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Australia’s future innovators build bridges to better engineering skills

High school students from around the country are putting their construction skills to the test in the 2016 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition.

High school students from around the country are putting their construction skills to the test in the 2016 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition.High school students from around the country are putting their construction skills to the test in the 2016 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition.

Judging of the 250 entries in the competition has begun, with the first of eight judging events around the country commencing last week at the Adelaide Judging Day of entries from 13 schools at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

The Aurecon Bridge Building Competition helps about 1000 Year 8 and Year 9 High School students bring their ideas to life by encouraging them to develop their understanding of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) by building a bridge using popsicle sticks, string, glue and cardboard.

Judging days are being held throughout late July and August around the country (as well as in New Zealand), and local winners will be announced in each region.

“Aurecon believes that by enabling students to get hands on and learn the basic principles of engineering, our global engineering organisation is helping to proactively develop Australia’s next generation of engineers,” said William Cox, Aurecon’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, in a statement.

“Engineering is a great career choice for the youth of today offering a strong likelihood of employment in a diverse range of fields,” he said. “Australian Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda website, for example, estimates that within the next decade approximately 75 per cent of jobs in the fastest-growing industries will demand science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Mr. Cox.

Bridge and structural engineering experts from Aurecon and competition supporters have been appointed as judges to assess each bridge for workmanship, creativity, visual appeal and functionality to determine an overall score. New prizes for award categories have been added to the competition in 2016 for an all-round, innovation, efficiency and strength awards.

New building materials, testing and scoring mechanisms and award categories are a few of the innovations that a group of Monash University engineering students designed for this year’s competition.

Winners in each region are announced on the day after the testing of all bridges has been completed and scores tallied.

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