Welcome to the latest STEM newsletter for Secondary Schools from your local STEM Ambassador Hub.

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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

First Careers Day with Finning UK
Chemistry at Work Swansea University
Cardiff Science Festival
Employability Forum Cardiff and Cwmbran

Local events

Crest Awards
Chemistry in the Community
ASE Teachmeet
Techognition 2019
British Science Week

Funding opportunities

Biochemical Society scientific outreach grants (UK)

Teacher Awards

Salters’ National Awards for Science Technicians
Teacher of Physics 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 or contact See Science directly here

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

First Careers Day with Finning UK

On January 31 Brynteg Comprehensive School, Bridgend held their first fantastic careers day for Yr 9 pupils introducing a showcase of local Employers.
STEM Ambassador Tim Ballard developed a stand on behalf of his employer, Finning which sells, rent and provide parts and services for equipment and engines to customers in various industries, including mining, construction, petroleum, forestry and a wide range of power systems applications. Tim and his colleagues were able to use VR and hands on exhibits to showcase the products which were very popular in order to explain some difficult concepts.
Ambassadors reported that the event had a very high impact on Employer profile and the event was badged with 5 star excellence rating!
“Just to say thank you for the opportunity to engage with the school at Brynteg
Bridgend. It was an enjoyable day with huge participation from the school... our VR headset and plasma ball were a real draw to the stand!"
Tim Ballard
“A huge thank you to all our employers, universities and contributors that
helped make today’s first ever Careers Fair such a resounding success. You helped create a real buzz of enthusiasm around @BryntegSchool‬ throughout the day.”

Chemsitry at Work - Swansea University

On January 30th, Professor Simon Bott, along with staff and students from the Chemistry Department at Swansea University hosted another very successful ‘Chemistry at Work Day’ for over 150 Year 9 pupils from 5 secondary schools in South Wales. The aim of Chemistry at Work days, funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry, is to provide pupils with a better understanding and awareness of the importance of chemistry in our everyday lives and to highlight the varied chemical science careers available.

The day began with an introduction focusing on chemistry in the work place: careers and jobs that require chemists, highlighting the wide range of opportunities that are available to pupils who study chemistry after they leave school. For the remainder of the day, the pupils participated in 4 separate workshops all presented by Chemistry Department staff with practical help provided by STEM Ambassador students from the department. The 4 workshops were linked around the common theme of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen with plenty of opportunities for the pupils to get involved in practical laboratory work as well as participating in an online ‘scavenger hunt’ to answer a quiz based on both drugs.

The pupils and staff all thoroughly enjoyed the day with the vast majority of pupils saying that being able to actually make aspirin was their favourite part. Schools involved were: Ysgol Bro Teifi, Llandysul; Ysgol Bryn Tawe, Swansea; Bryngwyn School,
Llanelli; Bassaleg School, Newport; and Dwr-y-Felin School, Neath.

Swansea University offer huge outreach opportunities for schools in the South Wales area - click here to see some of the available courses on offer in their state of the art University Labs

Cardiff Science Festival

Cardiff Science Festival took over Wales' capital to inspire and educate both the young and old with exciting and innovative events running between February 28 and March 3. An opportunity to find out how Science ,Technology, Engineering and Maths affect every day lives.

Insightful events took place in shops, cafes,bars,shopping streets and community centres across Cardiff - providing opportunities to uncover the science behind everyday life.
Will a robot take my job?, Science busking,,Wildlife Walks, Stardust Hunters, Discovering DNA and Food from the Oceans, Virtual Bee Hive, Inside the Petri Dish, and Sull Space plus much more.

On Saturday 2nd March STEM Ambassador Rhys Phillips presented a talk - Thunderbolts and Lightning: Are they really frightening? hosted by IOPWales in AJ's Coffee House, City Road
The Capitol Shopping Centre hosted the Physics of Hooping on March 1st- where two performers demonstrate the concepts of momentum, friction and centripetal force with hula hoops, poi and juggling with an opportunity to participate.

What a fun,,interesting, exciting and informative festival that the whole family can get involved in-brilliant, go look it up now and book onto one of the events, this is an absolute must do - Tracy Robinson
Great range of events - and really well organsied Lauren Sourbutts

Employability Forum Cardiff and Cwmbran

Techniquest Cardiff was the venue for the first Employability Event in South East Wales during February where STEM Ambassadors were provided with an opportunity to network with teachers. The evening was very important to the Hub offer, we are keen to raise new requests in the area and ensure that STEM Ambassadors in the area have a strong profile. The following week a further session was held at the Parkway Hotel Cwmbran where STEM Ambassadors and teachers had an opportunity to discuss local needs. If you are interested in hosting an event in your school or workplace then contact the team at See Science

The evening network meeting on February 11th welcomed teachers from local schools together with STEM Ambassadors and Big Ideas Wales who are based in Cardiff.

