A significant remit of the British Gear Association is to ensure the future of the gearing industry in the UK. In accordance with this responsibility the BGA have worked with NUSTEM at Northumbria University to develop a workshop to be delivered to children supporting the Primary National Curriculum for gears pulleys and levers. This is a great opportunity for engineers and technicians to build links with their local communities, develop their communication skills and make a positive contribution to children’s engineering knowledge.
Why Primary?
Children make career-limiting choices early in their school careers: research suggests that many arrive at secondary school having already decided that STEM subjects, whist interesting are “not for people like me.” Working with primary schools helps show children the types of careers available before they have ruled out working in STEM. With Science Capital so low for many children we see this as an essential initiative.
We are aiming to get this programme into as many schools as possible. If you would like to support this initiative by presenting a workshop at your local primary school please contact the BGA Office to order a Primary Gears Workshop Kit or to register for the next “teaching the teachers” seminar – admin@bga.org.uk / 0191 208 6160 .
WORRIED ABOUT PRESENTING TO CHILDREN?
We have created video tutorials which can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. These tutorials run through the Primary Gears Session and include tips and tricks to help you present to a class.
An in-depth bespoke training session is also available periodically to assist BGA members in acquiring and honing the skills necessary to deliver the BGA Primary Gears workshop successfully. To find out more about these “teaching the teachers” seminars please contact the BGA Office.
The training includes:
Introduction and discussion of the National Curriculum for gears pulleys and levers.
Detailed practice of the session delivery.
Classroom management techniques to ensure the session runs smoothly.
The practicalities of getting into schools.
Unconscious bias and strategies for improving gender diversity in engineering.
Advice and coaching on performance and delivery style.
You will be given, all the printed, digital presentation materials and a “Gears Kit” needed to deliver the workshop to a class of 30 to take away with you.
This course if fully CPD Accredited.
ABOUT THE PRIMARY GEARS WORKSHOP This workshop builds on the statutory requirements of the Primary National Curriculum for science. This is a short 30-60 minute workshop about gears to be used within a classroom setting. Simple activities allow children to develop and age-appropriate understanding about how gears work, and engineers will be able to use the workshop to talk about their job.
1. Understand the basic principles of gears and gearing including.
2. Gear trains & compound gears.
3. Simple gear ratios (e.g. 1:2, 1:3, 1:9).
4. Rotational direction & speed.
5. Leave with a greater appreciation of the importance of gears.
6. Extend specific technical vocabulary related to gears.
7. Showcase a range of mechanical engineering careers.
RESOURCES
To deliver the workshop, you’ll need a specific set of gears, please contact the BGA Office to order your kit.
If you already have a set of BGA Gears and need to download the latest worksheets, presentations etc please click the links below.
BGA Primary Workshop Outline (PDF)
BGA Primary Gears Workshop Worksheets (3Mb zip file)
BGA Primary Gears Workshop – Powerpoint presentation (230Mb!) Note that this file includes .mp4 video, which should play in Windows 7 or above.
BGA Primary Gears Workshop – Powerpoint presentation (WMV video). This alternate version embeds old-style Windows video, which should play in old versions of Powerpoint. Try this if you have problems with the version above.
BGA Workshop Presentation – notes (8Mb PDF – the Powerpoint slides with accompanying presenter notes)