In partnership with the Science Museum and STEM Learning, BP has launched the Ultimate STEM Challenge. The competition invites young people aged 11 to 14 across the UK to put their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills to the test, by tackling real-world challenges.
Now in its third year of running, hundreds of schools have already taken part in the challenge and have described the benefits of getting involved. Colyton School tells us about what they gained from entering the Ultimate STEM Challenge.
Our students said:
“We all had an interest for science and so when the opportunity came up to enter a national competition we were very excited. Mr Lynch told us about the competition as we had already shown an interest in helping out at a local science festival and so he thought this would be a good opportunity for us.
It was really interesting and fun being able to choose how we wanted to carry out our investigation. Carrying out the experiments carefully and gaining a better understanding of the scientific method has also been very rewarding.
We have all developed both our teamwork skills and our leadership skills. Some of us had particular strengths like knowing how to use CAD software or being able to record data in a logical way, so we took turns leading and this worked well. We have also all gained a much better understanding of the importance of the scientific method and particularly why it is important to control all other variables in an experiment apart from the one you want to change."
Our teachers said:
"The students definitely developed their ability to work closely with their peers, sharing their ideas and views but then making collective decisions so that they were able to make progress. It was fascinating watching this develop. At first they would spend whole lunchtimes discussing ideas, which was an important step, but soon they realised that as well as discussing they needed to get down to taking measurements. By the end of the process they were able to work together to structure the time they had available and use it to its best effect.
The students also gained satisfaction in the process of dedicating themselves to collecting sets of data which were well controlled so they knew the results only showed what they were interested in. Having the freedom to take the investigation in their own direction really allowed the students to see the creative side of science as very often in lessons students are given an aim to investigate, but for this challenge they really enjoyed deciding on their own aims.”
If you want to inspire your students and encourage them to become the future of STEM in industry, then sign up to the Ultimate STEM Challenge.