“Would you produce enough energy to operate a hand blender by peddling on your bike?” Or “why do cars need oil?” These and many other questions, the elementary school pupils get fired at him today. Nearly a thousand students from groups 6, 7 and 8 today visit the Automotive Campus in Helmond. Twelve companies and educational institutions help the children to get acquainted with technique during Autotech.
“Today is not just about answering questions, we want to show them how technology works and how much fun it can be for children,” Lianne van den Wittenboer of Brainport Development says. “They should experience this for themselves. Children often have no idea what we are doing here on the automotive campus, but through this event, we kill two birds with one stone: the children get to know about technology and science at a young age and they can see what is happening here at the campus. And of course we hope this will help them make the decision for a job in the engineering sector.”
All twelve activities are focused on experience for the children. “The wow effect has to be very high,” Paul Maas from Summa College explains. “It really should not take too long and there must always be something going on.”
Autotech shows the pupils how much energy you generate by pedaling on a bike, and the more devices are connected to the bike, the more power the kids need to produce. “This gives them an idea of how energy generation works”, Annette Greijmans syas. She is studying engineering in the Summa College. “I like to get these kids excited for the job. We probably won’t convince all of them, but we don’t have to. Even if there are only a few, then I have achieved my goal.”
