TEAMS from two East Lancashire schools have made it through to the grand final of a science, technology, engineering and maths competition at the Science Museum in London.

A team of three students from Oakhill College in Whalley will take part in the event on Monday, March 23, alongside a four-strong team from St Christopher’s CE High School based in Accrington.

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They have been selected from groups from across the country to make up the six finalists of the Ultimate STEM Challenge.

The competition was run in partnership with the Science Museum, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network and BP.

There were three challenges to the competition focussed around keeping warm, keeping hydrated and keeping cool, and the young students were asked to create a short film or presentation to showcase their project.

The Oakhill team produced a solution to the challenge of keeping cool with the St Christopher’s CE High School producing a solution to the challenge of keeping warm.

The competition, in its inaugural year, had been designed to engage students during the critical years in which they decide whether STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and maths, are for them or not.

Sandra Stagg, a teacher at Oakhill College, said: “The girls really embraced the whole challenge from their initial design stage to the final presentation.

“It was wonderful for me to watch their skills and confidence grow throughout the process, which lasted the best part of 10 weeks.

“They worked incredibly well as a team, with each girl contributing their own ideas and skill sets to the project to tackle the problem.

“The nature of the task held their enthusiasm throughout and they were always keen to get on with the next stage.

“In particular their scientific investigation skills and their concepts about design and application procedures have greatly increased.

“The girls have improved their presentation skills and really benefited from collating the scientific data and putting the facts together in a scientific but interesting way. It has been an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience all round.”

St Christopher’s CE High School’s teacher Wendy Litherland said: “Working beyond the curriculum on real life scenarios allows children to use their naturally innovative minds.

“When faced with environmental and scientific problems, children solve them easily without the baggage of adult life experiences and financial concerns.

“STEM work is essential to produce innovative, future scientists.”

To view Oakhill’s entry visit: http://youtu.be/PmXZb1mjB_U and to see the presentation from St Christopher’s visit: http://youtu.be/_wOUg61uAFU.