Research School Network: BLOG: The STEM Curriculum Why should we integrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths within our curriculum planning? How would we do that?

I have taught in both primary and secondary settings and know all too well the feeling of being busy working on the curriculum that unfortunately there’s often not enough time to collaborate and look at the bigger picture. We need to take time to see the full educational diet of young people in our schools and understand that our students will rarely use their knowledge of specific subjects in isolation when they enter the world of work. Using a cross section of curriculum knowledge allows students to have a wider evidence and knowledge base to support problem solving. This creates an understanding of how their school based learning links to real life scenarios.

STEM education is an opportunity to support young people in beginning to make links between curriculum areas. Along with the benefit of learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, young people begin to understand how these subjects work together as one through STEM. 

STEM learning should equip learners to respond to real-world challenges and prepare young people to be the future professionals who will transform society with innovative and sustainable solutions.

In schools, we have the opportunity to improve our communities, by promoting new educational and employment opportunities. There is a high demand for STEM skills in society. The combination of STEM subjects enables people to make informed decisions. STEM awareness promotes interest in a range of exciting careers. Currently, many STEM occupations are understaffed.

One of the goals of STEM initiatives is to encourage broader participation of women and minorities in the STEM workforce. This allows us to bridge ethnic and gender gaps. We need the engagement and participation of schools, policymakers, parents, and students to see this change.

Enriching curriculum experiences also helps to broaden the impact of STEM education. Working with local experts, engaging with competitions and taking students out of school on trips to see STEM in action allows young people to contextualise their learning. For more information, please explore the suggested enrichment activities and links in the take-away section. 

The topic of sustainability is often used to build projects around the STEM subject areas. As a society we are concerned about the exhaustion of our natural resources and the changes to our climate. The 2021 census found that 75% of adults in Great Britain are worried about the impact of climate change. 

STEM education and problem solving can be part of the solution to these concerns. We should engage young people in nature-based solutions to ecological challenges, embracing the opportunity to improve our world, and teach young people how the links between these subject areas can be used to bring about real change. We can teach children about the environment through the academic curriculum, in extracurricular clubs and experiences. It is also important to consider how we use our school sites as these can be used to demonstrate and explore STEM and sustainability in action.

The world we live in is changing and we must keep pace with it. Opportunities for cross curricular learning in STEM allows young people to be flexible, look for patterns, find connections and evaluate information. STEM education raises social awareness and communicates global issues. Therefore, developing our STEM curriculum and creating opportunities for cross curricular work across our schools will create a generation of young people equipped with the skills and confidence to solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow. They will also learn to meet the demands of the dynamic and evolving workplace and world around them.

Here are a list of key takeaways which have supported me in developing my STEM curriculum. I hope that you find the links useful to support curriculum development in your schools.

If you’re a secondary school in the midlands, the Midlands Maker Challenge would be a fantastic opportunity to get involved in. The challenge aims to empower young people to be the makers of the future. We took part with 4 teams this year, the students used their STEAM subject knowledge to explore real world problems and problem solve to devise solutions. From a teacher’s perspective, the challenge is really well planned with clear and engaging resources. The team running the challenge at Derby museums, are really supportive and have been fantastic to work with.

Young people aged 13 – 18 www.derbymuseums.org/learn/midlands-maker-challenge/

Industrial Cadets projects

Young people will have the opportunity to engage first hand with mentors from industry, and solve real life challenges faced by industry. The projects are led by industry experts to help young people develop important life skills and gain a better understanding of STEM. (This was previously calledGo4Set) Students that I have worked with on these projects over the years have enjoyed applying the cross section of STEM knowledge and working together as a team to solve real problems.

