involved.To read more about Scholarships at the Stamford Schools' click here