8 specially developed activities were used during the 2004 Blue Fusion and Bright Sparks events with great success.

See below for descriptions of the individual activities.

“Loch Ness has been raided and all the Loch Ness Monsters have been kidnapped. Use the search boats and their sonar to find the creatures and return them to their home.”

The students developed their problem solving and teamworking skills working in roles as 'sonar operators' and 'boat drivers' to capture the Loch Ness Monsters. This computer game was developed especially for the event.

“Did you know that most people in the world are linked by remarkably small chains of people? In Six Degrees you explore this idea and discover whether meeting a friend of a friend on holiday is really that much of a coincidence.”

Working together as a team, while developing their problem solving skills and learning about the theory of the 'Six Degrees of Separation' between any two people, the students pieced together a complex graph linking well known celebrities.

“Intergalactic Engineering has received an emergency help request from an alien spaceship. A valuable piece of their equipment has broken down, and they need your help to fix it!”

The team of students was split into 'Engineers' and 'Communications experts' and used a combination of sophisticated voice technology, communications equipment, code-breaking techniques and problem solving skills to rebuild the broken alien equipment.

“The renowned Professor Zeke N. YeShallFind has been mysteriously kidnapped at the Wacky Inventions Conference! Your team has been called to the crime scene to investigate.”

The students were equipped with lab-coats and life-like forensic investigation tools such as chemical analysers, voice language translation equipment and a fingerprint identification system.
The crime scene investigation field operatives and laboratory technicians worked together to attempt to solve the mystery kidnapping.

“You are the objects of a program modelling one of today's most popular methods of designing software. What will the Lego-logo outputs be?”

Learning about the important development in software engineering of object oriented programming, students performed the roles of the objects and the methods in a program to build well known software related logos out of LEGO.

“Bob has a problem: he needs to make a major decision that may well affect the future of his business. You are a team of young consultants, expert in the field of entertainment, working as a user acceptance test team. You will help Bob make the decision that could make or break his company!”

Testing is an important, but often under emphasised, part of the development cycle for engineering projects. Students learned the techniques and importance of this process in a fun environment while testing a fussball table and a dance mat.

“Working together you will design and build a car capable of winning a high-thrills race on the Blue Fusion rally track. Launching a tyre attack will give you more than speed to make sure your opponents eat your dust, but mind that water-splash!”

The students used a custom developed graphical interface into the CodeRally programming game to learn about computer programming and control systems, while developing a rally car to race against other teams in a daily tournament.
  More information about the CodeRally programming game

“Can you predict how well an egg will survive in a craft of your own construction? Commit to achieving these goals, then use hands-on practical knowledge in a bid to protect your egg from two harrowing tests - possibly (or probably) to destruction!”

Using limited resources the students developed highly durable packaging to protect eggs from destructive forces, when dropped from height and squashed under substantial weight.