STEM Ambassador Emma Yhnell - Cardiff School of Neurosciences delivered a short session on her role as as an ambassador and selection of activities on how she presents her career to public and school audiences and the STEM Ambassador Hub demonstrated practical activities and resources which could be used in a STEM Club. The session focussed on a discussion of local employment skills, specific needs in the area and how to access ideas for engagement and resources. The second event focused on the Torfaen and Newport area where Alan Reid - Project Manager Specialist and Project Bloodhound and and Andy Hudson IBM UK demonstrated how to present cyber security to a varied audience. Feedback from the event was excellent with both teachers and Ambassadors commenting how much they had benefited from the session particularly the networking with other attnedees.

CREST Awards

CREST Awards inspire young people to think and behave like scientists and engineers through student-led project work in STEM subjects. CREST Awards are flexible with levels for all ages and abilities. Here are some ways that CREST Awards can be delivered in secondary schools:

As part of the Science or D&T teaching curriculum – use a free downloadable project resource or modify your own project to meet the CREST criteria.
KS3 Collapsed Time-table Day – run a CREST Discovery Day using a free downloadable, cross- curricular, practical resource. ALL pupils can earn a CREST Award in one day.
STEM / Science Club – Run a project over several weeks.
Use CREST Award project work to stimulate and challenge MAT pupils.

DON’T FORGET THAT THE AWARDS ARE FREE IN WALES UNTIL MARCH 2019!

Have a look at the NEW CREST website: https://www.crestawards.org/ or contact Llinos at
llinos.misra@see-science.co.uk with your questions.

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 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

Local events

ASE Teachmeets

ASE Teachmeet - The New Curriculum Thursday, 21 March 2019, Techniquest Glyndŵr, Wrexham. 16:30 – 18:30

Come and share some ideas about how the new Welsh curriculum can be implemented in an informal setting - an opportunity to ask questions and discuss with colleagues

Pioneer Schools will be invited to share ideas that are being piloted during this academic year and we will also look at the white paper :https://beta.gov.wales/our-national-mission-transformational-curriculumwhich is open for consultation until 25 March.

There will be time to discuss and ask questions.

Please let us know if you have anything you feel you could contribute or specific questions you wish addressing.

Refreshments will be provided free of charge.

To book a place click here.

Techognition 4-8 March 2019

In 2016, Preproom.org conducted a UK-wide survey covering many aspects of the school science technician role. One significant outcome of the survey was that the vast majority of the respondents felt school leaders and the government do not understand the role of school science technicians.
We feel that without recognition and a full understanding of the role by school leaders, the issues surrounding the poor pay and conditions that many technicians work under cannot be suitably addressed.
With this in mind, Preproom.org in conjunction with UNISON and Gratnells bring you #TECHOGNITION - a week-long event celebrating the work of school science technicians with the aim of publicly showcasing their vast knowledge and the variety of tasks that the job entails.
For more ideas go here

British Science Week 8-17 March

Promoted by the British Science Association, the annual British Science Week aims to celebrate all sciences and their importance in our everyday lives. It provides an opportunity for people of all ages across the UK to take part in science, engineering and technology events and activities.

A resource pack has been created for teachers
This collection contains:
*a range of guides which will help with generating ideas for British Science Week events, with guidance to help you get started and run an event;
* several activity packs from British Science Week;

More guides, case studies and resources for organisers are available at the British Science Association web site

Funding opportunities

Biochemical Society scientific outreach grants (UK)

The Biochemical Society outreach grants programme is now open for applications. Grants of up to £1,000 are available to increase participation in the molecular biosciences at school level and beyond through engagement activities.

Applications for funding are invited to assist with the direct costs associated with an event and expenses incurred. The type of events funded could include:

Activities for a science club
Workshops for students or teachers
Lectures from research scientists

More here .

Awards

Salters’ National Awards for Science Technicians

These Awards aim to highlight the importance of technicians in enabling high quality practical work in science in schools and colleges, with the emphasis on promoting and supporting the professional learning and upskilling of technician teams. Don’t worry if you’re the sole technician in a school or college – you’re still eligible! There are up to 4 awards of £1000 each. Apply online by 3 May.

Read more

Teachers of Physics award

Image result for iop The Teachers of Physics awards celebrate the success of secondary school physics teachers who have raised the profile of physics and science in schools.

We know that teachers contribute an immense amount to society and we wish to accord them the recognition they deserve.

With these awards, we honour teachers alongside distinguished research scientists and industrialists.

In this way we recognise that without dedicated teachers there would be no physics research community or technological base in society.

More information here

Latest CPD from your Science Learning Partnership

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

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