How many of you are working in the field in which you studied?
According to a recent survey, only a few percent of college graduates found a first job that related to their college major. Lack of job-related experience was one of the reasons cited for this phenomenon.
Some students pass on studying science, maths and engineering in order to avoid the high-pressure demands and end up missing out on the opportunity for many possible future careers.
A new learning alternative hopes to turn science and maths into something fun and creative for students.
Students participate in F1 in Schools activities. Photos courtesy of F1 in Schools programme
F1 in Schools, an official education initiative by Formula 1, is an international competition for students that engages with millions of participants across the world. Today, with 20 million students from 17,000 schools in 40 countries involved in the programme, F1 in Schools aims to teach and help change the impression of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) by creating a fun, exciting and competitive learning environment for young people to develop a clearer view about careers in engineering, science, technology, marketing and business.
"Any career is good. But there are not enough engineers in the market -- not only in Thailand but everywhere else too," said Chakraphad Pitakthararuay, CEO and president of F1 in Schools Thailand.
"People are finding a way to increase the amount of students interested in engineering again, and that's where the F1 in Schools and STEM challenge project came in, using the appeal of Formula One as a great platform, in a fun and interesting way."
F1 in Schools doesn't involve kids racing on actual Formula One cars, but the project -- which was established in the UK in 1999 and licensed in Thailand in 2017 -- simulates the world of an F1 team by setting up student teams that design, build and manufacture miniature Formula One cars.
The competition requires a team consisting of three-to-six students from primary school to university level (ages nine-19) to design a model F1 car using 3D CAD/CAM design tools and other computer software.
The car is powered by compressed air, or CO2 cartridges, that are attached to a track by a nylon wire. After the manufacturing process, the car is raced against other teams on a 20m two-lane track and timed by a computer.
"This event gives students the chance to learn the fundamentals of engineering including teamwork, design and planning, testing and manufacturing. I believe that engineering is the career of the future, a time when everything is digital and automated. Many tasks in the industry will be operated by robots, and we will need a lot more people who know how to control them," said Chakraphad.
Pursuit Racing team waiting for their pit booth to be inspected, a key part of the competition. F1 in Schools
The competition is held annually, and takes place at regional, national and international levels, with winners competing at the F1 Schools World Finals, which are held at different locations each year in conjunction with the Formula One Grand Prix. At stake is the F1 in Schools World Champions trophy, and highly valued City, University of London engineering scholarships.
So far, there are three international schools in Thailand that have participated in the F1 in Schools World Finals in the past two years, including Harrow International School Bangkok, Amnuay Silpa and Singapore International School of Bangkok. And they seem to have potential.
The Pursuit Racing team from Amnuay Silpa school came in sixth place out of 50 at the 2018 F1 in Schools World Finals in Singapore, making it the highest scoring Asian team for 2018. Another Amnuay Silpa team Dehjo Racing won the Best Newcomer award among other honours at the F1 in Schools World Finals held in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
At the upcoming 2019 F1 in Schools World Finals, which will take place in Yas Island in Abu Dhabi in November, alongside the season-ending Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Chakraphad said that he has high hopes for Thai teams to win first place.
Pensmith STEM International School, who has partnered with F1 in Schools Thailand since 2017, is launching a three-year high school diploma programme specialising in STEM education to prepare students to be ready for the competition and to develop important life and study skills.
"The programme is essentially like running a real business and developing a product that is equal to a marketing sponsorship supporting that business," said Tony Atkinson, headmaster of Pensmith International School.
"So, our high school diploma will be three years long. We would take that project and deliver it across the three years. So it will go very deep in learning about all aspects of running that business, and students will be involved in each of the steps of their process."
Apart from their normal academic workload, students and their team must learn how to build a business. The teams must raise sponsorship and learn how to manage budgets to fund research, travel and accommodation. They must use IT to learn about engineering, aerodynamic systems, design, branding and manufacturing in a practical way.
"The normal school day is the part of the project for the Formula One business. So when they're learning maths and physics, it's because they can use it for some aspect of their project," said Atkinson. "Instead of just learning maths, they can connect it to something else. They're learning it because they can use it to improve aspects of a car and promote their business."
According to Atkinson, having the fastest car doesn't necessarily mean that you'll win the overall competition. The car is actually quite a small element of the whole competition.
"Over the course of four days of the competition, they will have many different tasks. They have interviews, presentations about the team and their cars, presentations about the engineering that they've done. So it's very important that each student in the team understands each other, and each part of the business," he explained.
"And because the students are from all countries, they're making friends, they're looking at how other teams are performing, looking at the displays and learning from each other. So It's not just about the team competing and trying to win; it's about a life experience, and also a connection with schools from around the world."
