What information do you want?

Information that I would find useful would be:

(a) a simplified guide to the UK school curiculum on topics where electrical engineers could be of assistance, such as in science, maths, electronics, IT, or other areas as appropriate

       KeyStage 2 ?    age group 7 - 11 yrs ?     years 3 .. 6 ?   what they need to know (in *simple* terms)

       KeyStage 3 ?    age group 11 - 14 yrs ?  years 7.8.9 ?       "                "                                "   

etc etc (I find any government communications on this tend to be so full of 'waffle' that it is difficult to know exactly what school pupils should know by what age). This information would help when planning an activity so that it is pitched at the correct level.

(b) information about what areas teachers would like assistance in, how they would like it delivered and when. Some schools have yearly shool careers fairs, some have yearly events such as business games, mock interviews, language games, speed networking and others have school engineering clubs or are just starting out with Raspberry Pi. I imagine STEMNET have access to much of this information, but STEM ambassadors have very little, so a list of all schools in the London area and who is doing what, would allow volunteers to contact schools, where they could help, via STEMNET if required.

(c) a list of successful activities, i.e. a list of what people have found that works well for them.

Regards,

Rob H.

I agree with much of what Rob says but I add and comment to the points raised



a) I could not agree more, but being north of the border I have to add that the same be done for Curriculum for Excellence.  Yes - it makes no sense having two education systems in one country. No joined up thinking here!!



b) The idea of having lists of schools with what each school would like and when is functionality already embedded in STEMNET and in the sites operated by their Contract Holders.  In my experience this seems to work well, and therefore have to question the need to have another place where the requests can be placed.  We run the risk of having requests missed or support being duplicated.  I'm not against the idea, but as long as there is one main place to register a need and to deliver support why complicate by having more?.  If the STEM Contract Holder is not performing then that is another matter.  Perhaps a link to STEMNET or to a list of Contract Holders sites would suffice.



c) Having a list of activities, notes, exemplars etc is also encouraged on STEMNET, and there is a community on the site to upload.  There is also dwiller.com which abounds with ideas. The IET also have Faraday Challenges which could be implemented at school level rather than at national level. A search will soon recover many ideas, but adding another place to look for ideas in my view complicates things further. 



Best regards



Ken M

Hi Rob & Ken



a) STEMNET used to provide a very useful guide to curriculum levels/attainment as part of their STEM Ambassador induction training, I'll have a look around and see if I can find it. I don't know whether anyone other than teachers can be clear about exactly what students should know at any stage, but I'll have a look around for you.



b)  I second Ken's point about STEMNET - your local Contract Holder undoubtedly has information on schools and may be able to share some of the detail with you about particular schools, particularly if they're trying to link schools to individual STEM Ambassadors, as some are. 



c) Again echoing Ken, I can recommend STEMNetworking, the area for STEM Ambassadors and Contract Holders to share their projects. There are lots of tried and tested activities here. 



You might also like to join the Schools Liaison Community - there are lots of Schools Liaison Officers and STEM ambassadors there to share this type of discussion, and some members have uploaded activity ideas here as well.



Best regards

Evanna 

Hi Rob & Ken



Information on the UK education system (including the devolved nations!) can now be found in the files area of the Schools Liaison community. This is from the STEM Ambassador induction information and is fairly readable.



I'll look into ways to make clearer links with STEMNETworking and other resource areas, but will continue to keep these in the Schools Liaison community.



Keep the suggestions coming!



Evanna 

Thanks Evanna. Great info. 

Ken

Dear Colleagues,



Thanks for your comments and the STEMNET file giving information on the education system. It is certainly well worth reading.

 

(a) Curriculum: I wonder if a simple Google Group type communal spreadsheet information system would work, one that volunteers filled out after an event with columns:- Age group: Subject : Level of attainment : What was new: What was interesting for them. This would give us measured information over time about what pupils at different ages actually know and they want to learn.

 

(b)  School list: I may not have explained this well but the information that I would very much like to know is what individual schools problems are and what do those schools really want from us to make things better in the sphere of engineering education, a wish list, customer feedback.

 

(c) List of activities: Possibly I have not emphasised this correctly, here my point on this was to have an effective informal feedback information system. There are certainly plenty of ideas out there on what to do, but what works best.



Regards,

Rob H.