Dyson Inspires Somervales’ Inventors of the Future

On 24th May, a small team from The Dyson Foundation visited Somervale School. 19 Year 8 students were invited to take part in a two hour long workshop with the Dyson team.

The students had the unique opportunity to find out how James Dyson started his company. His iconic career began from humble beginnings with a feeling of frustration of everyday designs not working as well are they should, an example being the humble wheel barrow. The captivated students were shown Dyson’s past and present designs, the rigorous stages of design development and testing as well as being shown all the procedures which happen before the products even appears in the shops.

The students were challenged to design something based on a ‘design frustration of theirs which solved a problem around the house’. The product had to incorporate the use of air or alternatively was powered by air.

In small teams, the students mind mapped ideas, sketched out their best designs and went on to build a prototype of their chosen idea. There were Dyson parts, cardboard and tape available.

After 40 minutes the small teams had produced designs for a waste system, a bin that sucked in, a hot air hair brush, a hair styling system and an alarm clock!

The students then presented their ideas to the rest of the group, explaining the features; how it might work and discussed any further developments that the design might need to enhance it further, reflective of actual industrial product development in the design & manufacturing process.

Dayna Walker from The Dyson Foundation stated; “We enjoyed an excellent workshop. We worked with great students who demonstrated amazing team work”.

Cathryn Ellett, Head of Technology at Somervale summarised; “It was a great experience for our students. The workshop was thoroughly enjoyed by all. I know from just speaking to the students after the workshop, how inspired they were, hopefully laying the foundations for some of their future career choices? We’d like to extend our thanks to The Dyson Foundation for taking the time to lead this fantastic hands-on workshop at our school”.