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

• Video guide for teachers and group leaders 

The  video guide outlines how to use the web platform  and  helps teachers and group leaders find the right STEM Ambassador for their activity.

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.

STEM on Stage - Over a thousand young people and parents attended a new event “Stem on Stage” at Margam Country Park over the weekend. This was a family friendly event organised by Sian Ashton from See Science with funding provided from the Innovation Fund by STEM Learning. A total of 70 STEM Ambassadors attended each day bringing high quality displays and activities to show at this wonderful venue.
This free event was a fun filled experience of Science! There were entertaining activities to wow all ages from children to adults. During both days we were joined by the amazing Techniquest STARLAB offering shows every half hour, which provided an out of this world experience of the night sky! STEM Ambassadors welcoming visitors with a host of amazing activities including Tata Steel, Cardiff University Department of Chemistry, DVLA, CGI, Show Me the Science, South Wales Gaming Centre, The Royal Air Force, National Marine Aquarium, Port Talbot Camera Club, Swansea University Engineering Department, Bridgend Astronomy Society, BCS Chartered Institute for IT.  TV presenter Dan Rouse entertained audiences with a talk on brilliant and bizarre birds and wildlife conservation as well, Roger Morgan presented Surgical Spirits and  welcomed  to the stage were magicians of maths, Astronomy, DJ Diamond Dust and much more! Feedback from the event noted 
“what a fantastic learning experience for young people in the area – please put it on again - my children now want to be scientists”
“Watching sea life in VR was amazing – thanks to the National Marine Aquarium”
“a fantastic opportunity to discuss careers with engineering professionals regarding our daughters”
“my son loved having his arm chopped off by a Victorian surgeon” – “as a mum I thought it was brilliant”
 

First Lego League Pembrokeshire

See Science hosted an IET FIRST^®LEGO^®League Tournament on 25 January in Henry Tudor School Pembrokeshire. The tournaments are the culmination of weeks of preparation, where students have worked in teams to design, build and programme a robot, and create an innovative solution to a real-world problem.

73 IET FIRST^®LEGO^®League tournaments have  taken place across the UK and Ireland. These are fun and exciting events where teams of young people compete to put their robot through its paces, and communicate their ideas, sharing what they have learnt with judges. 

In the 2019-20 FIRST^®LEGO^®League CITY SHAPER℠Challenge, teams aged 9 to 16 learnt all about architecture and the spaces we live in. They had to  demonstrate their skills in robotics, computer programming, research, and communication, as well as needing to demonstrate the FIRST^® LEGO^®League Core Values, which include teamwork, problem-solving and friendly competition.

Lowri Walton, FIRST^®LEGO^®League IET Education Manager, said: “Teams who take part in FIRST^®LEGO^®League this year experience engineering in action. The programme makes STEM subjects fun and accessible as the young people get hands-on experience with robotics and designing innovative solutions. The teams develop computer programming, teamwork, problem-solving and communications skills in an incredibly exciting environment.

“It’s a fact that the need for engineers has never been greater. The IET supports FIRST^®LEGO^®League because it equips young people with the skills that they need to become future innovators and engineers. FIRST^®LEGO^®League is the world’s largest STEM competition with 40,000 teams in more than 100 countries and the IET is proud to be the operational partners for the programme in the UK and Ireland.”

See Science chose to host a challenge in Pembrokeshire to give as many learners as possible in all areas of Wales the opportunity to participate. Congratulations to all the winning teams, it was a wonderful day and many thanks to all the paretns adn teachers who supported the event.  Declan Lynch, a teacher  from Ysgol Bro Gwaun commented  that this was "a great experience for all the pupils involved. We hope to take part again next year and we would even consider acting as hosts".

FIRST^®LEGO^®League is part of a wider IET education programme, made up of a whole host of teaching resources and activities to inspire and attract the engineers of tomorrow.

For more information about this year’s FIRST^®LEGO^®League competition, please visit https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/fll/.

STEM Ambassador Allan Reid is a regular attendee at this event, as a Bloodhound Ambassador Allan offers talks to students on the Bloodhound Project and the history behind the World land speed records
‘Last evening’s event at Bassaleg School in Newport went well. Lots of useful discussions with parents and children alike.
I decided to address three areas;-  Project Management as a future career option. STEM for areas where students should consolidate their studies and Bloodhound SSC/LSR as a major Engineering project example (must say the parents were more interested in this area).
All went well and had some interesting discussions with students and parents alike. 
Thanks again for inviting me. 
Allan Reid FAPM
'Brilliant Careers and Options Evening tonight. Huge thank you to our brilliant staff, our visiting employers and most of all our fantastic pupils who helped make the event such a success’
Mr Clayton Jones
‘On behalf of Mr Clayton Jones (Assistant Head / Head of Careers) here at Bassaleg School and myself as the admin support for Careers, to thank you so very much for your input and attendance at our Career Fayre last night.  Your time, help and support is very much appreciated by us here at Bassaleg School and without it the event would never be as successful as it is.  
We look forward very much to seeing you next year.’  Pat Williams
 

March -  Careers in Chemistry Workshop Training

Join See Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry for a training workshop on how to deliver an interactive presentation focusing on Careers in Chemistry. An opportunity to share your passion for the subject and convince young people that a chemistry qualification opens the door to a wide range of careers options, both in and out of the lab

There are endless interesting and rewarding science-based jobs available including ones you might not have thought of. Chemical scientists make a difference everyday.

