Activity ideas
Some opportunities for you to get active as a STEM Ambassador are listed below; if you are interested in taking part in any of the events please contact Janice at ambassadors@hient.co.uk
Student support
As one of your STEM Ambassadors activities you could help a student that is doing a Scottish Baccalaureate in Science. If you are interested, please visit the website for more general information and contact Laura for details what would be expected from you as an Ambassador: laura.keenan@hient.co.uk or 01463 244274.
Researchers in Residence funds short placements of Phd students or post-docs in secondary schools and is funded by the Research Councils and the Wellcome Trust . This is a great way to motivate, inspire and improve student’s learning potential through interaction with real life researchers. Find out details and register you interest to become involved here.
Resources for lessons and ideas for activities
If you are looking for practical things to do when you visit young people in schools, look no further. We have collected some freely available resources that you can include in your presentation or activity. You can also look at our resources page for teachers and maybe find something there or in the subcategories Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
Please make sure before your visit that the teacher is happy with the experiment or activitiy and there are no safety issues to be addressed!
Science Project Ideas for primary children.
Would you like to use K'NEX in your activity? The K'NEX user group has free resources available, both for classic K'NEX and Kid K'NEX: Models to build, K'NEX Challenges, information sheets about building bridges, machines and robots or working with children aged 3 to 7. Also have a look at the handy hints section!
The Institute of Physics has put together several activity packs that STEM Ambassadors can do together with primary school children. There are 12 different subjects covered, examples being forces, sound, light and electricity.
They also have a list of 20 Physics Tricks complete with instructions and videos.
The bumblebee conservation trust has some primary school resources to offer (click on resources) and also produces a free education pack for primary 2 and 3 classes. The lesson plans and teaching materials are in both Gaelic and Englisch and are designed to meet curriculum needs. They can be contacted at enquiries@bumblebeeconservation.org to request the "Save our Bumblebees" education pack.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council have a range of free to download educational resources. Click here and scroll down to Popular Science and Schools and Education: first up is Astronomy and Space, and further down Particle and Nuclear Physics.
Sciencebob is a US website that offers ideas for some experiments and detailed worksheets for others.
Practical Chemistry has a list of over 200 experiments, including detailed instructions and health & safety guidance.
Why not Chem Eng has a booklet with 12 experiments to download, just click here. There are also videos of flash bang demos, with instructions sheets.
At schoolscience the e-source xpress page offers access to a variety of resources covering Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Primary Science and Quizzes & Fun. On the left hand side you can also select by different age groups between 5 and 19.
