High school students imagine 'the road of hydrogen' during a hackathon
How do we generate hydrogen and how do we make sure it gets to the user? That's the question students of 3 HAVO/VWO of the Castor College studied during 'The road of hydrogen hackathon'. The students spent two days as guests of the Selmers machine architects in Beverwijk.
Selmers is a specialist in machine design for blasting and coating all kinds of pipes. Traditionally they did this for the oil and gas industry, but in the energy transition they are moving along to sustainable markets such as wind, hydrogen, water and CO2 storage. Techport approached Selmers as the host company for a hackathon for about 75 students from 3 havo/vwo of Castor College on March 27 and 28.
Hackathon
Center for the Arts Beverwijk and Cultuurhuis Heemskerk organized the making event as part of National Program Education (NPO) for secondary education. In a hackathon, a host company provides a case study and teams of students work nonstop to create a solution and prototype for the problem statement. In the end, they present their thinking and solution to an expert panel of judges, often the company's board. The teams are guided in the creation process by professional artists and art teachers who challenge them to come up with innovative solutions.
Meaningful learning
Because the cases are linked to social issues, learning is given context. Students experience how contemporary systems work by going through their own creative processes. Thus they develop thinking and market strategies, learn how to solve problems and see that a problem can lead to different outcomes and that there does not always have to be one solution. In addition, they learn to work in multidisciplinary teams in which everyone can use their qualities and experience what it is like to present their ideas to critical experts and receive feedback.
The path of hydrogen
The research case study at Selmers quickly became clear during the exploratory discussion. The students would dive into the world of water gas. Beforehand, they were given a comprehensive presentation and a tour of the company. And after dividing up the teams and coming up with the team name, they set to work in defined time blocks.
First, they thought about how and where they wanted to produce water gas, how to then transport it and how a potential end user could use it. Then they made a prototype or model using different materials. They used toilet rolls, paper, fabric, tubes, glue guns, tape, staplers, Styrofoam, cardboard and lots of other materials that the art teachers had brought.
During the test phase, Selmers employees asked critical questions so that the teams could adjust their model. And after a short workshop on presentation, at the end of the day it was time for a power pitch: in two minutes the teams had to present their idea and solution to the Selmers management: Rob Schouten, Eugene de Wit and Marlou Liem-Claus.
From plankton and windmills to hamburgers
Ideas ranged from plankton farms to mobile tanks transported via trucks. To the great hilarity of the Rob, Marlou and Eugene of Selmers, several times a certain fast food chain was chosen as the end station. No winner was chosen, because it was precisely about participation, the experience and making the diversity of solution directions visible. That succeeded, and as a result it were two great days.
Interested?
If you are also interested in contributing a case study with your company, please contact Nikita van den Hazel to do so: nikita@fixmaakonderwijs.nl.