Young people aged 13 – 16https://www.etrust.org.uk/proj…

The Wolfson foundation provide funding for capital infrastructure in Education. I have been part of a successful grant application to Wolfson where we were supported with substantial funds to create two new science laboratories, to improve our STEM learning spaces and capacity.

www.wolfson.org.uk/

Crest Award Grant – British Science Association

CREST projects can be run by both primary and secondary schools, they are aligned with the national curriculum so can be run as part of timetabled lessons or as an extracurricular activity. We have successfully gained funding from the British Science Association to support with the registration and running the Crest Award within school, this support really helped us to run this award. Grants of up to £600 are available.
https://www.britishscienceasso…

Armourers and Brasiers Company
We were granted £1000 in 2019 to support our work with students in Science. The Armourers and Brasiers Company give grants of £600 to primary schools and £1,000 to secondary schools to enrich the science curriculum and encourage students to take up scientific careers particularly in Materials
Science.
https://www.armourershall.co.u…

Biological & Medicinal Chemistry Sector Grant

We secured a grant of £440.50 from BMCS to support our Science curriculum. There are a range of funding options available from them which you may wish to explore.
https://www.rsc.org/prizes-fun…

The Nineveh Charitable Trust

The Nineveh Charitable Trust supports a broad range of UK-based projects and activities of benefit to the General Public, with an emphasis on promoting better understanding of the countryside. We used a grant of £1,576 to support out STEM work and sustainability. We were able to buy some green houses and a potting shed to develop ecological learning.
https://www.ninevehtrust.org.u…

STEM learning list of funding

The below webpage is a really useful list of Grants available to support your STEM curriculum.
https://www.stem.org.uk/resour…

ENTHUSE Partnerships empower schools and colleges to share practise and work collaboratively.
The partnership is supported by government funding to develop STEM in our schools. Being part of a partnership will support you to address 3 key areas:

• Addressing underachievement in STEM subjects
• Inspiring excellence in the STEM curriculum 
• Raising aspirations for STEM careers and further study

I lead the Enthuse partnership for my school, you can find out more about partnerships in your area through the link below
www.stem.org.uk/enthuse-partne…

I also suggest that you explore UK non-profit charity, STEMunity and the support they can provide in making links between STEM education and industry.
https://stemacademynorth.org/

EEF Project Aspire to STEM
The Education Endowment Foundation are currently working on a piece of research to improve attainment and teacher retention in STEM-related subjects. The program has the potential to expend the evidence base about how to improve STEM outcomes, and the EEF also has an interest in some of the intermediate outcomes, such as teacher retention and student aspiration. The full report of this project is due to be published in Spring 2023.
https://educationendowmentfoun…

Subject leader networks can be an invaluable opportunity to share good practice and collaborate with your peers. This will also be an opportunity for subject leaders to keep up to date with current thinking about the development of their subject. Each network team meets 4 times per year, each session is led and designed by an experienced SLE/ELE to ensure that current topics, changes in education and school specific needs are met. This is a great opportunity to reflect on excellence in practice and continue to grow as leaders of learning in our settings.
The primary STEM meetings are in the areas of, Science, Computing & Technology.
Use the link below to book your place and join a network meeting.

www.researchschool.org.uk/derby/event/primary-subject-leader-network-meetings

Computing Hubs
If you are looking to develop your Computer Science curriculum in a Primary or Secondary school.
There are Computing hubs across the region who can support you in a range of ways. They offer curriculum development support, CPD and even access to hardware on loan.
I was recently part of a CPD led by the East Midlands hub at one of our local Primary Schools. Staff were taught how to use the electronics controller ​‘crumble’. This CPD built the confidence of teachers in the primary school to develop their Computer Science Curriculum and to use computing hardware with pupils.
https://teachcomputing.org/hub…

Maths Hubs
The Maths Hubs Programme, coordinated by the NCETM, brings together mathematics education professionals in a collaborative national network of 40 hubs across the country, each locally led by an outstanding school or college, to develop and spread excellent practice, for the benefit of all pupils and students. There are collaborative opportunities for both Primary and Secondary schools.
www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs/

Science Learning Partnerships (SLP)

Science Learning Partnerships (SLPs) in conjunction with STEM combine local expertise in primary, secondary and post-16 teaching and learning in science, facilitating CPD, and providing school-to school support. I have worked with the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire SLP over the past years,
they have been an excellent source of training and resources as well as an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the region.
www.dtsa.org.uk/science-learning-partnership/

