The Six Week STEM Club Challenge

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Mercy O’Brien’
6 years ago
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1 The Six Week STEM Club Challenge and Making Use of STEM Ambassadors Our programme and materials are adapted from the Six Week STEM Club Programme designed by the wonderful people at MerseySTEM:

2 We need to talk about STEM clubs If you ve ever thought I d love to run a STEM Club, but... we can t do after-school sessions and I just haven t got the energy. we haven t got the resources and the kids don t come regularly. coming up with a new idea and preparing the activities each week is tough. Then you are not alone. We regularly speak with teachers from right across the West of England and we re well aware of the pressures that you experience, whether as a result of pupil transport challenges, pupil progress targets, funding cuts or the constantly changing curriculum guidelines. We re also well aware that, despite these pressures, there are lots of you who really want to excite and inspire your pupils about your subject and would love to run a STEM Club if only you could just find the time! So, if you ve ever thought I d love to run a STEM Club because seeing the pupils getting hands-on with stuff is so exciting. the activities actually help the pupils with their curriculum learning. working with a group of kids in a club setting reminds me why I love this job! Then you are also not alone and we can help you! Running a STEM Club can be hard work, but it can also be really good fun and a rewarding professional experience. So to help you get inspired, get prepared and get started we have created the Six Week STEM Club Challenge*. The rationale for the Six Week STEM Club Challenge Why six weeks? Because this feels like a manageable period of time, and putting an end date on a commitment makes people more likely to offer their full support. Why STEM clubs? Because outside of curriculum time you have the freedom to experiment with a different way of learning and you are free from the restraints of learning objectives and assessments. Why a challenge? A challenge helps to promote pupil engagement by focusing activity on an achievable outcome. Reaching the end of the challenge should be in itself an achievable outcome -participation and engagement become their own reward.

3 How to run a 6 Week STEM Club Challenge - the short version 1. Get support from colleagues 2. Choose your STEM club members 3. Plan the activities for the duration of the challenge 4. Request STEM Ambassador input 5. Invite your STEM club members 6. Launch the club 7. Meet for 6 more weeks 8. Celebrate! 9. Wrap up, evaluate and look forward Running a 6 Week STEM Club Challenge - the details 1. Get support from colleagues You will have more fun if you run your STEM club challenge in conjunction with a colleague; it spreads the load and shares the experience. When recruiting support emphasise the fact that they are helping for a limited period of time this is not an endless commitment they are signing up to! Agree what support they might offer, are they providing a room, materials, expertise? Cast your net wide and make sure to include both teaching and non-teaching staff in your search for support. 2. Choose your STEM club members Decide on a cohort you d like to work with and think about working with a group of no more than about 15 pupils. Be clear about who your club is for: anyone in Year 7? Year 8 girls? G&T? SEN? Is there additional financial support or personnel available should you choose to work with a specific cohort? If you offer something for those entitled to pupil premium you could approach your headteacher and request some funding to support the work you plan to do with these pupils. 3. Plan the activities for the duration of the challenge Use the Challenge planning sheet provided to help plan the activities for the duration of the challenge. Divide up tasks between yourself and your supporters. There is no need to overcomplicate things, with a challenge there is often a beginning phase, a middle phase and an end phase and planning will help you ensure all of these phases are covered within the 6 weeks. Focus on progression rather than achieving mastery.

4 4. Request STEM Ambassador input Consider how some input from a visitor might enhance your STEM club experience. STEM Ambassadors are volunteers who offer to give their time to go into schools to share their knowledge and expertise with teachers and their pupils. Why not see if you can book someone to come to visit your club to help out with one of your activities, provide some feedback on progress of their challenge or to talk to the pupils about their career in STEM? Complete the STEM Ambassador request form and forward it to us so that we can start the search for an appropriate visitor as soon as possible. 5. Invite your STEM club members Contact the pupils you want to work with, and then get support from home. Send a letter home, inviting the specially selected pupils to the club and explaining to parents what the club is about and the benefits it will offer their child. Make a register of all the pupils who are interested (you may need a main list and a reserve list if you get more than about 15 pupils interested). 6. Launch the club Pick a start date and hold an event for new members. Introduce the club and give the pupils a taster of what they ll be doing during their time with you. Make sure it feels like a club and not just another lesson juice and biscuits always help! Giving your club a name, making badges etc all help to make pupils feel like they belong to something special. 7. Meet for 6 more weeks Meet for 6 weeks on the agreed days at the agreed times in the agreed place. Take a register each week. Stick to your plan as far as possible, but be prepared to be flexible in responding to feedback from your supporters and club members. Only after week one should you invite in new members to replace any that leave and make sure all work is complete by the end of week Celebrate! At a separate event shortly after week 6 (maybe an assembly?) share the accomplishments of the group with a wider audience and present certificates of participation. Maybe you could invite your visitor back in to make the presentations? You could have a central display board showing photographs of what goes on at the club and encourage club members to contribute to school newsletters or the website. 9. Wrap up, evaluate and look forward Wrap up any final admin (e.g. submitting competition entries, completing CREST paperwork, etc). Have a professional conversation with your supporters about how you and they felt it all went, and give everyone a pat on the back. Then start planning for your next 6 week STEM club challenge, will it be next year or next term?!

