National Science and Engineering Competition Winners

Keith Alexander and Erik Bews from Kirkwall Grammar School in Orkney are winners in the Intermediate Age Category of  Science and Maths Section of the National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW) Competition held at the Big Bang Fair in Manchester in March.

Keith and Erik's project was to determine how accurately a newly installed wave and current tank can produce a requested set of conditions. The project was 4-6 weeks of research for International Centre of Island Technology (ICIT) Herriot Watt University in Orkney as a Nuffield Bursary in conjuction with Scott Renewables. The boys also received the Best Physics Project in their age group from the Institute of Physics. As well as a monetary prize the boys both received experience prizes.In August they will be visiting the Bracklands Motor Museum in Surrey as part of their NSEW Competition prize and the  Diamond Light source and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire as part of the IOP prize. A Crest Gold Award has also been awarded for this project as well.

 The CREST Awards offer different levels of awards for 5 to 19 year old pupils involving 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 Young Engineers in Showcase Event Around 200 pupils, teachers and companies took part in SCDI’s Young Engineer and Science Clubs inaugural and Islands Showcase which was held on 25 March at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness supported by event partners STEM North of Scotland and the Scottish Government. In addition to showcasing their projects, the school clubs enjoyed exciting hands-on science and technology activities. Schools also competed against one another in a series of technology challenges. Dallas Primary, Moray, was crowned the Primary School Champion and Kinlochleven High School scooped the Secondary School Award.The feedback from the day has been excellent and the students and teachers can't wait for next year's event. To see more photos of this event please visit the website.

Please contact Carrie Joss carrie.joss@scdi.org.uk if you would like to find out more joining the Young Engineers and Science Club Network. £100 start up grant is available to all new clubs.

The Leaders Award

recognises and rewards those young people who have shown an interest in STEM. To enter as a team or individual, write a letter of application, followed by an interview with a person who works in the field of STEM - this could be one of our STEM Ambassadors. Look at this page for more information and download guidance notes.

There are three categories, have a look at some intervies that have already been posted:

5-11 (primary), 11-16 (secondary) and

16-19 (advanced). There are now also special awards from

Bloodhound SSC, WISE, IMechE, IChemE and the RAeSoc

with special focus, prizes and deadlines.

Glasgow Science Centre brings tours like Bodyworks (for P1-S2) and The Maths Factor (for P4-S2) to you. Charges apply for the half or full day shows, but the good news is that in 2009/10 there are no extra travel charges, even if you live in the far north. It would be best to cluster several schools together to make most use of this funding. Bodyworks is coming to the Inverness Science Festival at the end of June - schools around Inverness could use this opportunity to book their own show around that time. One full day for 120 pupils and 4 hands-on workshops costs £375+VAT but no extra travel costs.

A new STEM Challenge has started on 1st February! Inspired by technical problems involved in the 2012 Olympics, students complete 6 to 8 week long challenges. When you register your school as a teacher, you gain access to the different challenges. Entries into the competitions are judged by STEM Ambassadors.

The lab in a lorry will tour the Highlands and Islands - have a look at the current timetable (including locations) and let us know if you are interested to help out (as Ambassador) or would like to visit (as a teacher) - just email stempoint@hient.co.uk

Three new Science Festivals started in 2010:

the Hebridean SciTech Festival from 18th to 20th March in Stornoway, the Festival of the Sea from 21st to 31st May 2010, taking place around Oban and the Inverness Science Festival in June 2010.   

Latest STEM news articles

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Stornoway gets funds for SciTech Festival and Funding for Hebridean SciTech Festival and also on the BBC and the Parliament Business Bulletin

Rocket man in Elgin to spread the word

Laundry Day at Castletown and Reay Primary

STEM Ambassadors offer an insight into Science

Science Festivals

Moray Science Festival: March 2011. For more information please email Samantha Bright on Samantha.Bright@moray.uhi.ac.uk

 

Caithness Science Festival: March 2011. The festival is organised by the Committee Science03.

 

Hebridean SciTech Festival: March 2011. Contact Majella Fergus on majellafergus@btinternet.com for more details

 

Become a fan of the festival on facebook

 

Festival of the Sea: May 2011. The Marine Science Festival will take place in and around Oban. Phone Helen McNeil for more details on 01631 559430.

  

Inverness Science Festival: June 2011. See www.monsterfest.com for more details

 

 

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