The search is on for people involved in aviation and its service and supply industries to pass on their knowledge, inspiration and enthusiasm to the next generation of engineers, technologists and scientists.
It is increasingly the case that students are excluding the more technical subjects such as maths and the sciences when they take their GCSE options. One reason for this is that they perceive them to be difficult and secondly they have little idea how they can be used outside of the classroom.
We are looking for Scientists, Technologists, Mathematicians and Engineers (STEM) who enjoy their work and would like to promote the work of their company and profession to Primary and Secondary school students.
By becoming a STEM Ambassador there are a number of exciting and enjoyable ways to wave the STEM flag:
• The simplest is to visit a local school to give a careers talk at a morning assembly
• Attend a school careers evening
• Support a SETPOINT event at a school (generally a whole day workshop)
• Deliver an activity associated with the Bloodhound Supersonic Car
• Support a school STEM club
• Support a CREativity in Science and Technology (CREST) project
• Provide opportunity for students to visit your place of work.
Bloodhound SSC – http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/ activities are:
• A Workshop to calculate the speed of sound
• A Workshop to build a model vehicle powered by cola and mints.
• An activity to identify the types of people and skills needed for the project
STEM Ambassadors receive full training in how to work with and present to students.
All STEM Ambassadors must go through the CRB Disclosure process.
Many Employers allow their staff to take up to 3 days per year as personal development which can be used for working with schools. The activities themselves count towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for those people that are registered with a professional body.
As the STEM Ambassadors Manager for Hertfordshire, http://www.setpointherts.org.uk, I am keen to get as many people involved in the programme as possible within my local County, however 17,000 STEM Ambassadors are active throughout the whole of the UK.
To become a STEM Ambassador you can register online. When doing this please select the county that you live or work in as your preferred STEM ambassador administrator https://db.stemnet.org.uk/register.cfm
People who have signed up to be STEM Ambassadors prior to the 10th May will be able to go on a visit to the DH Museum at London Colney, with the Association of Science Education http://www.ase.org.uk
If there are any Ambassadors that already take part in workshops, careers talks, work place visits or other related activities, perhaps you could give some examples and anecdotes.
Regards
Tim Clark
STEM Ambassadors Manager
SETPOINT Hertfordshire
[email]Tim.clark@setpointherts.org.uk[/email]
07840 870270
By: TwinOtter23 - 30th April 2010 at 18:25
Whilst not specifically related to the STEM project I’m involved with delivering some of the Education Activities at Newark; some of which have a strong scientific bias e.g. principles of flight, forces etc at KS1 and KS2.
This can be extremely rewarding especially seeing the excitement of 20 to 30 young people flying their paper planes to test out the scientific principles you’ve been discussing. It becomes even more rewarding when you start to see schools returning for repeat visits! 🙂
Any positive engagement with young people on scientific subjects should be applauded and encouraged. 🙂
This link provides a bit of background detail to what NAM offers.
We’re currently waiting for 750 new education DVDs to be pressed that detail the history of Nottinghamshire’s Airfields. This DVD has been researched and compiled by some museum volunteers using the NAM Archive and copies will be sent to every Primary School in the County.
By: Lindy's Lad - 30th April 2010 at 18:25
STEM is working up north too. Several of our large colleges have Science centres which also includes aeronautical engineering. The Applied science courses are incredibly popular and have good success rates. Our former nation of engineers is returning slowly to its former glory – the main issue is lack of engineering jobs rather than lack of engineering education…….
By: Eye on the Sky - 30th April 2010 at 17:34
I am a STEM Ambassador, in fact I did my first STEM event today! Rolls-Royce have included it in our apprenticeship framework. Unfortunately I am based in Derby so I doubt I will be able to help you directly, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch if I can be of any use.
Best regards,
Dean
By: merlin70 - 30th April 2010 at 16:17
Hi Resmoroh
It is not all doom and gloom. We have approaching 900 STEM Ambassadors in Herts most of whom see a very genuine and positive response from students.
Typically students take their options a year before they receive any careers advice. The STEM programme starts at Key Stage 2 meaning that children as young as 7 years old meet with Scientists and Engineers and begin to learn what it is they do.
In order for every pupil in Hertfordshire to work with a STEM Ambassador once a year, we would need to have around 5000 STEM Ambassadors. We can only therefore hope to have provide a programme of activities that promote STEM skills to students 4 or 5 times during their school life. If we are sufficiently influencial then we may still have engineering companies operating successfully in the UK in a generations time.
tc
By: Resmoroh - 30th April 2010 at 15:42
Tim,
I applaud your approach and efforts but I am afraid you are banging your head against a brick wall.
Maths, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry, require some detailed knowledge to produce the right answer(s). This, in turn, requires attention to detail, some hard work, and an attention span that is becoming increasingly more difficult for many of the youngsters of today.
Similarly, to learn foreign languages requires a knowledge of the words, grammar, and syntax, used in that language. Some considerable work is required to achieve this.
It is much easier to be able to write (using text-speak, of course!) – for example – in a Media Studies examination that “Angie didn’t fancy Fred ‘cos he wasn’t cool” and thus get a First Class Degree than it is to present a clearly laid out, and well written, essay on – say – the politics, economics, etc, that have landed us where we currently are.
It has to be easy. If it is not then the young of today (with a very few minority exceptions) cannot be bothered to make the effort. If they don’t; “The State Will Provide”. Nice theory but increasingly difficult to finance nationally.
I wish you luck in this endeavour. I think you will find that those with a “work ethic” to study and achieve are in a minority – especially in the basic, original, sections of the UK population.
HTH
Resmoroh
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April 30, 2010 at 2:48 pm