STEM Enhancement & Enrichment Activities (E&E)

Enhancement & Enrichment Activities and Resources (E&E)

Science Festivals

The Science Festivals in the Highlands and Islands are a great resource and bring the enthusiasm about science directly to you!

Still to come this year...

Orkney Science Festival (2-8 September 2010)

Shetland Science Festival (28-30 September 2010), contact: stephenrenwick@shetland.gov.uk

Moray Science Festival (2-5 March 2010), contact: Samantha.Bright@moray.uhi.ac.uk

2011

Caithness Science Festival (March 2011)

Inverness Science Festival (June 2011), contact: Tracey at IN12TT.STAFF5.STAFF@inverness.uhi.ac.uk

Festival of the Sea around Oban (2011), contact: Helen.Mcneill@sams.ac.uk

Hebridean SciTech Festival (March 2011), contact: majellafergus@btinternet.com

Resources

The Institute of Civil Engineers offers two interesting resources. For more information on either please contact John.McPartlin@ice.org.uk  or 0141 221 5276: The Rapid Response Engineering Challenge (RREC) is an activity for S1 and S2 pupils to help them understand the scope of work undertaken by Civil Engineers, particularly in the event of a disaster. The Challenge is built around a hurricane in Honduras where the extent of the devastation requires engineering assistance.  Watch a video! 

Lab in a Lorry is a free resource from the Institute of Physics. This a mobile physics lab demonstrates several physics experiments relevant to S1 and S2 pupils with the help of local volunteers. To find out when the lorry will next be in your area, click here or contact James Bamford at james.bamford@iop.org.

The STEM Challenges are inspired by technical problems involved in the 2012 Olympics. When you register your school as a teacher, you gain access to the different challenges that run each for 6 to weeks before the next one is released. You can enter for the competitions that are judged by STEM Ambassadors.

The British Science Association is a registered charity and aims to advance the public understanding of the sciences and engineering. This includes schools and their website contains lots of information about the different activities and schemes they offer.

The National Science and Engineering Week 2011 in March 2011 will be a nationwide celebration. Help with activities, guides on how to organise events, funding resources and sample activities are available. In September 2010 the grant scheme will be announed - you can apply for £500 to fund your own NSEW event.

The CREST Awards: The different levels of awards for 5 to 19 year old pupils involve science experiments and projects. Have a look at a case study from Orkney. Please download information in pdf format for primary and secondary schools. The local coordinator for the North of Scotland is Frances Chapman at TechFest-SetPoint in Aberdeen: 01224 274 348, f.c.chapman@abdn.ac.uk

The Royal Society Partnership Grants scheme looks for enthusiastic teachers, scientists and engineers to collaborate on innovative projects in schools that will help show students how exciting science can be. With up to £3000 schools can run primary projects like chick development, life cycle of salmon, trout and eel or secondary projects like hydrogen powered buggies, building a wind turbine. The next round of applications will be open on 6 September and will close on 5 November 2010. For more information on the scheme, go to http://royalsociety.org/partnership

Nuffield Foundation Bursaries allow S5 and S6 students who are interested in finding out more about a career in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) the chance to do just that. The bursaries give students a 4-6 week summer placement experience, ideally in the summer between S5 and S6 (earlier and later placements are also possible). The schemes give them the chance to work in leading scientific industries, research institutes and universities during the summer holidays, whilst being paid. Interest can be registered usually in November each year, with applications being accepted from February. Please check the website for current timetables. Have a look at the September 2009 STEM Ambassador case study to see an example. For more information about how your pupils can get involved, contact us on stempoint@hient.co.uk

The Institute of Mechanical Engineers runs the Green Power Challenge. The challenge aims to promote engineering and technology as exciting careers to young people aged 9-21. It aims to do this through the designing, building and racing of electric cars, with Goblins for primary schools and Formula 24 for secondary schools. Last year Kingussie, Tarbert and Thurso performed very well at the Scottish Final - read more in our STEM Ambassador case study, newsletter and press cutting.

 Young Engineers and Science Clubs can help you with setting up a school club. You can join their network and enjoy extra benefits, £100 start-up funding and many free resources. Exxamples are the 15 tried and tested challenges for P6 to S1or the Egg Challenge. Please contact the Highlands and Islands Regional Coordinator Carrie Joss if you would like more information: carrie.joss@scdi.org.uk or 01463 231878

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. It also helps you access valuable support to help you in the classroom in all subject areas. Find out details and register your school's interest to become involved here.

BP Educational Services offer a wide range of free or cheap resources available online, for download or to order. To search for resources, click here.

Sciencelive is a directory of science and engineering speakers, presenters and workshops, coordinated by the British Science Association. A science communicator or STEM Ambassador will come to you, sometimes subject to charge. At the last count there were 17 presenters registered in Scotland. There is also a good list of links to other organisations.

The Smallpeice Trustoffers STEM days where their team comes to your school and runs a half or full day activity with 50 pupils from P7 to S4, most popular in S1/2.  The activities are varied and range from designing, testing, and refining motorcars powered by super-capacitors to propelled gliders, wind turbines, and bridges. For details and cost please see their leaflet.

The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (iom3) runs a Schools Affiliate Scheme. Membership costs £30 for 12 months and you will be provided with free teaching resources and guest speakers to visit your school free of charge. Also, you can attend their nanotechnology conference for science and technology teachers on 13th October 2010 for free.

Generation Science run several different workshops in primary schools. The Lego Mindstorms Challenge, suitable for 30 P4-7 pupils, has been recommended to us by a teacher who has used them before! It's a fun and engaging hands-on introduction to programming and robotics. There is a cost involved, please see the website for details.

K'Next Generation offer a range of K'NEX workshops for nurseries, primary and secondary schools, home educator groups, special needs schools, children's clubs and childcare schemes, family learning programmes and science festivals.

SCI-FUN(the Scottish Science & Technology Roadshow) provide several resources, like the SCI-FUN roadshow (S2 students) and SCI-FUN PRIMER. For a full list of programmes click here.

The Smallpeice Trust offers residential courses for pupils every year at universities throughout the UK. These courses run over a long weekend, are for 13 to 17 year old pupils and cover a variety of subjects. Marine Technology at Strathclyde University will run for 14/15 years olds from 27th June to 1st July 2010 and costs £175 plus travel (but including accomodation and food).

Sensation Science Centre in Dundee hosts the Inside DNA exhibition that investigates developments in the fast-moving fiel of human genomics till 25th April 2010. For the normal entry fee of £7.25 for an adult or £5.25 for 4-16 year olds you can explore the whole Science Centre (group rates available).

Go4SET links teams of six S2 pupils with companies and universities to offer a 10 week Science, Engineering and Technology experience. By providing real and live SET projects, Go4SET will raise the pupils' awareness and highlight the exciting future career opportunities in SET.

The Edinburgh International Science Festival now also has several new events that can come to you. Download this information leaflet in pdf format for a list of activities and contact details. One programme for children up to 6 years is 'Wee Wonder World' and another one 'Dr Woody's Treemendous Tree Trick' about Carbon Dioxide.