Design for a better world Competition for pupils aged 11-14

New Practical Action Competition for School Students aged 11-14

Details & Teachers notes here

Design For A Better World

Design For A Better World

Design for a better world offers an exciting new global design challenge and competition for students aged 11-14 years.

The deadline for entering the competition is the 16th December 2016.

If offers students the opportunity to:

• Learn about the Global Goals for Sustainable Development
• Access a range of global contexts including Water and Sanitation, Food Security and Climate Action in which to identify a design problem
• Explore a range of  technologies that people are developing around the world to address global challenges.

All the teaching materials and student activity sheets are to download below. To order your FREE poster that supports this challenge, click here.

For display materials and other activites around the Global goals please go to our Global Goals main page

Call for RSS Statistical Ambassadors

If you are in the first ten years of your career working with statistics and data, and based in the UK, please do consider applying for the RSS statistical ambassadors programme:

https://www.statslife.org.uk/members-area/member-news/latest-call-outs-to-members/2710-could-you-be-one-of-our-statistical-ambassadors

The RSS statistical ambassadors programme is developing the public engagement skills of UK-based professional statisticians, to create a cohort of volunteers willing and able to respond to requests from event organisers and the media. Existing ambassadors have given media interviews, participated in public events, helped journalists and press officers understand statistical issues, written popular articles, and much more.

We are now accepting applications for a further ten ambassadors to join the programme.

The programme is specifically aimed at early-career statisticians (up to ten years in the profession), including postgraduate students, and those with limited public communication experience.

It aims to support and assist those who wish to engage with public audiences about statistical matters through the media, in person, or online. The programme is not aimed at those wishing to change careers into the media or into professional communication roles.

Statistical ambassadors will receive two days' training and four telephone group mentoring sessions with experts including David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University, to help you reflect on and develop your skills. We ask statistical ambassadors to be responsive to requests from the RSS for volunteer time for public engagement. Participation in the programme is eligible for the RSS CPD requirements.

Applications close on 23 March 2016. For full details of how to apply, visit: https://www.statslife.org.uk/members-area/member-news/latest-call-outs-to-members/2710-could-you-be-one-of-our-statistical-ambassadors

Bringing science to life for primary schoolchildren

May be of interest to Primary School Teachers:

Bringing science to life for primary schoolchildren - Screenhouse for BBC Bitesize Science

We've made a series of short science films presented by Steve Mould aimed at enthusing children in UK primary schools KS2  about science in the world around us.

Please do pass on these links below to any primary science teachers ( or anyone for that matter !) who would like some fun and entertaining ways to introduce these topics in the classroom.

Let us know if we can create any video for you and your project!

Thanks,

Barbara Govan

Screenhouse Productions

Dino 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zwqqnbk

Dino 2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zwmmycw

Floating: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zqcrqty

Fire: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zqnprdm

Gears: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zpvyk7h

Pulleys: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zww86fr

Bath Bombs: 

Royal Institution Grant scheme for enriching STEM teaching

Of interest to STEM teachers and their schools:
I would be really grateful if you could spread the word about the Royal Institution's STEM grant scheme (details below) to organisations and individuals who have contact with schools.

For those of you who don't know, the STEM Directories are an online catalogue of activities that enhance the teaching of science, engineering and maths in UK schools. The Directories are managed by the Royal Institution.

If you are a provider of a STEM activity then we encourage you to register on the Directories<http://www.stemdirectories.org.uk/providers/> so that schools can search for you.

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

---

Grant scheme for enriching STEM teaching - NOW OPEN

The Royal Institution<http://www.rigb.org/?gclid=CLqohbqm78kCFWgUwwodkOIEZQ> (Ri) is offering UK state schools grants of up to £500 to host a STEM enrichment activity for their teachers and students.

Funded by the Causeway Foundation, the scheme is designed to integrate STEM activities (such as shows, talks and workshops) into school practice and to support teachers' professional development.

Successful applicants will receive £500 towards any activity listed on the STEM Directories as long as it is held before the end of July 2016.

Eligible state-funded schools, academies and FE colleges must complete the online application form<http://www.stemdirectories.org.uk/grant_app/> by the closing date: 7th February 2016.

