Well done to the Year 5 students who attended yesterday’s Hunter Valley STEM Festival to compete in the Jaguar Primary School Challenge for 2016. Students headed off first thing in the morning to the Forum at the University of Newcastle to race their model Jaguar race cars that they have been busy designing, constructing, and modifying for the past 2 weeks. This has been a fantastic opportunity for students to experience another application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills and for them to be part of their own mini pit crew. Students were put into teams consisting of a Manager, Engineer, and Graphic Designer. They worked together to develop a design for their Jaguar race car and research modifications that could be made to add wings and spoilers that could potentially give their Jaguar an advantage on the track. Yesterday, students were able to see how well their modifications had worked by placing their cars on a tether line and inserting a compressed CO² canister into the back of their Jaguar. Students then had the challenge of trying to achieve the best reaction time possible at the start line as their Jaguars zoomed down the track. Students were also able to look at a host of interactive exhibits from High School challenges.

Congratulations to the Melissa McCARthys team who scored the best reaction time and race time for Tighes Hill! Here are photos and videos from the day. Enjoy!​