A Glimpse of Practical Side of Engineering @ 2016 LEAP Engineering Discovery

31 Oct 2016

About 800 teachers and secondary students descended upon the SP campus on 19 Oct 2016 for the 2016 LEAP Engineering Discovery event. Jointly organised by the 5 polytechnics for the 13th year, this year’s event included, for the first time, a series of workshops for students to try simple projects under 5 different themes - green technologies, aircraft design, robots, smart devices and healthcare.

Students tried their hands at activities such as programming robots and designing model aircrafts during which they were able to see how textbook theories and concepts were applied. They also got to see exhibits of interactive projects done by engineering students, from robots to help the elderly in tasks such as physical exercise, to an app that detects hearing loss. Students also attended talks on the educational and career options for engineers, the first such talks to be held by staff of the 5 polys.

The event aimed to excite and engage the students to discover the wonders of engineering in a fun atmosphere, and to attract them to consider pursuing an engineering course at the polytechnics and an engineering career. It was one of several initiatives by SP to reignite the engineering spark in our secondary students through outreach activities such as the Engineering Camp, Young Engineers Award, robotics programming and makers’ activities by the Robotics and Makers’ Academy.