Background Information
Reach the Heights
Techniquest is a leading science discovery centre with a world-wide reputation for excellence and innovation. We are a registered educational charity reaching +350,000 people per year in Wales. Our turnover is in excess of £3m per year and we are part-funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Techniquest is a joint sponsor in a £47m new initiative for young people in Wales, called Reach the Heights, which is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) with match funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and associated sponsors. As part of this scheme, Techniquest will be developing and delivering STEM programmes through seven regional Hubs in the convergence areas across Wales for 11 – 19 year olds who face or who are at risk of disadvantage or under-achievement, to improve their career opportunities.
Techniquest’s role in Reach the Heights
The constituent parts of the project will be designed to link together to offer holistic support for students from year seven onwards. It will comprise innovative, accessible and highly motivational programmes to engage young people to participate in STEM-based subjects, to raise their aspirations and enhance the skills needed to prepare them for continuing education and employment.
The project will be delivered across the convergence areas targeting young people living within disadvantaged communities through seven regional hubs. Two of these regional hubs are already established in Cardiff and Wrexham. The remaining five will be developed through an open procurement process. The hubs will provide a link to local schools, agencies and communities, with Techniquest providing support and programming. This combines the advantages of economies of scale with a close understanding of the catchment area. It is proposed that the additional 5 hubs will be situated in the following locations: Ceredigion, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil or Blaenau Gwent, Pembrokeshire or Carmarthenshire, and Swansea. This proposal covers outreach for young people in the convergence areas, with the hubs in Cardiff and Wrexham serving the convergence communities in close proximity to them.
The regional hubs will facilitate delivery of the programmes in their areas, offering Techniquest-developed programmes in their community delivered by local, Techniquest-trained presenters. The project will deliver the full package of programmes in the beneficiaries’ communities overcoming the barriers of distance and disadvantage.
Programme Outline
The project is designed to increase young people’s engagement in STEM-based subjects through interactive presentations, a programme of work-related experience, contemporary science debates and the opportunity to engage in workshops related to STEM-based degrees. The project will motivate and enthuse young people to be engaged in STEM-based education, training and employment.
This is an holistic programme that builds opportunities for learners aged 11-19 years old over 5 stages:
1) Initial STEM engagement programmes (11-14 year olds and underachievers aged 14-19 years old)
These programmes will be designed to engage underachievers and those young people who have previously been turned off STEM-based subjects, and motivate them to re-engage in learning. Each will comprise an interactive show with demonstrations and pre- and post-visit resource materials for teachers. They will be delivered under the following core themes:
Sustainability
To raise awareness of pollution, the effects of climate change, carbon reducing activities, alternative energy solutions and environmental careers, so increasing the young people’s awareness of sustainable practices.
Maths
To expand the delivery of Techniquest’s successful Maths programme to young people aged 11-14 years old through the convergence areas. The show and associated workshop offer opportunities to engage in practical maths activities.
Financial literacy
To develop the young people’s core maths and numeracy skills with a specific focus on helping them to manage finances, increase their understanding of their financial choices and to deal with debt.
Forces
To highlight the application of science and aspects of engineering. The show will look at how a knowledge of forces is important in design and engineering.
Astronomy
Starlab is a transportable mobile inflatable planetarium which can be set up in the beneficiaries’ schools to engage young people into astronomy and cosmology.
2) 14-19 work-related experience
This element of the project will focus on enhanced opportunities for 14-19 year olds to increase their engagement in STEM-based careers, to gain an understanding of the careers option available in STEM and to consider and address some of the issues that STEM companies face. The aim will be to feature local businesses. Techniquest will work with the businesses to develop a programme that:
- highlights how the businesses apply science in their work
- provides the young people with a case study highlighting a particular problem that the company has faced for the participants to solve.
The programme will support young people in achieving level 2 and level 3 qualifications and will have direct links with GCSE Science, A-Level, Welsh Baccalaureate, GNVQ, NVQ and BTEC specifications.
3) Contemporary Science Discussions
Techniquest will further engage large numbers of young people through innovative and participatory discussions on the social and ethical issues associated with contemporary science to:
- highlight the relevance of the application of science to their everyday lives
- give them the opportunity to make their opinions heard on topics that have direct relevance to them and to their lives.
The debate subjects will be important contemporary topics in order to promote discussion, with potential subjects including: climate change, alternative fuels, nanotechnology, DNA databases and stem cells. Video conferencing will be used to enable young people across the convergence areas to come together in discussion and to learn from one another. This will be facilitated by working with partners including the Welsh Video Network, Funky Dragon and Welsh universities. Pre- and post-debate materials for teachers, youth-workers and trainers will support the programme.
4) Engaging young people into university
The project culminates in innovative approaches to help raise young people’s aspirations and awareness of the benefits of higher education, particularly amongst those from disadvantaged groups and those who might not have considered university. To do this Techniquest will work with Welsh universities to develop and deliver workshops that will give the participants the opportunity to engage in science experiments that they would be unable to carry out in school or college due to time, costs or Health and Safety constraints, but which are part of the post-16 specifications. The workshops will complement A-Level and Welsh Baccalaureate specifications in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Engineering and Psychology.
5) Teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
All organisations that refer young people will have the opportunity to participate in CPD. Techniquest will provide teachers with pre-and post -visit materials and train them in their use. It will highlight links to the learning objectives of the programme.
An online forum, the Virtual Network, will support the Outreach programmes for teachers and other professionals. The two-way virtual network will encourage and consolidate teacher feedback, and promote teacher/teacher and teacher/Techniquest discussions to complement the programmes. Supplementary resources for the programme will also be available on the network.
Techniquest April 2009
