DAUGHTERS OF INVENTION: USING DRAMA TO ENGAGE CHILDREN WITH ENGINEERING

Daughters of Invention is a UK funded drama and engineering project which is developing primary school children's understanding of engineering and STEM subjects. The project targets girls and children from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in areas of high deprivation in Birmingham, UK. The project consists of four interactive and immersive drama and engineering workshops for 240 children aged 9-10, from four inner city primary schools. The workshops are led by experienced drama practitioners from The Play House (UK) and a team of eight engineering students and staff from the University of Birmingham. The project develops the students’ outreach and public engagement skills and encourages them to develop their own projects in the future. The workshops use drama and storytelling to provide a dynamic, human story for the children to engage with and give them an impetus to solve the engineering challenges presented to them.

Daughters of Invention was originally created through a Royal Academy of Engineering Ingenious award (UK) and delivered to 240 children in four primary schools in Birmingham (UK) in 2019. The feedback from the first phase was extremely positive and our initial preliminary evaluations demonstrate that the project had a significant impact. The second phase of the project is currently underway (2020) and at the end of this phase there will be a set of evaluation activities including questionnaires/focus groups/interviews, to determine the effectiveness of using drama and storytelling to engage children with engineering.