For more information and to apply, visit the STEM Directories website<http://www.stemdirectories.org.uk/grant-scheme/> or email stemdirectories@ri.ac.uk


Andrew Brown
STEM Directories Project Officer

Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS
e: abrown@ri.ac.uk
t: 020 7670 2952
www.rigb.org<http://www.rigb.org/>
www.richannel.org<http://www.rigb.org/>

Support the Ri: become a member<http://www.rigb.org/membership> or donate<http://www.justgiving.com/Charity/Donate.aspx?cid=187404> today
Join the conversation on Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/ri_science> and Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Royal-Institution-of-Great-Britain/95368582121>

STEMnet Ambasssador-Teacher networking evening

Was pleased to be invited to talk about some of the Food Security-related school activities that I've

co-developed with schools last night at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.
Hopefully, showed how much the Institute of Food Research was addressing the Food Security agenda.

Chuffed that I kept to time and got a lot of networking done with both Ambassadors and Teachers afterwards. Hopefully, this will generate future collaborations.

Well impressed with pupils presentations of their STEM Club activities and Mersey STEMclub had information on various activities for clubs that looked very interesting.

Schools - gear up for British Science week (Mar 2016) - grants available

Thinking about doing a science activity for British Science week but have funding concerns?

Each year, the British Science Association makes grants available to schools and organisations to help them put on events or activities for British Science Week.

Grants may be used to fund a range of activities - from inviting a speaker to providing resources or organising a trip.  In 2016, we will have a number of grant schemes available, providing small pots of funding from £200 to £700.

The grant scheme for British Science Week 2016 is now open, and will close on Monday 23 November 2015.  To apply, please register your event or activity via our online form and continue through to the grant application section. Successful applicants will be notified by mid-December 2015.  See our website for further details: www.britishscienceweek.org>

Grants available:

Grants for schools

*          Kick Start Grants for schools in challenging circumstances to organise their own events as part of British Science Week.

o          Kick Start grant: up to £300 for your school to run an activity during BSW; or

o          Kick Start More grant: up to £700 for your school to host a science event or activity which involves your students and the local community

*          Scottish and Welsh Grants: £200

Grants for organisations

*          Community grants of £500 aimed to engage audiences who are traditionally under-represented and currently not engaged in science activity

*          Scottish and Welsh grants designed to help organisations in Scotland and Wales run events as part of British Science Week.

Grants for BSA branches

Grants are available for British Science Association branches to run events for BSW.

More information: www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/grants/>

Register an event: http://www.britishscienceweek.org/register-an-event/

Stuck for ideas?

Have a browse of the British Science Week resources, which contain lots of ideas for activities that different age groups might enjoy(www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/activity-packs/>).

You could also explore our selection of case studies of organisations and schools who have run successful events and activities for British Science Week in previous years (www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/case-studies/>)

Please contact bsw@britishscienceassociation.org> if you have any queries.

Applications are open for UK Secondary Schools to apply for **free** LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3’s

Secondary Schools - Free Lego Mindstorms #TomorrowsEngineers - need I say more? 

*Applications are open for UK Secondary Schools to apply for free LEGO

MINDSTORMS Education EV3’s

<https://education.lego.com/en-gb/lesi/middle-school/mindstorms-education-ev3/instant-success-with-ev3>

and a Space Challenge <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFGw16G6ESs>

Resources.*

*For more information and to apply before Thursday 5 November click here

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/EEP-Robotics-Challenge/>. We’re

also looking for STEM Ambassadors/Volunteers/Supporters. Please get in

touch.*

*_Tomorrow’s Engineers Week_**__*

*Are you running any type of STEM event in a school between 2-6 November

– or would you like to?*

Your event could be:

• A hands-on activity

• An interactive discussion

• A live online Q&A

• Or something different!

We have lots of tools, templates and ready-made activities

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek/toolkit/> to help you!

There’s also an interactive map

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweektoolkit/Activity_map/>,

where you can add your engineering activity and benefit from our

*#TEWeek15 *campaign promotion.

*Find out more about how to get involved:

**www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek*

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek>**

*_Tomorrow’s Engineers Careers in Engineering_*

*Tomorrow’s Engineers is more than a one stop shop for information and

resources about the amazing careers available in engineering. *

We work with The Institution of Engineering and Technology, The

Institution of Mechanical Engineers, The Institution of Civil

Engineers and The Institute of Physics to develop a programme of careers

resources that provide clear, consistent guidance for young people aged

between 9 - 16 and their teachers.

Resources are designed to enthuse and encourage young people and

teachers to seek out additional information about engineering from the

Tomorrow’s Engineers website. Materials are adaptable to suit both

younger and older students, cover regional variations and promote both

traditional and non-traditional routes. Over 730,000 young people and

19,000 teachers used Tomorrow's Engineers careers resources in 2014.

*Get your free careers

materials:*www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/Careers_resources/

<http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/Careers_resources/>