See Science launches new website

Head over to see-science.co.uk to explore our new website - same address but new look! Over the summer we have been working hard to make our website more user friendly and simpler to navigate. So now it’s even easier to find exactly what you need to support your STEM teaching.


From our Home page you can:

• Find out how STEM Ambassadors can make an impact and benefit your classroom
• Find out how you and your students can benefit from CREST – Britain’s largest national STEM Award scheme
• Access our current and previous teacher newsletters
• Discover the range of practical workshops that See Science offers schools
• Browse our extensive online library of links to STEM Resources from the UK and beyond
• Find out about the STEM Learning Teacher App
• Browse STEM-related News, Events, Competitions and Grants relevant to teachers in Wales

We support teachers all over Wales in all kinds of settings so please help us spread the message and share our new website with your colleagues!

Osbaston on the Nile
Osbaston Primary School was seeking STEM support for the Yr 5 topic ‘Ancient EgypHow creative can Ambassadors be in the new approach to bring STEM into every topic including history?
Step forward Rob, Ben and Ross from Babcock Engineering!
The team suggested a design and build activity. Rafts were key to transport on the Nile in Ancient Egypt. The team then extended the topic to modern boat design and engineering.
With resources kindly supplied by Babcock, the pupils enjoyed and learned from a superb presentation including their own hand build rafts which were tested on water tanks.STEM Ambassadors from Archaeology at Cardiff University and the Egypt Centre in Swansea also contributed to a full spectrum of STEM experience at the end of the Summer Term

‘A massive diolch yn fawr to Rob, Ben and Ross from #BabcockInternational. Year 5 had a fab STEM day looking at the buoyancy of different materials and then designed, created, tested, improved and decorated their own boats. @EAS_STEM.       #osbintake15

The Dell Primary School 

The Dell Primary in Chepstow have enjoyed the huge learning benefits this term from the loan of STEM resources. STEM Learning kits have enabled teacher Matthew Nicholas to provide much needed practical activities for his yr 4 pupils. The classes embarked on a Space theme project called ‘Out of this world’ which was ideally complemented by STEM’s  Space Case kit.

To add extra support STEM Ambassador coordinator suggested a STEM Ambassador ‘visit’. Ambassador Nick Busby then offered the class an Astronomy talk and video session.

Mr Nicholas was keen to explore new opportunities, and enthusiastically took up the Coordinator’s offer of a Lego EV3 kit. 
They are now planning Robotics workshops with the support of BCS Computer Science STEM Ambassadors next term

The Merthyr Science Festival

The Merthyr Science Festival was led by the inspiring founder Dr Claire Price, a STEM Ambassador and award winning researcher at Swansea University.
The festival reaches across the Community areas of Merthyr Tydfil bringing a vast range of expertise and family friendly STEM events to areas where Science Capital is not always high.

Now in it’s 3^rd year the community festival was presented online  from 16 – 18 July, including STEM Ambassadors as presenters, co-ordinators and in new roles as Festival moderators for the You Tube content and discussion platform. The Festival has an active Twitter page  and impressive You Tube channel . Some of the highlights included: 'Natural Nurture with  pharmacist Adam Turner as he uncovers the way nature has helped us develop new drugs and medicines. Plants and animals have long influenced drug discovery, but what does the future hold?'Counterfeit Drugs' - a session by Dr Amira Guirguis of Swansea University Medical School who described the harms of counterfeit drugs and the role of pharmacists in tackling this issue. Live sessions included STEM Ambassador  Dr Emma Yhnell on a tour through the blooming brilliant brain. We'll delve in through the skull and under the meninges to explore what's going on in our brains and what happens when brains get poorly and Fuelling the Future looking at how our energy consumption might change in the near future and discusses some possible future technologies and how they work. Recordings of demonstrations and talks are available after the live Festival has ended.

The Chemistry of COVID workshop is proving popular! Suitable for upper KS2, it explores micro-organisms, the spread of infectious diseases, COVID-19 and vaccines. Hands-on activities include ‘Build a virus’ and ‘Design a mask’. We have a couple of dates available for this term term (contact llinos.misra@see-science.co.uk) but for those that miss out, the resources will all be available on our website in September

The Royal Society of Biology is offering 40 state-funded primary schools in the UK the opportunity for four teachers to have free access to RSB’s Gopher Science Lab online training course.With thanks to generous support from The Worshipful Company of Horners enabling RSB to offer this opportunity. Primary school teachers working in UK based, state-funded, primary schools can email Amanda Hardy to apply on behalf of their school to access the paid-for online training places on a first come first served basis.

