Thousands of schoolchildren across Merseyside have been educated on the process of building Everton Stadium through an innovative online scheme.
STEM Live, operated by Wirral-based Hi-impact Media, is a programme of live and interactive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lessons for primary school pupils, as part of the aim to educate youngsters from “early years to careers”.
The 45-minute Key Stage 2 lesson, entitled: Everton FC: Inside the Making of a Modern Football Stadium, was fronted by TV presenter Sally-Ann Spence and focused on engineering design, 3D technologies, properties of materials and mechanical systems.
It also looked, in greater detail, at the design and technology that the Club’s construction partner, Laing O'Rourke, faced and the solutions used to solve them.
Using a hybrid of live and pre-recorded elements to delve deeper into the subjects, the lesson was viewed by hundreds of schools and more than 8,500 children from the Liverpool area alone.
And with the recorded lesson now archived for the worldwide database of schools to access at any time on demand, the number of eight to 11-year-olds who will gain knowledge of Everton Stadium could easily reach six figures.
Abbigail Green, Laing O’Rourke’s Social Value Advisor, who is tasked with providing educational opportunities to local young people as part of the company’s social value plan, said: “The lessons were a great success.
“They showed the local schoolchildren the nature of the work we do, and introduced them to the diverse range of career options in construction.
“We showed the children how a project like this is completed, from the planning permission, through all the technical challenges, the construction of the stadium and, once complete, the positive economic impact it will have on the city of Liverpool and the wider Merseyside region.
“We had thousands of pupils attend online and recorded the lesson, which is now on YouTube, so thousands more can watch.”
Georgia Flynn, Head of Creative Services at Hi Impact Media - who identified the stadium build as one of 20 free STEM lessons to be delivered across the Liverpool City region this year, in a collaboration with the local authority - added: “We were delighted to cover the new stadium build at Everton Stadium.
“Our focus, as a company, is on raising the profile of STEM education and we’ve found that by offering live lessons as freely available resources to schools, the uptake has been phenomenal.”
The 45-minute STEM session can be viewed here and other upcoming live lessons can be accessed at www.stemlive.co.uk
