Lighthouse keeper challenge

This challenge provides a STEM activity day in which teams of children work together to design a way of getting lighthouse keepers back to the mainland from a lighthouse based on a small island 200 metres from the nearest land. The design will need to use a zip line to carry the keeper safely across the waves which can be high during storms. The teams will need to think about how to warn people the keeper is transferring to the mainland or that the transfer system is being returned to the lighthouse and how it could operate safely in dark and stormy conditions. Their prototype must include at least one electric circuit.

Although the challenge is designed to be delivered across one day it can be split into smaller parts and used over several weeks or within a STEM club.

This resource has been provided by the IET, (Institution of Engineering and Technology).