Tasmanian students dive into sub challenge

The Australian Maritime College (AMC) is helping to foster the next generation of engineers by mentoring a team of Queechy High School students taking part in the DMO sponsored SUBS in Schools design project.

The six-member team is the only Tasmanian school of the six national teams participating in the pilot program.

Queechy High School program coordinator Murat Djakic said the group was provided with a standard kit including a submarine hull and associated hardware.

“The students then have to design the control systems including the rudders and dive planes themselves. They can test them to see if they can reduce the water flow and redesign the sub to a point that they can get maximum performance out of it,” he said.

“Challenges like this are a great hook to get students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and the career options available in these areas.”

The team will receive ongoing mentoring from AMC that will provide them with an understanding of how submarines operate and the potential issues they will face when making design decisions.

They will have the opportunity to test their model in the Survival Centre and speak to AMC students about their own tertiary-level submarine design projects.

AMC industry liaison coordinator David Harte said these types of programs were an invaluable learning experience as students could make the connection between what they’re learning in the classroom and the real-world problems they need to solve.

“They actually understand why they’re doing the maths – they can see the importance of understanding the volume of a cylinder and understanding density,” he said.

“It’s tying everything together and there’s no better way to do it than with their own project because at the end of the day their efforts will determine whether it sinks or swims.”

The teams will present their submarines at the National Engineers Conference in Melbourne November 26.

It is hoped the program will gain traction and become an annual event like the F1 in Schools Challenge.