Year 9 Humanitarian ES@W

Yr 9 Engineering Students @ Work Humanitarian Conference Days

Working with Engineers without Borders (EWB), Engineers Australia and leading Engineering organisations in Melbourne, Akorn is able to offer four Yr 9 Engineering Students @ Work Humanitarian Conference Days throughout the year.

Program Background:

This Yr 9 program was trialed in 2009 with fantastic outcomes for everyone, the partner organisations and especially the students.  Working on a project brief developed by Engineers without Borders, students worked in teams developing concepts that would have positive impacts on the people living in the Tonle Sap region of Cambodia.

“It was like watching a mini version of the United Nations at work, Kids working with kids to solve today’s problems.”   Quote from Frank Bieshaar, Engineering Teacher – Catholic Regional College North Keilor about the 2009 conference day.

Project Brief

Scenario Outline:

Travelling through Cambodia on a holiday, Alex stopped at the Tonlé Sap Lake. She had allowed three days there to explore the area. Alex met Sam, a volunteer from Live & Learn Environmental Education, a non-profit organisation, who was developing a program for a disadvantaged community living in a floating village. Sam began to describe the everyday living conditions of many of the communities on the Lake, particularly the circumstances of a family he knows where the parents are raising three small ewb2children, two boys and a girl, aged 4,7 and 11 respectively. This family live in a small floating house that only has three rooms and some of their extended family also live with them….. Yr 9 Project Brief

“We were blown away by the enthusiasm, ingenuity and engineering problem solving shown by the students.  In one day, they developed concepts far beyond any of our expectations and that resemble the solutions we are implementing in the field”

Daniel A’Vard
Vice President – Victoria Region | Engineers Without Borders Australia