Alexandra Knight, Founder and CEO of STEMAZING gives us her top tips on how to give an engaging STEM talk to children...

In today's rapidly evolving world, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is more critical than ever.

Meeting STEM professionals in a school setting helps raise awareness and aspirations of STEM careers for young people and builds the confidence of teachers with these subjects too. This is a vital part of the solution to plug the STEM skills gap and drive greater diversity in our future STEM workforce. There is so much to be done, and we need to scale up our collective efforts to make real impact.

I’m super passionate about encouraging more STEM professionals to engage young people in schools to open children’s minds to exciting career paths and foster a lifelong love for problem-solving, curiosity, and innovation.

However, delivering a STEM talk that truly engages school children is not always easy. The challenge lies in making yourself and perceived complex subjects accessible, relatable and exciting.

I’ve come up with the following 6 Top Tips to help you craft and deliver an inspiring and memorable talk that will ignite students' interest in STEM.

Top Tips

# 1. Know Your Audience: Tailor the Talk to Their Age and Interests

One of the most important aspects of any presentation is understanding your audience. In the case of school children, it's essential to adapt your talk to their age group. Younger children will have a different attention span, learning style, and comprehension level compared to older students.

- For younger children (ages 5-10), focus on storytelling and hands-on activities. These students are naturally curious, and they love hearing about real-world examples that feel magical or exciting. Simple experiments, cool gadgets, and vivid imagery can capture their imagination.

- For older children (ages 11-14), you can introduce more abstract concepts and critical thinking. These students are beginning to think more deeply about how the world works, so showing them the connections between STEM and real-world applications will be engaging.

- For teenagers (ages 15 and above), it's important to focus on relevance. Demonstrating how STEM relates to their personal interests, future careers, or current events can help you hold their attention. Be prepared to answer more detailed questions and engage in discussions about real-world problems.

Understanding the interests and knowledge level of your audience allows you to customise your message, keeping it relatable and easy to understand. Using examples or metaphors they are familiar with, such as relating mathematical concepts to sports statistics or video game design, can make complex ideas more accessible.

# 2. Start with a Hook: Capture Their Attention Immediately

Children, like adults, form their first impression of a speaker within the first few minutes. Start your STEM talk with something that grabs their attention right away. The goal is to intrigue them so they want to hear more.

Some effective ways to open your talk include:

- Ask a thought-provoking question: "Have you ever wondered where electricity comes from when you flick on your light switch?" or "How would you design a building to withstand an earthquake?"

- Share a surprising fact: “Did you know, it’s impossible to burp in space?”, "Did you know that your body has enough carbon to make 9,000 pencils?" or "Your smartphone is thousands of times more powerful than the computers that sent astronauts to the moon."

- Perform a simple experiment: Demonstrations work wonders, especially if the children can participate! We love doing hands-on experiments in our STEMAZING workshops, but even if you are mainly doing a talk in an assembly – challenge yourself to fit in a practical element that the children can engage with. Something as basic as a balloon-and-static electricity experiment can be incredibly effective.

- Show a short, exciting video: Visuals are powerful tools to pique interest, especially if you’re discussing a topic that’s hard to visualize. Just remember to use a video that is appropriate for the age group so they can understand it and it provides a short, punchy message as an intro. I love using the short videos from the This Is Engineering campaign from the Royal Academy of Engineering to introduce the breadth of engineering.

Once you’ve captured their attention, you have a solid foundation to build the rest of your talk. Make sure that this initial excitement carries through by keeping the energy level high!!

# 3. Use Visuals and Hands-On Activities to Simplify Complex Concepts

One of the best ways to make STEM concepts more accessible is through visuals and hands-on activities. Children are more likely to retain information when they can see or interact with it, rather than just hearing it.

- Use visuals: Whether it’s images, videos, diagrams, or models, make sure to include plenty of visual aids. Can you bring in an example of the product you make that the children can see and touch? Can you make it tangible to their everyday lives, like showing how it connects to something they interact with every day? Don’t just talk at children and don’t just have a slide with lots of words on it – this will be sure to lose their attention.

- Incorporate experiments: Children of all ages are more engaged when DOING rather than just listening. Wherever possible, get the children involved in simple experiments. For example, if you're talking about chemistry, do a safe and colourful experiment like mixing vinegar, food colouring and baking soda to create a fizzing eruption. For physics, use a Slinky to demonstrate the concept of waves. Don’t overcomplicate your experiments. Keep it simple to make your life easier and ensure a successful outcome.

All our STEMAZINGKids activities involve simple yet sensational STEM experiments to demonstrate science and engineering principles. Hands-on activities make abstract concepts feel real and relatable. This puts the young person in the driving seat of connecting with STEM. They learn whilst playing and exploring.

