Over 180,000 pupils trained in Mechanics and Mechatronics

In a country with still few Stem graduates (especially female graduates) and grappling with Industry 5.0, every initiative that brings students closer to the world of business and 'savoir faire' is news in itself. All the more so if it intercepts pupils in the first cycle of education, i.e. primary and secondary schools; it involves all or almost all regions, and has been renewed year after year for no less than 14 editions. We are talking about Eureka! Funziona!, the largest orientation project on mechanics and mechatronics promoted in Italia, promoted by Federmeccanica, in collaboration with Mim, and realised with the scientific contribution of the Association for the Teaching of Physics and the Italian Institute of Technology, the research centre with headquarters in Genoa and 11 centres in Italy (Turin, Milan, Trento, Rome, Pisa, Naples, Lecce, Ferrara) and internationally (MIT and Harvard in the USA).

The day after tomorrow in Bormio, with the support of Confindustria Lecco and Sondrio, the 14th edition of Eureka! Funziona!, dedicated to the world of pneumatics, will come to a close. More than 18,500 students took part, with a total of 3,500 kits distributed in 51 provinces throughout Italy.

In 14 editions, the initiative, supported by numerous territorial associations of Confindustria, has involved more than 180,000 third, fourth, fifth grade and first and second middle school children, engaging them in a technological construction competition, in which the students have the task of conceiving, designing and building a toy from a kit, with various materials, provided by Federmeccanica.

The format is more or less like this: the participating pupils are divided into groups, so as to encourage cooperation, teamwork, and the division of tasks and roles, and are called upon to realise a technological invention in six to eight weeks. Each pupil has a specific role: one is a technical draughtsman, one is responsible for the logbook of the various work phases, one physically constructs the object and one designs an advertising campaign. The only two rules: provide for the mobility of the toy and it is forbidden to be helped by teachers. The various projects realised are evaluated by a jury that chooses the most innovative toy, based on an ad hoc evaluation form.

"With Eureka! It Works! we cultivate the technical culture and transversal skills of our youngsters," says Giorgia Garola, Federmeccanica's vice president in charge of Education. "This year, through the pneumatics challenge, we have transformed classrooms into laboratories of innovation where gender equality is not an abstract concept, but a daily practice. Seeing girls and boys collaborate naturally in mechanical design is tangible proof that, by providing the right tools, we can definitively overcome the prejudices that have historically kept female students away from Stem disciplines'.