If you are a teacher or leader in a primary school, this resource to engage parents with school and the maths curriculum should be something you are looking at. Parents have the opportunity to gain an endorsed certification and gain confidence to support their children. These sessions are funded through shine charity. This year I have joined the team to support with parental engagement of maths across this programme. There is the opportunity for your school to be fully-funded or partially-funded through the charity SHINE, which the hub will support you in accessing. See below from NCETM for more detail about the classes.

www.ncetm.org.uk/features/improving-children-s-confidence-in-maths-starts-with-parents/

If you would like more information r would like to become involved, you can email
mathsmasterclasses@​satrust.​com

The Idea award for Parents
To develop students’ skills in Computer Science, we are using the Idea award with students to develop digital and enterprise skills in personal development lessons. We have encouraged parents to take part in the award to support their child’s learning and parents have gained a qualification through the process.
https://idea.org.uk/

Parental Engagement CPD
Dylan Murphy and I are delivering a CPD session this in April this year on the topic of parental engagement. Follow the link below to look at the topics we will be covering, and book your place to explore parental engagement further.

BOOK HERE

Sustainable Curriculum CPD
I will be running a twilight CPD session on the 28^th of February to explore how we improve environmental education and integrate this within a range of subject areas, I will also discuss how STEM subjects can be used to teach sustainability. We will examine the DFE’s flagship ​‘Sustainability
and climate change strategy’, and explore how we can use this to support children and young peoples’ understanding of the natural environment and climate through the curriculum.
The link below will take you to a flyer with further information about the curriculum CPD twilight series
Use the link below to book your place.
https://forms.gle/fe5Km8Z91kwb…

Derbyshire County Council – One Million Trees Project
Derbyshire Environmental Studies Service (DESS) are looking to recruit 8 Derbyshire education settings to get involved with the first phase of this project and work with us closely over the next academic year. This project is fully funded by Derbyshire County Council with no cost to the participating schools.

Reference to concerns about the Environment 

Link to Office for national statistics and 2021 census referenced in the article.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplep…

Sustainability and Carbon neutrality of your school site

Bio Diversity
Your school site can be used to develop Bio Diversity, we worked with the Queens Green Canopy this year to order a range of fruit trees to encourage more wildlife to use the school site. This could be
used to understand biodiversity in Science, understanding food chains and animal behaviour. The initiative was started to celebrate the Jubilee and will be extended until March 2023 in memoriam to
honour Her Majesty. https://queensgreencanopy.org/ You can order the trees free of charge for your school from www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant…/ We found our council to be a great help around environmental advice, if you are a Derbyshire school you can also access this support www.services.derbyshire.gov.uk… />If your school decides like us, to plant fruit trees you could explore the opportunity to link, science, outdoor education and food technology. If you are considering fruit trees on the school site the two websites below are a good source of advice that I have used for activities and advice.
https://schoolgardening.rhs.or…
http://www.fruitfulschools.com…
You may also wish to add to your site bio diversity by adding wildflower areas. There’s some good advice from Kew Gardens on prepping and planting here https://growwild.kew.org/ you can apply for free seed kits from Kew around February time each year. You can also get 250 wildflower seed balls, free of charge from https://seedball.co.uk/product…

Derby Museums STEAM CPD
STEAM Sessions’ are a series of bi-monthly events, exploring with educators how STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) learning is able to prepare children and young people to face future environmental and social challenges in a rapidly changing world. Each session is an interactive Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunity, featuring conversation with expert guest speakers from national & international STEAM-linked organisations.
https://www.derbymuseums.org/l…

Calculating Carbon
This resource from Forestry England, can be used with your students to work out how much carbon sequestration is happening with trees on your school site. This resource is great for engaging students in Science and Maths to understand how valuable our school grounds and trees are.
https://www.forestryengland.uk…

Whilst the above are excellent partners in STEM who I have worked with, there lots of organisations who can enrich the STEM curriculum, if anything has worked particularly well for you, I would encourage you to share by commenting on this blog or contacting me through twitter.
Georgina Wharton @MissWharton_