STEM Challenge 10 winners announced

STEM Challenge 10 took place on Friday at Cisco House in London, and is the final in the STEM Challenges - a series of competitions designed to encourage students aged 11 to 16-years-old to use the skills learnt in science, technology, engineering and maths to think and work creatively about the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The STEM Challenges are part of the London 2012 education programme.

Nearly 200 UK state-maintained secondary school teams took part in the final challenge and were put through a rigorous regional judging process, in which eight teams made it through to the final.

The finalists presented a Dragon’s Den style pitch to a panel of expert judges. Cisco, STEMNET (The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network) and the Pearson Foundation challenged students to consider the venue, location, sport, resources, facilities and equipment to plan a large scale, accessible and sustainable event in their home area. The judging was based on the core values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement: excellence, friendship, respect, courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

The winning A-team’s idea was to build an Olympic sized swimming pool in Preston.

They designed a stadium and researched athletes and ticket prices for the Olympics to help develop their proposition. They also designed a website, and went into detail about using electronic tickets instead of paper, to enhance the security and sustainable credentials. The A-team won £2500 for their school’s STEM Club and eight tickets for Olympic Hockey.

STEM Challenge 10 forms part of Cisco’s ‘Out of the blocks’ project which gives schools the chance to explore the events and venues of London 2012 whilst practising maths and science skills.  

STEMNET chief executive Kirsten Bodley said: “The STEM Challenges have engaged young people in considering the action behind the scenes of London 2012.  This final Challenge allowed students to apply and develop their science and maths skills in a local, real-life context.”