Archive

Volunteering opportunities

As always please let me know if you are involved in any STEM activities with school children so we know for our records and so that you are covered by our insurance. If you have any questions or would like any more information about STEM Outreach please feel free to get in touch.

Would you like £3000 for your club?

Enter the anti-doping STEM Challenge and you could win up to £3000 worth of equipment for your STEM Club!

This is in addition to the expenses paid trip to the Science Museum, which includes a curator-led tour of the museum, a private viewing of the “Who am I?” exhibition, a behind-the-scenes tour of the IMAX theatre and time in the Launchpad gallery.

What’s more, we’ll cover the expenses for up to six pupils and two adults, including transport, accommodation and meals. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity!

We’ve topped up the prize fund as we have been so impressed at the hard work pupils have shown so far in the STEM Challenges.

The deadline for team registration is Monday 14 June 2010. Team registration only takes a couple of minutes once you are logged in to the website! You then have time to prepare entries before the judging takes place in schools on Tuesday 6 July 2010.

More ways to win!!!

In addition to the main prizes, we are offering you opportunities to win STEM Club Boxes and a free tour of the London 2012 construction site. Visit the STEM Challenges website for more information.

Good luck!

www.stemchallenges.net

Deadline for Nuffield Applications is approaching! don’t miss out!

The deadline for student applications is Today at midnight (25/05/2010)- don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity!

 A list of available projects can be downloaded here  Nuffield Projects

Student application form can be downloaded here: Student application form 2010

Guidance for studnets: Guidance for Students 2010

Guidance for teachers: Guidance for teachers 2010

Email completed applications to elizabeth.lunn@ncl-coll.ac.uk.

Good Luck!

Smash a wine glass with sound, generate power for a house, make a digital camera – volunteers needed…!

 Do these things sound intriguing? Are you interested in communicating science to a young audience?  Lab in a Lorry needs volunteer scientists and engineers for events across the country this academic year.

What is Lab in a Lorry?

Lab in a Lorry is an interactive mobile laboratory which gives young people (11-14 year olds) the opportunity to explore science through open-ended experiments.  Volunteers guide the students through the experiments (oil and viscous liquids, sound and resonance, light scattering and colours, climate change and energy sources, optoelectronics) and makes sure everyone gets to be involved through hands on experience.

What would I have to do?

You’d be asked to oversee an experiment for the day.  On the morning of an event, you’d receive training on the Lab and we send you all the background material in advance.

 We ask that volunteers commit to a minimum of one full school day but you are welcome to come along for as many days as you like – we have plenty of freebies for you, such as t-shirts, magnets and your very own toy Lab in a Lorry, see the picture below! You also receive free affiliate membership to the Institute of Physics.

More information?

To find out more about what’s involved in volunteering for Lab in a Lorry and where we will be touring, visit our website: http://www.labinalorry.org where our tour schedule is always up to date and contact me on the details below to sign up. Volunteers are the key to the success of Lab in a Lorry and I hope that you will become part of the team.

 2010 Tour Schedule

The Lab requires a minimum of 3 volunteers to run the experiments

and we can take a maximum of 6 people.

 www.labinalorry.org

 Contact: james.bamford@iop.org  07920 118673.

 Join our network of volunteers:

 www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=178467770746

CREST awards- get your school involved!

CREST Awards (11-19 year olds)

• CREST is Britain’s largest national award scheme for project work in the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). It gives young people aged 11-19 opportunities to explore real world projects in an exciting way. CREST links closely to the curriculum and is a great way to make STEM creative and engaging – both in and out of the class.

• CREST was established over 23 years ago. Since then, over 300,000 young people have achieved CREST Awards. In the last year alone over 25,000 CREST Awards have been undertaken.

• For students, CREST Awards are a tangible recognition of success. They can be included in personal records of achievement – and used to enhance applications to universities, colleges and potential employers.

