First Lego League  Wales

Pupils from over 20 primary and secondary schools across South Wales enjoyed participating in the FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge online at the end of January. The overall winners of the South East heat were  the “Crazy Cadoxton Creators” from Cadoxton Primary School. All teams enjoyed the event – even though there was no opportunity to meet each other face to face and we are very grateful to all the judges who volunteered to participate - all teams received medals and prizes in individual heats.

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of the Crazy Cadoxton Creators today! They thoroughly enjoyed the competition and it was made as real as possible which was fab! A big shout to you and the rest of your team for making it happen for our teams!” Hannnah Cogbill

Overall winners of the South West heat were Holy Name Roman Catholic Primary School – “A huge thank you to you and all of the other judges for giving their time to organise this morning's event. It was so well organised and easy to navigate, even for a first timer like myself! My class were buzzing with excitement just to be in the competition and absolutely overjoyed to be the champions so please pass on our thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable and memorable experience for all those involved.” Diolch! Nicky Thomas
Unfortunately storm Eunice delayed the last heat on Friday 18^th February as all schools were closed  but we hope to run the competition as soon as possible during the next half term

We wish all the teams well at  the National Final which will be a hybrid event held in Harrogate.

First Lego League is a global STEM programme for teams of young people, to encourage an interest in real world themes and develop key skills that are crucial for their future careers. Young people work together to explore a given topic and to design, build and program an autonomous LEGO® robot to solve a series of missions.
If you would like more information about the competition and details of how to register for the 2023 events please contact enquiries@see-science.co.uk
Pictures: Cadoxton Primary School; Holy Name Catholic Primary School

Chris Jeynes STEM coaching 

Chris’ daughter is a music and drama teacher. The local primary school Garnteg Primary was eager to have a lesson on science with practical elements. 
Having a STEM Ambassador in the family was ideal to help deliver a lesson for Yr 5 pupils
Lesson focus was electricity, power stations renewable energy etc.
By loaning a Van der Graaff and small electrical kit from the Cardiff office, Chris was able to training his daughter and develop a lesson plan for her to deliver the session.‘The children were very engaged for a sustained period with observing and exploring the apparatus which was used as part of a science lesson. 

The children learned about electrons,  electricity,  conductors,  fossil fuels and wind power.  The lesson was observed by the deputy head teacher (maths specialist) who was impressed with how the resources helped the children to connect with key scientific concepts.  She also said that the equipment was exactly what was needed to deliver the new Welsh curriculum and effectively fulfilled the pedagogical concept of authentic contexts. 

The lesson was extended to the next day due to child interest in the subject.  Several children expressed how much they loved science.’

Get involved in British Science Week, 11-20 March #BSW

British Science Week is a 10-day programme of thousands of events running throughout the whole of the UK with the aim of celebrating science, technology, engineering and maths.

Schools play a big part in bringing #BSW alive for pupils and the wider community. Schools are free to do whatever suits them to celebrate the STEM subjects. Some schools devote a whole week to a variety of STEM activities, others may run a whole school science-themed day while some may devote just their usual science lessons to a special #BSW-themed activity. If this is your first year of involvement, it’s fine to start small then build on your success and expand your involvement next year.

Although there is no set theme for #BSW and schools are free to do any activities they like, there are themed Activity Packs full of ideas and resources to help schools and community groups get involved. This year’s theme is Growth. There are 4 separate packs for Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Community. Each Activity Pack has general tips for running #BSW activities and a collection of age-appropriate activities with an emphasis on cross-curricular learning and breaking down stereotypes surrounding STEM. Also, on the same theme there is a Poster Competition, the closing date for which is 15 April. The Activity Packs are available on the BSW website at all times, along with the packs from previous years – a very useful set of STEM resources!

STEM Ambassadors are a valuable resource all year round but are particularly busy during #BSW brining real life STEM experiences into classrooms in all sorts of engaging ways from talks and Q&A sessions to demonstrations and workshops.

#BSW is an ideal time to incorporate CREST Awards into your curriculum – every pupil from FP to KS3 could earn an Award (FREE in Wales) during the week! Celebrating STEM isn’t just for #BSW so why not extend your pupils’ activities and get involved with the Great Science Share for Schools? Contact llinos.misra@see-science.co.uk for more information on either of these.

However you to choose to celebrate it, enjoy British Science Week 2022!

IOP Wales - Stars by the Sea - Our place in the universe. 25 - 26 March. Aberystwyth 

Join IOP Wales for this event on Friday evening and/or Saturday at The Bandstand, Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth SY23 2BY

Time:  Friday 5.30pm – 7.30pm  Suitable for adults, families and community groups

An opportunity to find out about the our place in the Universe, the stars and the planets. Wrap up warm to explore the wonders of the night sky with telescopes. Take a star walk led by staff from the IOP who will bring science, arts and creativity together. Listen to starry stories, create some astronomy-themed crafts or create an illuminated model of the constellations. Details and booking here.

