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With best wishes
The See Science Team

The newsletter that's an essential source of information and inspiration for teachers and anyone with an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) engagement in Wales.

CONTENTS

STEM news

Spring into STEM
Me an Engineeer
Crest Discovery Day
A Roller Coaster Ride

Local events

Chemistry in the Community
The Great Science Share
Urdd National Eisteddfod
Girls who change the World

Funding opportunities

Institute of Physics Public Engagement Grant

Teacher Awards

Primary Science Teacher Award

Ask a STEM Ambassador to visit your school

A STEM Ambassador's involvement can engage and enthuse both students and teachers. If you are interested in asking a STEM Ambassador to visit your school you can make your request here.

STEM Ambassador website self-service guide and video guides now online

We’ve created brief guides to encourage both STEM Ambassadors and educators to use the self-service.

We have produced video guides outlining how to use the web platform and help teachers and group leaders to find the right STEM Ambassador for their activity.

Video guide for teachers and group leaders

The video has book marks to help you find a relevant section quick

Give us your Ambassador feedback

If an Ambassador has visited your school, or if you have met an Ambassador at an enrichment activity, we would be very grateful if you could fill in our teacher feedback form. Please encourage colleagues to respond.

LATEST STEM NEWS

Spring into Science with Margam Country Park

A new initiative in partnership with Margam Country Park was launched for National Science Week.
Following several meetings at the Park two STEM Days took place: Sunday 10^th and Monday 11^th March. The venue was the Victorian Gothic Castle which provided huge spaces for the exhibition.
On Sunday family groups visited many activities at stands, and despite the rough weather 300 visitors were welcomed.
Over the two days STEM Ambassadors included, Archaeology (Poppy Hodkinson) TT Electronics Marcus Davies and team, DVLA Ambassadors, CITER (Cardiff Institute of Tissue and Repair Kaiya Bartram-Daly), Network Rail, British Computer Society, Jon Laver (Parametrics), Chemistry busking, BAE Systems and Diamond Dust Robots.

The following day (with better weather!) offered a fantastic experience for Ysgol Cwm Brombil and Ysgol Tonnau where 90 pupils visited to take part in the hands on activities. It was an extra bonus to have the amazing ICE Bridges to Schools. A team of 12 Engineer STEM Ambassadors was ably led by Leighton Jones of Atkins Global and Christina Kio of Skanska. The team made wonderful impact, comments from teachers:

“An excellent day - everyone had a great understanding of what they were teaching the pupils.” Teacher Jenny Tomkins
“We would definitely like to be part of this in future”
“We rarely do practical sciences – it shows what can be done if you have knowledge and confidence”
“What a great way to teach Science – fun and inspiring” Margam Park volunteers

Pupils were given STEM cards to take to each stand, STEM Ambassadors handed stickers for the cards when pupils visited an activity and engaged well to add focus to the experience.

Me an Engineer - hands on Engineering with Rhymney Schools

Over 180 pupils in the Rhymney Valley took part in the ‘Me an Engineer’ project which is funded by the IET during March 2019. Year 6 pupils from six primary schools were encouraged to think about the importance of bridges in Wales. They studied; design, structure, type and purpose. The aim of the session was to understand more about the process Engineers go through, when designing some of the most iconic bridges in Wales.
They went on to build their own bridges using a mixture of biscuits, followed by K’nex to make the strongest possible beam bridge.

Bryn Awel who were the first to take part in the challenge, enjoyed the team working aspect of the project. They were surprised by how difficult it was to build a simple bridge to carry a light load. Whereas, White Rose pupils welcomed the
opportunity to sort the biscuits in to categories before building a small river bridge.

The half day introductory workshop is part of a wider project to inspire and enthuse pupils to study STEM subjects and to promote STEM skills. Each Primary school will carry out their own ‘Bridge Project’ which will be presented at a
celebration event at Idris Davies High School on 11 July 2019. Similar events are talking place in Llanelli and in Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd during May, June and July. The project is co-ordinated by See Science and funded by the IET

Crest Discovery Day

Last term, 8 schools from across Wales – primary and secondary - took advantage of our offer of running a free CREST Discovery Day for them, enabling a whole year group to gain a CREST Award in one day. Schools were given the option of either the Stop the Spread activity or Wild Creations.

The theme of Stop the Spread is stopping the spread of infectious diseases in developing countries by focusing on hand washing amongst school children. Pupils discuss how diseases spread from person to person before considering the lack of hygiene facilities in developing countries. The main challenge of the day is to design and build, from recycled materials, a hand-washing device for a school playground in Kenya that can collect and store rainwater. Alongside this practical element pupils have to devise a campaign to teach 8 year olds about the need to wash their hands and how to do so properly. As well as obvious STEM links the activity has a Global Citizenship theme.

Wild Creations was funded by the Welsh Government to tie in with the Curriculum for Wales and uses the Welsh company ’Wild Creations’ - famous for creating the rugby ball bursting out of Cardiff Castle during the 2015 Rugby World Cup - as an inspiration for pupils to design and build models of their own wild creations to represent their culture. The culture element can give rise to some great discussions! Ideas that stemmed from these discussions were very different, depending on the school and its location. For instance, Llwyncrwn Primary and Ysgol Castellau in Beddau near Pontypridd joined together for their Discovery Day and most of the models were based on Welsh themes such as daffodils, rugby and dragons, whereas Maendy Primary in Newport is one of the most multicultural schools in Wales and their models reflected the inclusive ethos of the school with lots of national flags, religious symbols and intertwined hands.