All participants will be provided with a resource pack including a presentation and a range of hands on activities that can be tailored to the audience. All workshops will begin at 4.30pm and finish at 6.30pm. They are suitable for teachers, technicians and STEM Ambassadors 

To book please use the links below:    Cardiff 16 March here;    Wrexham 24 March here

Bangor 25 March here;   Swansea 31 March here

Making Space Workshop Wednesday March 18th 2020, 4.30pm  

See Science, 8 St Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff CF10 3DD

Join Dr Katherine Compton in Cardiff to find out more about activities that  you could offer to inspire young people to be interested in astronomy and space as part of the One Million Interactions initiative which was launched at the UK Space Agency’s conference in Newport, supported by STEM Learning, ESERO UK and The Careers and Enterprise Company, in order to attract more young people into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the space industry, which generates billions of pounds for the economy and is creating 42,000 jobs. 

“There are an enormous variety of careers available in the space sector,” says Tim Peake, “and during my mission to the International Space Station I was part of a team of thousands of people working behind the scenes to make it possible.  

“As an ambassador for space careers in the UK I have seen the power of professionals sharing their experiences with young people. This scheme is a great way of helping those young people take their first steps towards an exciting career in space.”

This workshop will provide you with a variety of new ideas and resources that could be used at both primary and secondary level and is suitable for teachers, community group leaders, STEM Ambassadors and volunteers Book here 

ASE Practical Matters Llanelli – an opportunity to share ideas 5 March 2020 4.30pm. – 6.30pm 

Coedcae School, Trostre Road, Llanelli

Want to inspire your pupils? Then come along to this teachmeet, network and be inspired by ideas tried and tested by other teachers or students. Join Euan Mc Laughlin from Gower College and share some fascinating practical demonstrations. 

Can you share a good website, book, activity, app and talk to others about it? All welcome: students, teachers and NQTs. Members and non-members. Join the ASE, The Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics and share good practice and great science together.

Details and booking here.

Science Technician of the Year Award

The 2020 Science Technician of the Year Awards are now brought to you by Gratnells and Preproom.org with an easier entry process, richer prize  and team awards.  Do you or your team have what it takes? Here’s what you need to know:

What to enter? We would love to see photos of wonderful prep rooms, creativity as a technician or exciting demos or creations. We want to see technicians' achievements - big or small - or even photos of what being a Science Technician means to you.

How to enter? Simply submit three images of your prep room, achievements or daily duties to be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is Easter.All details here.

Biology Challenge stimulates students’ curiosity for the natural world and encourages them to take an interest in biology outside of school. Questions will be set on the school curriculum, but the competition will also reward those students whose knowledge of the subject has been increased by reading books and magazines, watching natural history programmes, taking notice of the news media for items of biological interest, and are generally aware of our natural flora and fauna.

Biology Challenge 2020 will take place between 10th - 31st March 2020. The competition consists of two, 25-minute online tests. These are taken in schools under staff-supervised exam conditions at any time convenient during the competition dates.

Top scoring students are rewarded with publicly recognised certificates, and will be offered the opportunity to attend an awards ceremony.

Closing date to register is 28 February.

Details here.

The Royal Society Partnership Grants

Do you have a great idea for bringing research alive in school? Partnership Grants of up to £3,000 are available to schools to enable students, aged 5 – 18, to carry out science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computing or data science projects. Additionally in 2020 there is a new extension to the scheme called Tomorrow's climate scientists. This extension will fund schools to research specifically into climate change and biodiversity issues. The application process for Tomorrow's climate scientists is the same as for the main scheme. More details here.

Faraday Challenge Days - Entries now open
IET Faraday Challenge Days are free, one-day STEM activity days that introduce students to engineering, inspire them to consider engineering as a career and help to develop their practical and employability skills, including team working, problem solving and creative thinking. 

Our Challenge Days give six teams of six students, aged 12-13 years, the opportunity to research, design and make prototype solutions to real-world engineering problems. This annual competition, with events covering the whole of the UK, sees teams competing to win a prize for themselves and a trophy for their school. The top teams at the end of the season are invited to the National Finals to battle it out to be crowned the Faraday National Champions and win a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school.

The closing date for entries is May 1st.- All details here.