5 Materials included in a Six Week STEM Club Challenge pack and Making Use of STEM Ambassadors (this document) What s the plan? (a blank planning sheet) Suggested plan and poster (specific to the current challenge) Pupil diary sheet (for club members to complete each week) Certificate (to present to club members at the end of the challenge) Accessing more support You can access more support by contacting Graphic Science directly. We are your local STEM advisory service and we are here to listen to your needs and respond with advice that is tailored to your specific requirements. We are funded by central government to help schools access the best and most appropriate STEM enrichment activities, so the support we offer is free and unbiased. us on STEM.team@graphicscience.co.uk or call to talk with your local STEM Advisor: Liz Lister Somerset Ellie Cripps Bristol and Bath Caroline John - Gloucestershire Your advisor is also available to come in to school for a chat or contribute to STEMrelated meetings and discussions. Drop us a line to arrange a convenient time. Feedback We rely on feedback from schools to help us shape the STEM service we provide. If there is anything you think we should be doing for you or you would like something done differently then get in touch using the contact details above.

6 STEM Ambassadors and the Six Week STEM Club Challenge Would you like your pupils to better understand how their six week STEM club challenge relates to problems encountered by real scientists and engineers? Would you like someone with a STEM background from outside of the school to provide hints, tips and guidance to your pupils as they work through their six week challenge? Would you like your pupils to have a better awareness of the kinds of jobs that real scientists and engineers do? STEM Ambassadors are scientists and engineers who volunteer their time to inspire, enthuse and help develop young people s understanding of STEM in the real world. They are volunteers who offer to give their time to go into schools to share their knowledge and expertise with teachers and their pupils. We have made some suggestions for how you might use STEM Ambassadors in the current Six Week STEM Club Challenge (see the suggested plan sheet for details) We can talk to you about how you might use a STEM Ambassador to enrich the Six Week STEM Club Experience, and help you put together a good STEM Ambassador request which we then publicise to out Ambassador cohort. Take a look through the following and then get in touch to go through your plans with us. What to consider when planning to work with STEM Ambassadors A STEM Ambassador cannot be a substitute for a trained member of school staff, so how would you like to make the most of their particular skills, experience and enthusiasm? Do you have any specific requirements, e.g. would you prefer it if the volunteer was from a particular background, had particular expertise, or was able to offer a long term commitment to the club? N.B. The more specific you are and/or the greater the commitment, the smaller the pool of potential volunteers becomes. Could your activity run without an Ambassador, e.g. if they were called away on important business and couldn t attend on the day specified would the session still be able to run? Would you be able to provide a substitute an activity until the Ambassador became available, or reschedule the session for a different day? What might you be able to offer a volunteer that would make their time at the school as rewarding for them as it is for you?

7 Making a request for a STEM Ambassador Send your STEM Ambassador request to STEM.team@graphicscience.co.uk or call to discuss it further. Get in touch with us as soon as possible - the longer we have to find someone, the better chance we have of finding a suitable volunteer. When requesting an Ambassador, please tell us the following: Your school name and address Your name Your job title Your work address Your contact telephone number Your planned STEM Ambassador session date(s) and time(s) Activity Details what would you like the Ambassador to do? Number of STEM Ambassadors requested Approximate number of pupils involved Age group of pupils involved You can also make a request by completing an Ambassador Request Form online via the STEMNET website:

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