STAAR Programme
Case Study
Case Study
ABOUT THE CLIENT
The RAF Museum (Cosford) is a Royal Air Force Museum located in the West Midlands, adjacent to the RAF Station in Cosford. Given its proximity to RAF Cosford, it is one of the few Museums which can make use of an operational runway for events such as the annual RAF Cosford Air Show, the only RAF Airshow in the UK. As an educational venue, the museum welcomes thousands of school children each year, and in addition to having exhibit tours also runs several education workshops.
With a strong commitment to supporting education, Northrop Grumman is a global technology company specialising in the aerospace and defence sector. Especially in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subject areas.
"We have been working with Tablet Academy for several years and this relationship is now an integral part of our Education solutions. We have various strategic projects such as teacher training and peer learning running alongside our core education hardware solutions (www.HPforEducation.com). The evangelism events they run for us focus on particular themes such as gamification or simply, as agnostic educators with a passion to enable better learning, lending their support to our valued customers."
THEIR CHALLENGES
1. The pilot event be held in the summer of 2017
2. The event be residential and delivered over 5 Days
3. Places are limited to 20 students and participants should be selected from across the UK
4. Equality and diversity be paramount when selecting students
5. The programme should have a focus on advanced topics from the aerospace sector
6. A requirement for hands-on, real-world sessions using live equipment and tools
7. Daily challenges are set in the form of Operational Missions that student teams should review, analysis and, where possible, execute them to a successful outcome.
8. Delivery venues would be the RAF Museum, the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering, and the Nr 1 Radio School; the latter two both situated ‘inside the wire’ at RAF Cosford
9. How to accommodate, cater, chaperone, and support 20 young students under the age of 16 on an operational defence training station
Why did they have this problem?
There is a growing global demand for young engineers, technologists, and scientists. One aim of the programme is to demonstrate to young people of all backgrounds, genders, and abilities, that opportunities exist in the aerospace sector that is as diverse as they are. Northrup Grumman has a similar programme running in the USA as a Space Camp and wanted to create something different to support education in the UK.
OUR SOLUTION
Having a wealth of experience of creating and delivering STEM-related student enrichment days, we had a clear idea of what students may be expecting in the participation of such a programme. We agreed from day one that we would take a fully cooperating approach in developing the programme and in discussions concerning the logistics and security of having 20 young people ‘working’ on a fully operational RAF Station. In developing the curriculum, we involved experts from all four parties: Northrop Grumman, Learning Division of RAF Museum (Cosford), Instructors from the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering and Nr 1 Radio School, and Tablet Academy.
When looking at delivery and logistics, given that students would live and work on an operational base we worked closely with the RAF Police and other RAF logistics and security teams, all with the full support of the Station Commander at the time, Group Captain Mark Hunt.
RESULTS
Did your solution solve the client’s stated problem or accomplish their objective(s)?
What benefits did your client see because of your work immediately?
Increased employee productivity? A better system, platform or software solution? These can be soft results.
What benefits should your client see because of our work over time?
Finally, would your client agree that you solved their problem or helped them achieve their intended goal?