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Build a Bridge and Get Over It

Wednesday, 18 August 2021

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  • Children's University Children at ECU

    School of Engineering’s Associate Professor Douglas Chai (L) and Dr Themelina Paraskeva (R) co-hosting the ‘Building a Bridge’ Workshop. [Seen here with Children’s University participants]

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On 15 July 2021, the School of Engineering hosted a bridge building workshop involving young girls and boys from ECU’s Children’s University Outreach Program.

Entitled: Build a Bridge and Get over It, the workshop had students becoming structural engineers for an afternoon as they investigated the design and construction of bridges through a number of fun hands-on activities.

This culminated in the children building their own small-scale, performance-efficient wooden bridge, competing for the ‘Best-Looking Bridge’ and ‘Most Cost-Efficient Bridge Design’ Awards.

ECU’s Children’s University Outreach Program continues to seek out experiential learning that expose young girls to science.  The School of Engineering’s continued efforts  in this space align with the University’s commitment to redressing gender disparity in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine  (STEMM) disciplines. There is an urgent need to boost gender diversity in engineering, with the number of girls studying physics and advanced mathematics at high school falling to just 6.5% (a pre-requisite for tertiary-level studies in engineering).

ECU are proud to be accredited with a Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Award. This Award recognises institutions who understand the current state of gender equity in STEMM disciplines and have developed a four-year action plan which targets structural and cultural barriers, driving diversity in higher education and research.

For more information about ECU’s commitment to gender equality, visit the ECU Gender Equality website or contact athenaswanaustralia@ecu.edu.au.

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