Thinkers in Education presents: Bunkered Challenge (STEM in Action)

On Saturday 19th October 2019, the JG18 cohort had the exciting opportunity of imagining what it would be like if the Earth was struck by a meteor. The workshop, run by Thinkers in Education, involved practical work, team-building activities and maths skills. Thinkers in Education run recruitment-style STEM challenges for a range of different people, from primary-aged children to people working in STEM industry in Australia, Hong Kong and America. One of the teams in our cohort broke a world record in the ‘Bunkered’ challenge! This challenge involved designing a bunker and choosing the lucky 15 who would go in it.

It was a fun and challenging experience for all those involved; none of the members of the JG18 cohort would have pictured themselves choosing the professions and ages of the last 15 people living on Earth on a Saturday! The challenge tested our ability to work accurately under pressure, with tense music and short deadlines pushing us to the limit. Each person in each team of 4 was assigned a role, so everyone played an active part in completing the challenge. The biochemist of each team led the experiment of extracting our own DNA to see if we would be eligible to survive the meteor, the economist calculated the cost of facilities, the president delegated roles and managed the team, the astrophysicist calculated the level of damage by the meteor and the engineers worked artfully to solve problems. Overall, every member of the JG18 cohort greatly enjoyed the challenge, especially the way that it challenged and developed our teamwork and STEM skills, just as if we were working in industry.

by Mariam Hadi