• CREST Awards are extremely flexible – they can link into work experience placements, after-schools clubs or several linked schemes. Some projects might be done in one day – others over several months. Students can investigate or design and make, research a subject, or design a science communication project.
CREST awards are available at three levels:

Bronze
• 10 hours of project work
• Typically completed by 11-14 year olds
• £4 per student

Silver
• 30 hours of project work
• Typically completed by 14-16 year olds
• £8 per student

Gold
• 100 hours of project work
• Typically completed by 16+ year olds
• £15 per student
The levels are progressive but can be awarded separately at any stage. The differentiated levels enable youngsters of all abilities to experience positive achievement in Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths (STEM) and cover many of the required key skills in the process.

Essentials at any level
1. A CREST activity must offer students the opportunity to:
• practise existing scientific and technological skills and experience and develop new ones
• follow a science/technological process
• demonstrate individualised and independent learning
• apply their work to a ‘real world’ context
• research and make use of material and human resource
• demonstrate some creativity or innovation in their work
• communicate their work to audiences, both expert and non expert
• consider the broader implications of the work of scientists and technologists

2. All students monitor their progress with the aid of a Profile Form. Profile forms are available at each level for science and technology projects.

Registration forms can be found at: CREST Registration Form 2009

Please find the CREST award criteria at: New CREST award criteria

TEACHERS CPD OPPORTUNITY

UNDERSTANDING ANIMAL RESEARCH AND THE NATIONAL SCIENCE LEARNING CENTRE

Understanding Animal Research and the National Science Learning Centre are offering 12 grants of £400 each for teachers to participate in residential summer CPD workshop to develop key stage 3 and 4 teaching modules on the science of animal research.

The workshop will take place from 3 – 5 August 2010 at the National Science Learning Centre in York. Delegates should be practising teachers of science at key stages 3 and 4 in England and Wales.

If you are interested in taking part, please send a CV and a brief statement of interest (no more than 250 words) to John Meredith at jmeredith@uar.org.uk or email for more information.

All applications must be submitted by COB Wednesday 30th June 2010.

www.UnderstandingAnimalResearch.org.uk

Opportunities for Teachers – RESEARCHERS IN RESIDENCE

RESEARCHERS IN RESIDENCE

Do you want to engage and motivate your students? Make links with your local university? Provide your students with positive role models – one who is actively engaged in learning themselves? Get your students thinking seriously about careers in science, technology, engineering or maths?

Researchers in Residence is an established and highly regarded placement scheme funded by the UK Research Councils and the Wellcome Trust that places leading PhD and post-doc researchers in schools for up to 24 hours of student contact time. The scheme is open to schools right across the UK and is completely free of charge.

Projects can be tailored to suit your needs; for example, targeting gifted and talented students, students doing coursework or National Science and Engineering Week (which is next March). Placements can be flexible, including practical classroom activities, after-school club projects, lunchtime talks, careers advice or support for small groups.

Over 300 placements were organised in schools across the country in 2008/9. The feedback from teachers and their pupils was overwhelmingly positive. If you’ve never tried Researchers in Residence and want to find out more, or if you’ve done it before and want to try it again, register online at www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk or call 0845 365 7470.

“The programme has had the whole school talking and now teachers from other departments are keen to have a placement!”

Dr Margaret Ritchie, Head of Science Arbroath High School

Register online at www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk

Seeking 10 ambassadors to inspire children with ecology

Call for ambassadors

Conker Tree Science: a national citizen science experiment on parasitism in an invasive species
Funded by NERC Public Engagement
www.ourweboflife.org.uk

The biology: The horse chestnut leaf miner (‘the alien’), an invasive moth
species spreading throughout England and into south Wales, creates
conspicuous brown patches (mines) on the leaves of horse chestnut trees,
and is parasitised by a species of wasp (‘the natural pest controller’).
The project: School-children will provide national data on parasitism levels,
by collecting horse chestnut leaves with mines and rearing out the insects:
are they aliens or pest controllers?
The hypothesis: Do local levels of parasitism vary depending on how long
the alien has been present?
The aim: To teach children about ecology, by letting them participate in a
real scientific research project.
The roles: 10 ambassadors from throughout England and south Wales will
assist with this project, by each recruiting 10 classes of school-children,
visiting schools, inspiring pupils and teachers, collecting leaves, helping
children collect data, and checking their results. Potential ambassadors will
attend a training and selection day in Bristol on 7 June; those selected will
visit their schools at the start (5-9 July) and end of the project (19-23 July).
A small fee to cover expenses will be paid. Ambassadors may be biology
students or graduates, and must have a keen interest in ecology and in
‘spreading the word’ about the environment. As well as recruiting
participants for this experiment via ambassadors, we will achieve media
coverage of the project in order to recruit more participants.