Time : Saturday 10am – 2.30pm 

Suitable for primary teachers,  and those interested in pursuing a career in teaching. A varied programme of talks (lunch included): 

• the electromagnetic spectrum - it’s relevance to astronomy and the Curriculum in Wales
• exoplanets 
• the application of waves to cosmology

Culminating in a trip on the Cliff Railway – a relaxing trip to enjoy this majestic panoramic view of the Cambrian Coast on the longest funicular electric cliff railway in Britain. Ice Cream provided! Details and booking here. 

World Book Day. STEM in Storytelling. Thursday 3 March 11am - 1pm. Online

World Book Day 2022 will take place across the country on Thursday, 3 March.

STEM into Storytelling a chance to promote and encourage storytelling in your classroom . 8 different scientists and engineers will be reading a book of their choice and you and your pupils are welcome to join the session to listen.

Details and registration here.
Please follow the blog for the event here

Rewilding the landfill environment. Monday 7 March 4 - 4.15pm OR Tuesday 8 March 12.45 - 1pm. Online

STEM Curriculum Project opportunity with Anglesey and Gwynedd Schools. 

STEM Ambassador Jim Langley will introduce you to project Wild Landfill. Rewilding the post industrial landscape.

Exclusive to primary and secondary schools in Ynys Mon and Gwynedd this is a multi agency funded project to restore landfill sites back to nature.

A key component of the project is the Educational outcome by connecting with schools in these Local Authorities. 

Jim will explain the options for curricular linked activities including:

• School workshops and talks 
• Site visits to the projects
• Provision of resources and materials to aid curricular linked learning

Book here for Monday.  Book here for Tuesday.

Stop Dropping Litter - Book Reading. Tuesday 15 March 9.15 - 10am. Online

For this year's British Science Week, join The3Engineers team to hear about their character Scout in their series of engaging books raising awareness of environmental issues.

During the session they will:

• Read from their first book in 'The Adventures of Scout' series, ‘STOP DROPPING LITTER!
• Hold an interactive Q&A session about Scout and her adventures to help improve the planet

This session is aimed at learners in Foundation Phase.

You should book one ticket per showing, e.g. one ticket per class/group. 

Details and booking here.

Wales Outdoor Learning Week 2022. March 28 - April 3

An important date for your diary! Wales Outdoor Learning Week will be running from the 28th of March to the 3rd April this year.

Organised by Natural Resources Wales and the Wales Council for Outdoor Learning, join the celebration as an educator, parent or learner and get outdoors.  You are never too old to learn and just when you think you’re clued up on trees there’s always wildflowers, bird calls and 700 different species of seaweed in UK waters to brush up on.  

A full calendar of events will be announced soon providing opportunities for you to tune into and ideas for you to try. How will you and your learners get involved? 

Details here.

Moon Camp Challenge

Moon Camp is an education project run in collaboration between ESA and the Airbus Foundation, in partnership with Autodesk. It uses innovative learning technologies to challenge students to design their own Moon settlement with a 3D modelling tool (Tinkercad or Fusion 360). It features preparatory classroom activities that focus on learning by-design and science experimentation.

Teams first have to develop a number of interdisciplinary experiments to explore the extreme environment of space and understand how astronauts could live on the Moon. Then they have to design their Moon Camp, which should be adapted to the Moon environment, consider the use of local resources and provide protection and living and working facilities for the astronauts.

Moon Camp is divided in three separate categories featuring different levels of complexity: Moon Camp Discovery, Moon Camp Explorers and Moon Camp Pioneers.

Be creative and start designing your own Moon Camp now!

Closing date for registrations 21 April.  Details here.

British Science Week Poster Competition

The theme for British Science Week 2022 poster competition is ‘Growth’.

Your poster could explore a tadpole’s journey into a fully grown adult frog, or look at the ways population growth is affecting the planet. For inspiration on poster ideas, check out the 2021 on the competition website!

We wish that everyone could be a winner, but we only have a limited number of prizes. So, here’s the lowdown on what the judges will be looking for:

• Creativity in approach – Innovative angle on the content or creative interpretation of the theme
• Content – Clear, accurate and informative about a STEM topic
• Effective communication – presented and communicated in an engaging way

There are 4 age categories from 3 to 14 years old. 

The deadline for entering the competition is 5pm on the 15 April 2022.  All details here. 

British Ecological Society – Outreach Grants 

The British Ecological Society has announced that its Outreach Grants programme is now open for applications.

Schools, museums, libraries and community groups will be able to apply for grants to promote ecological science to a wide audience. Applications from schools must involve significant outreach beyond schools as projects aimed solely at delivering curriculum to school children will not be considered. 

The maximum award is £2,000 and the grant may be used as part-funding for larger projects involving other sponsors. 

The closing date for applications is 5pm on the 18th March 2022.  Details here.