The Imagineering Foundation is a British charity organisation that encourages schoolchildren aged 8–16 to engage with engineering.

History

It was formed in 1999 by a group of

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in ...

engineers who were concerned about a perceived lowering of interest in engineering activities by schoolchildren, leading to a skills shortage in the

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...

subjects. It was launched as an educational charity on 31 July 2001. The website was developed in 2004, with educational material for the clubs.

Structure

It is based in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. It also has a substantial online presence with a website built so tutors can access project material.

Function

Clubs

It currently organizes 147 engineering clubs mostly in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, but with two in Wales and five in Scotland. Most of the clubs are in the West Midlands, and to a lesser extent in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...

(

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

). Each week, around 1800 children take part in the clubs. It publishes a magazine called ''The Imagineer''.

Fairs

It hosts children's engineering fairs at the

Royal Bath and West Show The Royal Bath and West is an agricultural show for the West of England. Held every year at its permanent show ground near Shepton Mallet, Somerset, it is one of a number of County shows in the United Kingdom and is a four-day show. In 2009 a ...

, the

Royal International Air Tattoo The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world's largest military air show, held annually in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England in support of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust. The show typically attracts a to ...

RAF Fairford Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an ...

, and the International Air Day at RNAS Yeovilton. These events are often attended by people (parents) already interested in engineering - the organization's target audience.

References

{{reflist

External links

Imagineering Foundation
1999 establishments in the United Kingdom Children's festivals in the United Kingdom Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Engineering education in the United Kingdom Engineering organizations Organisations based in Warwickshire Organizations established in 1999 Science and technology in the United Kingdom Science education in the United Kingdom Kenilworth