UK Centre for Materials Education
Working with you to enhance the student experience
Working with you to enhance the student experience
This project was funded at the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering (SPEME). Its principal aim was to encourage more students to take up Materials at the Undergraduate level and later. Since 2001, this initial scheme has developed into a full-fledged Schools Outreach programme. There are currently two in-house demonstrators, two PhD students who go out and deliver lessons to local schools and a student administrator responsible for the smooth running of this scheme.
The initial stages of the project involved a survey of Materials ‘awareness’, which was designed to provide a preliminary indication of what schools to target. This survey was also useful in providing a perception of the subject, and two new degrees, Sports Materials and Bio-materials, were introduced at SPEME. The early stages of this project also involved road-shows and school visits, where demonstrations and take out sessions involving various objects were organised. This has now developed into planned activities focussed on the National Curriculum, which can be specifically tailored to the needs of schools.
A number of activities and resources are offered as part of this Schools Outreach scheme. One of the most popular is a murder mystery ‘whodunit’ game for visiting schools involving existing lab facilities. Recently, an equipment library for schools has also been initiated, and it is planned to expand this to a virtual experiment library for wider access, a ‘DOITPOMS for schools’. The programme also has a scheme where PhD students go out to deliver bespoke workshops to local schools. Lesson plans in certain designated areas are offered to the schools, and the chosen sessions are then specifically tailored to the specific needs of the schools. These sessions are mostly addressed towards students in Key stages 3 and 4, and cover the following areas:
The Schools Outreach scheme run by SPEME has benefitted from motivated staff, who felt passionately about Widening Participation (WP) and Inclusion projects, and from a good Postgraduate base. Even though the number of post graduate students is not large in number, the scheme has benefitted from the involvement of UK students, who are familiar with the National Curriculum and the requirements of UK schools.
Evaluation is done by means of a questionnaire feedback form, so that any suggestions made may be taken on board. Informal evaluation is also carried out by the PhD students when they go out to deliver workshops at schools, as they get an idea of what is enjoyable and interesting to the audience.
UKCME funding has proved pivotal to the functioning of this scheme. In the initial stages, it provided the necessary funds to set up experiments, pay for demonstrating time and provide outreach souvenirs for schools. Though SPEME was sporadically involved in outreach projects earlier, UKCME funding acted as a catalyst and helped to organise what was already there earlier into a more coherent and sustainable project. The funds also contributed towards the conception and development of the ‘whodunit’ game for schools. The outreach scheme is currently sustained through Faculty funding for Widening Participation and Inclusion projects.