Subsidised shows and workshops from Science Made Simple

Award-winning STEM outreach company Science Made Simple has secured funding from The Waterloo Foundation this year to support state-maintained schools and education centres in Wales. Shows and workshops are available to any Welsh state school/centre at a greatly subsidised rate, with centres paying only £100 +VAT for a full day of shows or workshops.
Our services are ideal for cross-curricular days, STEM club launches, PSE activities and assemblies.
All our shows and workshops are available through this fund: live and online delivery, shows suitable for whole year groups and workshops for smaller classroom groups. We have services covering a variety of curriculum-linked STEM topics for Key Stage 1 to 12, SEND and adaptable services for bespoke groups.
To find out more or book your day, take a look at our services on our new website here and get in touch at info@sciencemadesimple.co.uk (please add Waterloo in your subject line).
 

ASE Cymru - Chemistry in the Curriculum for Wales. Monday 20 September 4.30 - 5.30pm. Online

This session will explore the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry in Curriculum for Wales: curriculum planning support (progression step 4), including how to best use it. We will look at how different progression statements are linked and how chemistry skills and knowledge can be taught in a local, relevant context. There will be an opportunity to discuss and share possible contexts with other teachers.

This session is best suited to science teachers who are seeking ideas and support with how to include chemistry in their new curriculum.

Details and booking here

Xplore! Ingenious Wales. Saturday 11 September 5.30pm. Xplore! Science Discovery Centre, Wrexham

Shining a light on Wales' amazing contributions to Science and Technology yesterday, today and tomorrow, and what that means for you.

Ingenious Wales is a set of talks and activities and stalls highlighting different aspects of Wales' contribution to Science and technology. 

What technologies and techniques were used by people in Wales to make and eat good food in often challenging environments and circumstances? And what can we learn today from these varied strategies and traditions - cider-making, shellfish-harvesting, grain-growing, sheep-herding and more?  Details here.

Get your students solving SDG2 – alleviating hunger

Looking for real-life contexts to inspire your pupils in STEM subjects and connect with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals? Science Made Simple and STEM Matters have teamed up to produce resources for schools which can be used by teachers to deliver parts of the national curriculum and/or to support learning in Science/STEM clubs and curriculum enrichment days.

The Road to Zero Hunger is the first in a series of exciting NEW STEM resources for pupils aged 8-14 years, enabling teachers to engage their pupils in Action Against Stunting, a real-life research project that is tackling the causes of stunted development in children in India, Indonesia, and Senegal.

FREE to download the Teacher’s guide, Power Point and Pupil activity sheets include:

• a role play activity simulating a meeting between farmers, parents and researchers across the countries involved in the project
• science and design and making activities that help farmers get their produce along the road to local markets
• an opportunity for students to gain a British Science Association CREST Discovery Award.
• To download the resources, go to actionagainststuntingday.org/resources/schools/

Inspire by Sbarduno

is a small business that Awen Ashworth created in 2019, with the purpose of transferring her teaching and industrial knowledge and skills to people of all ages and to inspire them to consider a career within STEM

 Online workshops that are on offer are suitable for pupils from the Foundation Stage or Key Stage 2 and allow them to participate in an hour-long session of fun and simple experiments and develop skills such as teamwork, working independently and problem solving, as well as learning about day-to-day simple Science.The workshops take place every Friday, and you can choose from 3 time slots: 09:30am; 11:00am or 01:15pm. It can be delivered either via Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, whichever you use at the school.A list of required resources will be shared with you beforehand, and all the listed items are easily found. The face-to-face workshop is a whole day activity from 09:30-2:30pm for Key Stage 2, and is a half day workshop, 09:30-12:00pm for the Foundation Stage., and is suitable for up to 30 pupils.All resources required for the experiments will be supplied by Inspire by Sbarduno. Pupils will be allowed to wear laboratory coats to assist with enhancing the Science experiences.
If you would like to book a session for your class or school, all you need to do is send an email: claire@sbarduno.com.
Keep an eye out on our social media portals for up-to-date information about Inspire by Sbarduno by following @InspirebySbarduno on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
 

Nominations for the Primary Science Teacher Awards 2021 are now open!

Do you know a teacher who deserves recognition?

The awards are open to all 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;
• engage pupils in the excitement and fascination of science.
• support colleagues both in their own and other schools, either locally, regionally or nationally, to raise the profile of science and the quality of primary school science provision

Closing date for this year's nominations is January 14th 2022.    Details here.