This document discusses Engineers Without Borders Australia's (EWB) school outreach program which aims to inspire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to pursue careers in STEM. It outlines EWB's approach of using humanitarian engineering and community-driven projects to challenge stereotypes of engineering. As part of the outreach, the document describes an activity where students learn about appropriate technology by building floating houses with limited, low-cost materials.

1. Inspiring the next generation
of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander engineers
Anna Cain
Schools Program and Chapters
EWB Australia
NATSIEC 2018
November 2018

2. Agenda
• Engineers Without Borders Australia? An Introduction
• EWB Australia’s Education Programs and how they support community impact
• School Outreach – maximising engagement to inspire and empower Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students to pursue STEM
• Stories of Indigenous Engineering
• School Outreach – Appropriate Housing Workshop
• Thanks to our collaborators
• Three final questions

3. our vision
everyone has
access to the
engineering
knowledge and
resources required
to lead a life of
opportunity free
from poverty

4. our approach
Through
• Community Development
• Education and Research
• A community of
humanitarian STEM
practitioners

5. Sector building Two way knowledge
sharing
Long term and equitable
partnerships
Community driven and
community identified need
Capacity building Strengths-based
approach
our approach - development principles

6. Humanitarian engineering – community
development
Long
Sokhonhttps://ewb.box.com/s/2z3it
xgxz8knsjhp3zk6q

7. education and research
• Schools Program
• EWB Challenge
• EWB Humanitarian Design Summit
• Research Program

8. school outreach
Inspiring and mobilising a new generation of diverse people working towards
positive social impact through engineering

9. EWB School Outreach
Inspiring and mobilising a new generation of diverse people working towards
positive social impact through engineering
• Challenge perceptions of engineering
• Improve opportunities for underrepresented groups in engineering and STEM,
• Raise community's expectations of the engineering sector

10. Introduction
appropriate
housing
workshop

11. We would like to acknowledge and pay our respects
to the Traditional Owners of this country, and the
custodianship of their elders past, present and into
the future.
Acknowledgement of Country

12. Who are EWB?
We create change through
humanitarian engineering

13. Timeline
What are engineers?
Sustainability &
appropriate
technology
Reflection
Who are EWB?
Activity of the day

14. Understand appropriate
technology and
sustainable development
Have fun!!
Learn about teamwork,
budgeting and limitations
for design challenges in
different contexts
Describe in your
own words what it is to
be an engineer
Objectives

15. What are Engineers?
Engineers respond to needs of society by providing
technological solutions to everyday problems in
order to improve the quality of life

16. Stories of Indigenous Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV
aUA_8cZo0&feature=youtu.be

17. Engineering in Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Cultures
Fish Traps Boomerang
Spinifex Grass
Resin
Well

18. Sustainability and
Sustainable Development
Rangers burning on country at Ninu Festival in Kirwirrkurra, WA

19. Living on Country with
Solar Power
• Solar power has helped make the cost of living on
country affordable in remote Australian communities
• Case study: Ngurrara and Kurnturlpara in NT

20. Wind Power in Remote
Australian Communities
• Wind power has benefited remote Australian communities by
reducing power costs and providing a more reliable energy
source
• Examples: Gawa, NT and Thursday Island, QLD

21. Deadly Legs
Prosthetic limbs made in Australia with custom patterns and
Aboriginal artwork

22. Water Engineering in
Traditional Cultures
Aboriginal people survived on one of the driest continents in
the world for thousands of years thanks to sustainable water
practices

23. Housing in Australia 1,000s
of Year Ago
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples built houses of
various shapes, sizes and materials that were appropriate
for Australia’s harsh conditions

24. Appropriate technology

25. What is appropriate?
Available materials
& electricity
Maintenance
Cost
Required knowledge
Physical
environment
People & culture

26. Cambodia
Cambodia

27. Tonle Sap Lake

28. Appropriate houses

29. What floats?

30. Material Cost
Bamboo, 5-7m pole $0.80
Plastic 44 gallon drum $2
Steel 44 gallon drum $10
Wooden planks, 1m $4
4m, PVC pipe $100
Car tyre $0.50
Affordable Materials
Average income in the Tonle Sap
region is 50 cents per day

31. Activity
Build a floating house!

32. Tasks
Minutes Task
0-10 Plan
10-20 Build
20-30 Test
If we have time Repeat with lessons learned
Afterwards Pop quiz and career
pathways

