The Squashed Tomato STEM challenge
Practical Action We Are Practical Action is a charity who say ‘Our ultimate goal is a world that works better for everyone.’
This week, 8S have taken on one of their STEM challenges, the Squashed Tomato Challenge. They were introduced to a Nepalese community who farm tomatoes up in the Himalayas but need to transport their crops safely to market at the bottom of the mountains. What ideas would our budding engineers come up with to suggest solutions to the problem?
As well as spending a morning mocking up solutions that carried as much weight as possible down a slope in 2 minutes, each group then had to present their ideas to the rest of the class, suggesting how they would refine and develop their model if it were to become reality. We were impressed by the ingenuity shown by each group, and the way that they adapted and refined their first ideas as the morning went on.
