NI ARMY CADETS REPORT THAT STEM IS HERE TO STAY

In this, the Army’s Year of Engineering, cadets in 1st (NI) Battalion ACF have had a super introduction to all things STEM, including sending teams to the STEM Leadership Challenge hosted by Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College in Loughborough in April, the STEM competition at Armed Forces Day in Coleraine in June and Ex Science in Action (STEM camp) in Wiltshire in October. Activities at these events typically involve fun mental and physical challenges such as building a directional antenna then using it to navigate a course or controlling a robot remotely to locate and dispose of a suspect package.

We took delivery of our ACFA sponsored MTa STEM Kit in March, which has added an invaluable extra dimension to our training resources. The Kit contains a range of components which are used to set various construction challenges. A favourite challenge to date has been to build a wheelbarrow to transport water over an obstacle course. The feedback received from cadets, CFAVs and parents about the STEM trips has been hugely positive, added to the great feedback from anyone that has used the STEM kit. 

We now have STEM officers in all four training companies and after some staff training in January, will be working towards integration of STEM activities into the weekend and detachment training programmes to ensure that STEM is here to stay!