Back Row: Ed Garnett, Schools Coaching Lead at Derby County Community Trust, with Pete Collins, Business Development Manager at the trust – Front Row (L-R): Vic Penny, pupil at Murray Park School in Derby, with Lubrizol university placement students James Hogg and Hannah Ryder.
A chemistry company with a Derbyshire HQ is helping tomorrow’s scientists reach their goals with an innovative project teaming up robots and football.
Lubrizol, whose UK headquarters is based at Hazelwood near Belper, has sponsored the project which is being delivered by Derby County Community Trust to primary-aged school students with the aim of teaching STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) in a fun way.
The project involves spherical robots which are operated across Derby County themed mats by means of a tablet device, helping students learn computer programming skills while having fun at the same time.
Pete Collins, business development manager at Derby County Community Trust, said: “The idea of this project is to support pupils’ learning around STEM. It’s an interactive project that introduces children to a whole range of different topics across maths and technology, in a way that has our football club at its heart.
“We’re very grateful to Lubrizol which has funded these Sphero robots. Children will get an introduction to different areas of the national curriculum but in a fun and interactive way.”
To mark its launch, James Hogg and Hannah Ryder, two university chemistry students on placement at Lubrizol, came and tested out the robot technology and gave their verdict.
James said: “I think it’s absolutely brilliant and it will be really good for kids. It’s really engaging for them, it’s a great way of using an activity in terms of getting children to programme.”
Hannah said: “I think this will inspire children to see the value of learning and introduce a new audience to programming. I found it really engaging. It’s really progressive and easy to access. You can build up to more difficult levels for children who might benefit from being pushed.”
The interactive game is being rolled out to primary schools in the area by Derby County Community Trust over the next few weeks, with the aim of becoming a permanent fixture over years to come. The game works by allowing players to programme robots to move across the mats via their tablets, with a wide range of difficulty levels to suit all abilities.
For young people who may engage with subjects other than football, the Sphero robots can also be adapted to be played on other types of playing surface such as superhero mats.
Vic Penny, a year 10 pupil at Murray Park School in Derby, got the chance to test out the robots before other students in the city gave them a go.
He said: “I think it’s really engaging. I’m at secondary school and I’d enjoy playing with this!”
George Hagen, deputy head at Murray Park, said he was delighted that one of the school’s pupils was given the opportunity to try out the Sphero robots as part of a work experience week.
He said: “Work experience weeks like this one, and careers education as a whole, is extremely important to us at Murray Park. It was highlighted as a strength in our Ofsted report last year and we have Careers Mark accreditation too.
“We take work experience very seriously and ensure as many of our year 10 students get these opportunities as possible, through our dedicated careers’ team and curriculum that runs from year seven to 11.
“When it comes to STEM opportunities, we co-ordinate learning through our local primary schools – these Sphero robots look as though they’ll be a brilliant tool for children to learn about programming.”
Claire Hollingshurst, quality systems manager at Lubrizol, who is also on its charities and communities committee, said: “With today’s rapidly evolving world high quality STEM education continues to be of the utmost importance to children. At Lubrizol we are deeply committed to promoting STEM careers as much as we can. We’re passionate about the role that education plays in shaping young minds so we’re delighted to sponsor these amazing Sphero robots through our continuing work with Derby County Community Trust. If through football we can help engage students to learn about computer programming, that’s a huge win as far as Lubrizol is concerned. It’s only by engaging children in science that we can inspire them to take on the challenges of tomorrow.”
