There are some resources to help with running project for the British Science Association CREST Awards.
I have been a STEM Ambassador in the UK for many years, doing many science and technology related activities, but for most of that time I have been giving aid to a couple of local school who encourage their Yr 10-13 students to undertake projects for the British Science Association (BSA) CREST Awards. My experience is that these projects are extremely valuable for students, giving them insight into the real life experience of doing science and engineering. They are also very rewarding for STEM Ambassadors because we follow the progress of the students and see the positive effect that we can have.
I have been involve in projects as different as design studies for robots working inside nuclear reactors, constructing a real microlight aircraft, analysis of cosmic ray data and using images from professional astronomical telescopes.
There are lots of ways of doing projects that would achieve CREST awards, but over the years I and the schools I aid have developed a particular approach that works for us. It may work for you.
Although it sometimes happens that teams come up with their own project suggestions, we like to present students with project suggestions that they can use as a framework to develop in their own direction. (Where students do come up with their own ideas, there is usually a discussion process of turning the initial - often vague - suggestion into a specific, achievable target.) We have found that the students are helped by a written brief for a particular project and also more general guidance on how to organise themselves in teams to complete the work and write it up in the form expected by CREST assessors. One must take care to strike a balance between giving just enough direction to ensure that the project is a success but allowing students to choose their own directions and exercise creativity: making mistakes and learning from them is part of the deal. We have found that the great majority of our teams achieve their target awards - though rarely without serious struggles. That is as it should be!
| General Guidance on doing CREST Projects |
There are common problems in every project. How do we get ourselves organised? How do we plan? How do we write reports? At the end of projects, students often confess that they wish they had paid more attention to the advice we give here. (But that is part of the learning process!) |
| Engineering Projects |
We found that a lot of students were keen on engineering design projects that presented a different type of challenge to anything experienced during their school work. |
| Maths and Computing Projects |
Some students like a more theoretical rather than a practical challenge. I include some unusual applications of maths and computing, such as the "generative art" as exhibited on the rest of this website. |
| Astronomy/Astrophysics projects |
Astronomy is full of exciting ideas, and we are in a golden age for public access to a vast range of high quality astronomical data, I have mentored projects that involve using the raw images from professional telescopes, cosmic ray data from international arrays of detectors and purely theoretical calculations on black holes. There are more than enough suggestions for every taste. |
| Other Physics Projects |
Anything that does not fit into one of the above categories. |
As a mentor, I usually visit the school to present the outline of the suggested projects and explain some of the general principles of organising a team to get the work done on time. Sometimes, depending on the project, we do a more extended workshop in which we explore some of the resources that are available. After that, the responsible teacher in the school provides regular support, but I am usually invited to visit for mentoring sessions perhaps three or four times during the progress of the projects. Visit 1 is usually to make sure they understand what they need to do, and have got started; Visit 2 is to help with overcoming specific technical difficulties; Visit 3 is usually about how to bring things to a conclusion. I also visit to hear a final presentation on the project because this is a good experience for the students and is often a very rewarding experience for me. (Looking back, most teams are amazed by what they have achieved, and often we are too!) I will also answer questions forwarded from the teacher by email, and on request will visit to help specific teams with particular technical problems.
The material here includes general guidance that is relevant to any project and also some specific project suggestions in different areas. (These naturally reflect my own technical interests and those of the schools that I work with. By training I am a theoretical physicist and astronomer, and by profession a nuclear engineer.)