To apply: E-mail your cv with a covering letter, to Nancy Jennings, project
manager, nancy@dotmoth.co.uk by 28 May 2010.
Dr Michael Pocock, University of Bristol
Dr Darren Evans, University of Hull

New Nuffield project for students to apply for – RSPB Project

18. RSPB Project Biodiversity Data Analysis

Farmers opt for a free biodiversity survey and advice on maintaining beneficial bird life on their farm. The data from the farms will come in on paper and the project is to transform that data into a report for the farmer and then to do a comparative report on the findings in that area. 

Students to take on the following:

Length: 4 weeks from 1^st of August with one field trip day in July

Requirements from applicant: n/a

Download student application form here

WANTED: Science Presenters for new Channel 4 Series

‘Are you an experienced medical or science professional who is passionate about your job? Do you have the communication skills and energy to bring this enthusiasm to the screen? Channel 4 and Diverse Production are looking for the next generation of science presenting talent for a new series about the human body. In particular we would like to hear from professionals in the fields of physiology, anatomy, neurology, biology and sports science.’
For more information please send a brief CV, including photo and contact details to harri.watson@diverse.tv.

All applications must be submitted by COB on Tuesday 18^th May 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact Harri Watson directly either by email or by telephone on 020 3189 3248.

£300 funding available for STEM clubs to showcase at the Big Bang North East!

Good afternoon,

I am writing to let you know some money has become available for funding STEM clubs to showcase at the regional Big Bang. Clubs can claim back up to £300 towards their costs for attending the event.

Funding is limited to ten clubs in each region. In the event that we are oversubscribed, priority will be given to:

• clubs that have been established since September 2008
• clubs that are demonstrably active
• clubs that could not have attended without the additional funding being made available

This money is not available to ASSEC funded schools. Clubs will also need to complete a brief evaluation of the event on the STEM clubs network website before funding is released. Emails have very recently been sent to all non-ASSEC funded clubs that are affiliated to the STEM clubs network, inviting them to apply. If you know of a school where this money would be beneficial, then please press for them to apply.

The funding can also be made available to clubs that are not currently affiliated so long as they affiliate before they claim (they have to affiliate to complete the evaluation). If you know of a club that is not affiliated but you would like to invite please let me know their contact details and we will extend the invitation to them as well.

Teachers will need to fill in a short application form which they can get by requesting one from support@stemclubs.net and completing and returning it by no later than 5.30 pm on Tuesday 9th June 2010.

Chance for 2 A-level science Students to win the trip of a lifetime, joining NASA to look for life at the edge of space!

Competition being run by NESTA for A-Level science students.

 We’re giving two students the chance to win the trip of a lifetime, joining NASA to look for life at the edge of space. As part of our education programme NESTA is offering two A-level students the opportunity to take part in a research trip to NASA and the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA.

Three scientists from the NESTA Crucible programme have been working to discover what kinds of life exist at the extreme edge of the atmosphere.

NESTA are sponsoring them to travel to NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, to work with a NASA astrobiology team and the two A-level students will have the opportunity to join the team as they launch the robot 40 kilometres into the stratosphere on a powerful rocket.

Details of the competition challenge and how to enter can be found on NESTAs website at:

http://www.nesta.org.uk/areas_of_work/public_services_lab/education/nasa

We do have a tight deadline due to the amount of time it takes to get security clearance to enter the NASA base and so need entries back by 24 May 2010.  Due to the short time we have to publicise the event it is likely that applications will be lower than they might, so please do urge your students to apply as they may have a greater chance of success than they think. 

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to email me directly (rachel.brazil@nesta.org.uk) or to email the competition address (nasacompetition@nesta.org.uk)