33. Material Cost
Plastic straw $1
Cup $10
20cm sticky tape $5
20cm string $2
Balloon $8
Popsicle stick $2
Rules

34. Activity Real world
Cost inhibiting
design
Poverty, working within a budget
Sinking houses Lack of engineering knowledge – this is
where EWB comes in!
Limited materials No Bunnings in Tonle Sap! Need to work
with what is available
Diversity of
designs
Necessity sparks innovation. Lots of
ways to make a house float
Designs and
re-design
Learn from past tests to improve
future designs
The real world

35. Pop quiz!
What limitations
to building houses
do developing
countries face?
How do you choose
an appropriate
material?
What is an engineer?

36. Like what you’ve learned
about today?
• Stay informed. Think about what you want to fix in
the world and how to do it
• Spread the world about humanitarian engineering
• Like us: facebook.com/ewbaustralia
• Study at university or TAFE and volunteer
• A job that makes a difference!
Future
Right now

37. Thank you
ewb.org.au

38. 1. EWB Australia.
2. Jurgen, 2005. https://goo.gl/TkG1wz
3. Tim Green, 2012. https://goo.gl/dWuEMw
4. Himbeerdoni, 2014. https://goo.gl/Hb7nSx
5. Luca Galuzzi, 2004. https://goo.gl/Lj3Rt4
6. Brownpau, 2012. https://goo.gl/8mYe3p
7. Baran Ivo, 2007. https://goo.gl/QdGiqM
8. Greens MP, 2014. https://goo.gl/LKTVKc
9. Allan Ajifo, 2014 (modup.net). https://goo.gl/kRk5vO
10.Khánh Hmoong, 2013. https://goo.gl/PYpBfj
11.Milei Vencel, 2012. https://goo.gl/UEjmll
12.EWB Australia.
13.Jason Eppink, 2013. https://goo.gl/hUJYUF
14.EWB Australia.
15.Kaley Portier, 2015. https://goo.gl/1mc3FJ
16.Chris Lewis, 2011. https://goo.gl/k6iGYq
17.Kyle Taylor, 2008. https://goo.gl/z4LEvJ
18.Marshall Segal, 2011. https://goo.gl/TpwJKb
19.Tuomas A. Lehtinen, 2008. https://goo.gl/o5N9sZ
20.Marshall Segal, 2011. https://goo.gl/9IaCwO
Photo credit

39. Thanks to our collaborators
• INDIGILab and Uncle Bruce Pasco – for collaborating with us in development of these
new School Outreach module elements
• Reconciliation Australia: Narragunnawali and NSW AECG for reviewing the
appropriateness of this content

40. Three final questions
• What are we doing well?
• What should be build upon/expand?
• What could we improve? And how?

41. For more information
• Go to https://www.ewb.org.au/school-outreach
• Stories of Indigenous Engineering -
https://www.ewb.org.au/stories-of-indigenous-
engineering
• Contact the School Outreach team via
school.outreach@ewb.org.au

42. human-cenred design spiral

43. EWB’s approach to STEM
• Adopt a human-centred, inquiry
mindset
• Focus on social impact to inspire
diversity
• STEM is the set of tools that
be applied to change the world

44. Gender diveristy in STEM
• The world if facing increasingly complex and interrelated challenges: climate change,
access to water, food supply, energy access…
• Diversity is a key ingredient to coming up with innovative and effective solutions that
reflect the needs and desires of society.
• Engineering and STEM professions are struggling to attract and retain girls and
women.
• Evidence suggests that poor visibility regarding what engineers do, along with an
oversimplified perception of engineering as a male dominated, profit driven industry,
persists and discourages gender diversity

45. Gender diveristy in STEM – the EWB
experience
EWB Australia offers an alternative view of engineering as a humanitarian discipline
creating positive outcomes for people and communities, and one that can offer
rewarding, meaningful career pathways.

46. The EWB experience – insights and
opportunities
• EWB Humanitarian Design Summit
• EWB Humanitarian Research
Program
• School Outreach Program

47. The EWB experience – insights and
opportunities
Values
Alignment Community Focused STEM
Social
Connectedness
Opportunities to build a STEM
identiy
Personal STEM
Pathway Articulating this to others
Being role
models Create values-aligned communities

48. Humanitarian engineering – Australian
Engineering Sector

49. What is humanitarian engineering?