Archive
August 26, 2010 - 3:29 pm
The North East Science Alliance (NESA) provides people who work in science communication and education the opportunity to network, share ideas and form collaborations. The informal meetings typically start at 7pm, after refreshments have been served, with short presentations about current projects, research or other schemes of interest from a variety of speakers.
NESA also promotes the opportunity to network with contacts, and this is carried out with plenty of time at the face to face meetings, but also via a Google Group that allows members to share news, job opportunities, discuss current issues and pass on information.
The aims of the NESA are:
- to promote public dialogue about science in its broadest sense
- to raise the profile of public engagement activities in North East England
- to encourage the co-ordination of public engagement activities in North East England
- to promote collaboration in accessing funding, staging activities and making the most of all of our resources to maximize public engagement with science
As a member of the NESA you will be able to attend the quarterly meetings, give presentations and share information as well as taking advantage of this excellent networking opportunity.
Membership of NESA is free and open to anyone working to engage the public with science; the network is run by volunteers and relies on the generosity of hosts, presenters and organisers providing assistance free of charge to operate. To join, and learn about future meetings, please sign up at: http://groups.google.com/group/ne-science-alliance For more information, please visit the British Science Association website, which hosts information about the network: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/nesa
August 25, 2010 - 1:01 pm
For anyone who doesn’t get enough science at school and wants to do some in their spare time too, Centre for Life’s Science Club for 6-14 year olds includes hands-on experiments and things to make around a different theme each month (details at www.life.org.uk – search for Science Club).
New for this year are our weekend Science Sessions for teenagers (13 and above). No membership is required to attend the sessions, anyone interested can join the Facebook group (Newcastle ScienceSessions) or sign up to the mailing list on sciencesessions@life.org.uk and book into sessions that they’d like to attend. Topics for science sessions are decided collaboratively between Life staff and the participants and have included DNA fingerprinting, make your own robot and (very) Energetic Chemistry.
August 23, 2010 - 3:41 pm
In anticipation of the release of the 2010 ‘A’ level results, a leading educational charity, the EDT, has said that good information needs to be provided at an early stage to encourage students into careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Dr Gordon Mizner, Chief Executive of the EDT says, “Students normally make their choice of ‘A’ level subjects before GSCE results at the age of 15 or 16 and often have made choices even before this stage. They base these decisions on what they see of life around them. The problem is that in the media, and on television in particular, they see lots of examples of people with careers in the arts, entertainment, drama and the media, but far too few examples of people with exciting careers in science, engineering or technology. They need to have greater input on the possibilities of STEM careers before they make these important decisions.”
Dr Mizner pointed out that programmes providing industry/education links to engage students in projects and experiences enabled them to see STEM subjects being used in a commercial environment.
He says, “Of the students on our ‘Go4SET’ programme for 12 -14 year olds, 68% said that the experience made them more likely to study science and maths subjects at school (31% have an unchanged opinion). Greater participation in this type of scheme can provide the significant shift in attitudes towards STEM subjects that the recent Dyson Report identified as being vital to prevent skills shortages in the very industries to which we are looking to provide the engine for UK growth in coming years.”
- 10:27 am
Information on Challenge 4Challenge title: The Travel Challenge
Launch date: Monday 6th September 2010
Deadline for entries: Monday 1st November 2010
Judging dates: 1st and 8th December 2010
Challenge Final: at ASE Conference, Reading, 06 January 2011
Challenge description:
Can you help to reduce the carbon footprint of spectators travelling to London 2012?
BP – the official oil and gas partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games – is challenging Key Stage 3 (or equivalent) students to make proposals for sustainable travel options at Games time.
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games present London and the UK with a huge transport challenge: approximately 8 million tickets will be on sale during the Olympic Games, with a further 2 million available for the Paralympics. As part of making the Games sustainable, transport is an important consideration and much is being done to identify how CO can be greatly reduced. Spectators will be encouraged to use public transport, walk or cycle – in fact,
London 2012 would like 100% of spectators and workforce to travel to London venues by the most sustainable modes.
The Challenge is to make sustainable travel plans for the journey from your school to two different Olympic and Paralympic venues. We suggest you take approximately four weeks to complete the Challenge, ideally this would be done as a Club activity. Your research should also be used to create a short presentation on sustainable travel. You will need to work in teams of four to six people, and think carefully about what your team can achieve in the available time – manage your time effectively, sharing out tasks and not taking on more than can be realistically completed.
August 18, 2010 - 12:11 pm
STEMNET’s interactive platform for teachers, employers and STEM Ambassadors – STEMNetworking – is now live. If you are an Approved STEM Ambassador you will be able to have a STEMNetworking profile (which you can also make publicly accessible if you want to).
STEMNetworking allows you to:
- Update blogs about the latest exciting school visits in which you have been involved
- View and respond to the latest school requests
- Add and download activity ideas and resources
Teachers and employers can now use the site to view Ambassador profiles and schools can also submit online requests to work with Ambassadors. [Please note, they will only be able to view publicly accessible STEM Ambassador profiles (see more information about public profiles below) unless they have their own employer or school profile set up on STEMNetworking.]
To make your profile live on STEMNetworking, please follow these steps:
- Go to https://db.stemnet.org.uk/ and log into your online record, using your usual login details
- Tick the ‘opt in to STEMNetworking‘ box on your ‘Data Protection’ page
- Click ‘Update’ to make your profile live
- Log out of your profile
- Login to STEMNetworking at http://networking.stemnet.org.uk/ using your usual login details
You can also make your STEMNetworking profile publicly accessible by clicking the coloured ‘click here to make (your profile) publicly viewable’ link at the top of your profile page, allowing you to share details about your work promoting STEM subjects and careers to young people with a wider audience including schools, teachers, employers and potential STEM Ambassadors.
Please be assured that your privacy will be protected, and none of your contact details will be shared with other users.
August 5, 2010 - 3:05 pm
Would you like to be involved in Scarborough Engineering Week 2011?
The aim of Scarborough Engineering Week is for local engineering businesses to work together with local schools and colleges to inspire the young to consider engineering as a potential future career. In 2011 Scarborough Engineering Week will run during w/c 10th October for 5 days at the Spa complex in Scarborough. Scarborough’s first ever engineering week was run in Plaxtons showroom in May 2010. We attracted approximately 400 visitors to the event and showcased the AMRC’s technologies truck of the future MANTRA. We also had a formula one car, robot playing golf, a laser cutter and factory tours of Blue Bird Vehicles Ltd and Plaxton Ltd (all of which were donated in kind).
Our mission for Engineering Week 2011 is to make the event even bigger and better than before, we would like to show a real breadth of engineering by demonstrating a range of engineering toys which are manned to inspire the young and would like to attract more visitors from within the region than this year.
If you or anyone you know would like to get involved in the event please contact Shona Lloyd (contact details below).
Shona Lloyd
Market Development Manager (KTP Associate)
Unison Ltd
A: Unison Ltd, Olympian Trading Estate, Cayton Low Road, Eastfield, Scarborough, YO11 3BT
T: 01723 580138
E: shonal@unisonltd.com
W: www.unisonltd.com