All CREST Discovery Day activities come with freely downloadable resources which include detailed guides for teachers and plenty of background information. They are appropriate for yrs 5 to 9 and lend themselves well to a collapsed timetable day activity suitable to run with a whole year group. More information can be found here or contact Llinos at llinos.misra@see-science.co.uk.

DON’T FORGET THAT CREST AWARDS (Discovery, Bronze) ARE FREE ONLY IN WALES AS THE WELSH GOVERNMENT ARE KEEN TO PROMOTE AND FUND THEM FOR SCHOOLS AND ORGANISATIONS THAT SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE.

A Roller coaster Ride with Ysgol Bryn Clwyd

Your STEM Ambassador Hub has a wide range of practical resources available for loan. One kit was put to very good use by Ysgol Bryn Clwyd Denbighshire as part of their Forces project on Theme Park Rides. Assistant HeadTeacher Vicky Lyons contacted me for local of the kit and most importantly the input of a STEM Ambassador to extend the knowledge and experience for her pupils.

The kit uses KNEX to build and test the forces on a carriage, each ride is assembled by pupils.

David Hinchliffe is a Financial Controller at Magnox and kindly took on the request.

Following a very successful visit David reported
“I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the school and was impressed with the enthusiasm and interest shown by all the pupils I met. We all had a very entertaining morning.

Chemistry in the Community - free chemistry workshops

See Science will be offering Community Groups such as Brownies, Guides, Scouts, Urdd, and Youth Clubs the opportunity to take part in a free Chemistry workshop funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry between 1 March and 30 June.

The workshop will offer a carousel of 4 different activities which will focus on the Chemistry of the High Street and will also provide an opportunity for leaders to encourage young people to participate in a CREST Award if they wish. All materials will be provided free of charge. For more information about booking a Chemistry in the Community workshop please contact Llinos at llinos.misra@see-science.co.uk

The Great Science Share for Schools is Already having reached over 50,000 young people since its launch in 2016, we are excited to invite you to be part of the collaborative 2019 campaign.Teachers and educators UK-wide, across Europe and Internationally are invited to take part. By promoting child-centred learning in science, the campaign provides opportunity for young people to communicate their scientific questions and investigations to new audiences - in their own words and ways.If you’re a teacher, school, parent or STEM educator or business looking to enhance young people’s experience of science, and their Science Capital, get involved in a way that promotes the Great Science Share for Schools ethos.

What’s the Great Science Share for Schools campaign all about? Watch this video to find out!

Urdd National Eisteddfod Cardiff 27 May - 2 June

The Urdd National Eisteddfod is one of Europe’s largest youth touring festivals that attracts around 90,000 visitors each year across six days.
See Science will have a stand in Gwyddonle - the Science Pavillion at the Eisteddfod all week
for more information go to https://www.urdd.cymru/en/eisteddfod/
Don't miss some fantasatic workshops atr the Cardiff University Pavillion. - more information here

Girls who change the world

IBM, STEM Learning and Marvel Studios have teamed up to celebrate the cinema release of Captain Marvel by asking girls to channel their superpowers and be part of Girls Who Change the World!

You can use the banner below to tell your network about the competition and find out more at www.stem.org.uk/girls-who-change-the-world.

Read more

Designed by teachers , built for pupils - it's time for your say on the draft curriculum for Wales

The journey towards the rollout of Wales’ new curriculum in 2022 reaches a major mileston with

Funding opportunities

Institute of Physics Public Engagement Grant Scheme is now open!!

Our public engagement grant scheme provides up to £3000 to individuals and organisations running physics-based events and activities in the UK and Ireland.

The grant scheme has two rounds each year. Round 1 of the 2019 scheme is now open for applications received by 5pm on Friday 31 May 2019. You can find the application form and guidance here.

This grant is for projects taking place after 1 August 2019 and finishing before the end of July 2020.

We strongly recommend applicants get in touch with Paul Branch, coordinator of this round of the grant scheme, to discuss ideas and ask questions before submission. You can get in touch by emailing paul.branch@iop.org.

To find out more about projects we have previously funded please visit our website.

Awards

Primary Science Teacher Award

Help shape science for the better
Teachers that are doing incredible work, raising standards, excelling in tough conditions and going above and beyond deserve to be celebrated. The Primary Science Teacher Awards do just that – we celebrate, reward and provide a plethora of opportunity for these deserving teachers.

The awards are open to all current practising Primary Teachers (full or part-time) who:

Are innovative and creative in teaching science
Inspire colleagues and contribute to developing science in their school and beyond
Engage pupils in the excitement and fascination of science.

Established in 2003, the awards are presented during the Annual Primary Science Teacher College Conference. Teachers who win the award support colleagues in their own and other schools either locally, regionally or nationally to raise the profile of science. They will automatically be inducted into the Primary Science Teacher College as a College Fellow where they have access to many benefits including funding in excess of £500,000 to help shape primary science for the better.

The achievements of these amazing teachers are celebrated at an awards ceremony at which family, friends and colleagues can gather together to watch their friends and loved ones be recognised for their outstanding achievements.

Nominate a teacher here

Latest CPD from your Science Learning Partnership

To find out more about the latest CPD from your Science Learning Partnership click here