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ASE Cymru Conference - Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum of Wales

Over 90 delegates attended 'STEM and the New Curriculum' conference at St Fagan's National History Museum on 13 October despite the ferocious weather. A partnership event between the ASE Cymru and Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales.

The keynote session featured a useful and informative panel discussion on preparations for the new Curriculum in Wales. The panel included Tom Crick, Chair of National Network for Excellence in Science & Technology; Sue Quirk, Education through Regional Working; Andrew Jones, Ysgol Glan y Mor; Elaine Stockdale, Tongwynlais Primary School and Sharon Pascoe, Fochriw Primary School.
The discussion received very positive feedback including:
“Very interesting workshops and new ideas for teaching the new curriculum”
“Engaging speakers with excellent ideas for practical work”
“Really impressed by National Museum’s Resources”

Teachers were then provided with an opportunity to attend breakout sessions to allow in-depth discussions focusing on primary, secondary and sector-wide STEM learning.

This was followed by lunch and an opportunity to visit the exhibition area, where there were displays by Data Harvest, Hodder, Timstar, Gratnells and the Royal Society, together with other local exhibitors.

Hands on workshops in the afternoon were very popular and provided teachers with lots of ideas and resources for the classroom. The plastics workshop by Lewis Brown, National Marine Aquarium Association, involved participants becoming part of an ocean food web. Glen Gilchrist, Consortium South Central, lead a popular workshop about the role of Practical work in science lessons which provided food for thought. Other participants enjoyed the creative chemistry of 'Let's Explore' with Dayna Mason from the Royal Society of Chemistry. A coding workshop with Andy Harper, University of South Wales, provided opportunities to learn how to code robots. Heather Jackson, National Museum Cardiff, and Debbie Syrop, Cardiff University School of Engineering, led a practical session on how schools can plan a mission to Mars. Finally, participants braved the weather with Ieuan Donovan, St Fagans National History Museum, and explored how to use scientific surveys in a creative way.

The new Atrium building at St Fagans National Museum of History provided an excellent space for the creative and informative discussions and workshops that helped make this year's conference a success. 

Teen Tech City of the Future at Ysgol Islwyn, Blackwood

Over 200 students from 7 Primary schools shared their ideas for the TeenTech City of Tomorrow in the first 2018 showcase day for young people in SE Wales.
The project invites students to apply bold thinking to creating the ‘kinder, safer and smarter’ world they would like to live in whilst surfacing some of the ‘invisible’ jobs which these young people will be doing in the future.

Young people are inspired to consider careers they may not have realized existed and given the confidence to believe that they can shape the future.

TeenTech provide schools with inspiring resources to lead the project which is designed to
be versatile so schools can run it independently or form a ‘cluster’ where secondaryschools acting as the hub co-ordinator for feeder primary schools.

Year 7 students from Islwyn High School worked with younger student in 7 primaries,
(Cwmfelinfach, Rhiw Sir Dafydd, Bryn, Penllwyn , Pontllanfraith, Trinant, Ynysddu) to
produce 64 buildings which re-imagined everything from the future home to the future
transport hub, the future entertainment centre to the future hospital. All buildings have to
be made from recycled materials.

The showcase day hosted by Islwyn provided an opportunity for the young people to meet
judges from across industry who provided feedback on their models and for them to
progress ideas for the internet of things by participating in a TeenTech workshop led by a
game designer. CEO TeenTech and former Tomorrow’s World presenter Maggie Philbin who hosted the day said, “It was great to hear feedback from students and teachers on how much students (and teachers) enjoyed the project. It’s designed to be very easy for a non-subject specialist to lead whilst providing plenty of opportunities for schools to go into considerable depth if they wish. Students quickly see how creative the world of science and technology can be and how it really makes a difference to our lives. The world of work is changing very quickly and it’s vital for students to see how they might want to be part of this. The project brings the world of science and technology to life.

‘We want to say a massive thank you to the students, teachers, industry ambassadors and
to Islywn School especially who worked so hard to make this happen. A team from each of
the schools will be now chosen to participate in the national showcase at The Emirates
Stadium in London on April 2nd 2019.

Schools across Wales can register here to receive all the resources they need to participate in the project.

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IET Faraday Santa Loves STEM Video and Competition – Win a KANO Computer Kit Touch!

Santa Loves STEM yn ôl ac eleni mae'r IET yn dod â stori ysbrydoledig i chi o sut roedd STEM (gwyddoniaeth, technoleg, peirianneg a mathemateg) yn chwarae rhan enfawr wrth wneud gwahaniaeth i 

• Do you like exploring?
• Do you like fixing things?
• Are you creative?
• Do you never give up?

Engineers have all these qualities too… and more!

See the video here.

We hope you’re inspired by this short film. Please share it with your friends and children to help spread the word that #SantaLovesSTEM

Remember there’s an engineer in each of us, all you need is imagination!

To enter the competition, post a picture or video clip on IET Faraday Twitter or Facebook with the #SantaLovesSTEM  and show us how you, your school or children are being inspired by STEM and our IET Faraday resources. You must state whether you are entering the primary category or the secondary category.

We are offering two KANO Computer Kit Touch (worth £279.99), one each for a random primary and a random secondary submission.