Engineering outreach activities on campus
We offer a selection of Engineering outreach activities on both our Hamilton and Tauranga campuses.
Year 9 - 13
Civil Engineering: Shake it up - Mola kits
Put your skills to the test as you design and build the tallest earthquake-resistant structure you can – using only the materials provided. You'll learn how earthquakes affect buildings and how real structural engineers keep them standing during a quake. Once your structure is ready, you'll place it on a shake table and see if it can survive the tremors. Will it stand tall or topple under pressure? There's only one way to find out. Get ready to shake things up!
Campus: Hamilton
Duration: 1 hour
Participant limit: We can accommodate a maximum of 30 students
Chemical and Process Engineering: Chem-E Car
Get hands-on with chemistry and engineering as you build and race a Chem-E Car powered by the iodine clock reaction. Control the reaction timing so your car stops exactly at the set distance. Will your chemical reaction be precise enough to win the race? Work in teams, experiment with reactions, and put your skills to the test!
Campus: Hamilton
Duration: 2 hours
Participant limit: We can accommodate a maximum of 30 students
Electrical and Electronic Engineering: Christmas tree ornaments soldering
Celebrate mid-winter Christmas by making your own light-up tree ornament! In this beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll learn how to solder LEDs and resistors onto a custom PCB (printed circuit board) while picking up key electronics skills like soldering technique and LED polarity. Take home your very own flashing festive creation!
Campus: Hamilton
Duration: 1 hour
Participant limit: We can accommodate a maximum of 30 students
Mechanical Engineering: Iris box
Assemble a mechanical iris box from a laser-cut flat pack! Like a puzzle, each precision-cut piece fits together to create a smooth linkage-driven mechanism that opens and closes like a sci-fi iris door. This hands-on activity blends mechanical engineering and problem-solving, sharpening your spatial reasoning and precision assembly skills.
Campus: Hamilton
Duration: 1 - 1.5 hours
Participant limit: We can accommodate a maximum of 30 students
Mechanical Engineering: Gumball machine
Students will assemble a working gumball machine from a laser-cut flat pack kit, learning through hands-on building and problem-solving. Depending on age and experience, students may receive instructions, or be challenged to reverse-engineer the design by studying the finished product. Older students will need to work out how the moving parts fit together and how the mechanisms function, testing and refining their ideas along the way. This activity combines creativity with critical thinking, mechanical engineering, and design analysis, giving students a fun and tangible engineering experience.
Campus: Hamilton
Duration: 1 - 1.5 hours
Participant limit: We can accommodate a maximum of 30 students