Leaving Cert Engineering: Selfie sticks and 3-D printing

Selfie sticks, 3-D printing and crash barriers were among the topics to feature on a relatively unsurprising higher level Leaving Cert engineering paper.

Ciaran O'Callaghan, chair of the engineering and technology teachers' association and a teacher at Inver College in Monaghan, said the paper was very topical and relevant to young people, and that his students were all happy with it.

“There were no curveballs, and a good mix of traditional and modern technologies, with heat treatments and the engineering behind the go-kart cropping up. The question on motorway safety barriers would have been of interest to the older teens who may be learning to drive and it was good to see safety considered.”

Mr O’Callaghan recalled how, on the students’ graduation night, “they were all running around with selfie sticks, so it was good to see a question about the technology underpinning them”.

He had particular praise for a question about 3-D printing, which students had prepared as a research topic and had expected to appear on the paper.

Eamonn Dennehy, ASTI subject representative and teacher at Heywood Community College in Laois, said the paper was fair, offered plenty of choice and was well-structured to a familiar format.

Graphics and diagrams

Both he and Mr O’Callaghan praised the use of graphics and diagrams on both the higher and ordinary level papers, a trend which has increased in recent years.

Mr Dennehy said students were required to draw on their own learning and experience and to devise solutions to engineering problems.

The ordinary level paper featured drones and high-definition TV and was student-friendly, said Mr Dennehy.

Despite intensive efforts to encourage more women into the engineering profession, just 315 girls (5.6 per cent of the total) took the paper this year, compared to 5,254 boys (94.3 per cent).

In Mr O’Callaghan’s class, three out of 24 students (12.5 per cent) are girls - more than double the number of girls taking the subject nationally.

“I have always found that any girl who has taken the subject has done well, often outperforming the boys,” said Mr O’ Callaghan.

“There is still a perception of engineering as men in overalls getting oily and dirty, even though the subject has evolved with the technology.”