- Interactive simulations: Depending on your career message and for more tech-savvy classrooms, using online simulations or apps can help students understand concepts like genetics, gravity, or planetary motion. Let them explore these tools themselves for added engagement.

The more you can turn your STEM talk into an interactive experience involving their senses, the more likely children will stay engaged and remember it.

# 4. Tell Stories: Connect with your Audience and Bring STEM to Life

Weaving storytelling into your STEM talk can make even the most technical subjects come to life. Stories provide context, bring in emotion, and can help students relate to what you're discussing. Rather than just explaining concepts, try to show how those concepts apply to the real world or personal experiences.

- Talk about famous STEM breakthroughs and diverse role models: Tell the story of a scientist, mathematician, or engineer who changed the world. For example, you might share the story of Marie Curie’s discovery of radium, how Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, or how Katherine Johnson’s mathematical brilliance contributed to the success of NASA’s space missions. Bringing characters into a story helps make it memorable, and showcasing diverse role models is an excellent way of smashing stereotypes and making STEM relatable to a wider audience.

- Use your own experiences: Connection before education. Make yourself relatable. Show you are a normal person. Use emotion to bring your story to life. Why do you LOVE what you do? When did you feel scared in your career? What is the biggest lesson you have learnt? Talk about your journey into STEM, interesting projects you’ve worked on, and what excites you about your job. Children love hearing about real-life stories, and your personal passion will be contagious.

- Show them the impact of STEM: Relate STEM to real-world challenges and exciting advancements like climate change, space exploration, disaster relief or medical innovations. Show how STEM is solving problems and changing lives, making the subject feel relevant and exciting.

Even engineering topics that may seem boring to children on the surface as they take them for granted can be made exciting. Take bridges for example, no offence to people who work on bridges! They could be considered boring compared to space exploration, but easily brought to life through a story about a real-life bridge collapse (with a quick video of dramatic footage), linked to the importance of maths in the real world, followed by unusual examples like bridges designed for wildlife not humans!

Stories humanise STEM, making it not just a subject but a series of fascinating adventures and discoveries.

# 5. Keep it Simple, Fun, and Engaging

Children’s attention spans are often shorter, so keeping the talk engaging, concise, and varied is essential. Here are a few tips:

- Use clear, simple language: Avoid jargon and technical terms that might confuse your audience. If you do introduce a new term, make sure to explain it in simple terms.

- Keep things moving: Try to vary your talk’s format. Mix in videos, questions, hands-on activities, and stories to maintain interest. Breaking up your talk into different parts helps prevent the audience from getting bored.

- Make it fun: Think about how you could inject humour, joy and enthusiasm into your presentation. STEM doesn’t have to be dry or overly serious. But you don’t have to be a comedian to make your talk fun – just a simple smile as you are presenting will bring the vibe up! Give yourself permission to let your enthusiasm shine and enjoy delivering it! The more fun you’re having, the more the children will enjoy your talk.

- Ask questions and encourage participation: Turn your talk into a conversation by asking open-ended questions and encouraging the students to ask their own. This interaction helps children feel more involved and keeps their minds actively engaged. But don’t rely on all age groups to speak up though! You might find younger children enthusiastically put their hands up to speak out, and some teenagers less so. Be prepared for how you will encourage confidence with speaking up, by asking very simple questions to begin with, or just a show of hands without putting anyone on the spot. If possible, small group discussions or group activities are a great way of engaging older children without making them step into the limelight against their will!

# 6. Leave Them Inspired with a Call to Action

An inspiring talk doesn’t just end with the final slide. Leave your audience with a sense of wonder and excitement about what they can do with their new knowledge.

- Encourage further exploration: Suggest books, websites, apps, or museums where they can learn more about the topics you discussed.

- Plant the seed of curiosity: Remind them that asking questions and exploring the world around them is at the heart of STEM. You might say, "When you next listen to music, think about what we learned today," or "Remember, the smartphone in your pocket is a product of science and engineering—imagine what you could create if you pursue these subjects!"

- Challenge them: End your talk by posing a fun challenge or problem for the students to think about. For example, “Can you come up with a new way to generate clean energy?” or “What would you invent to make life better in the future?”

Inspiring young minds is not just about teaching them facts, or telling them about your job, it’s about sparking their curiosity and encouraging them to think about the world in new ways.

Giving an engaging STEM talk to school children is both a challenge and an opportunity, and in my experience, one of the most rewarding things you can do. It’s a fantastic way to grow your confidence and skills with public speaking, whilst giving back to your local community and making a difference. By using simple language, interactive activities, storytelling, and plenty of enthusiasm, you can ignite a passion for STEM that may last a lifetime. And who knows? Your talk might be the catalyst that inspires the next great scientist or engineer!

Alexandra Knight is the Founder and CEO of STEMAZING. Read more about the work they do at www.stemazing.co.uk