October


2016


Welcome to the October issue of the Sparxx monthly newsletter!

This month the newsletter is electric!  Our Sparxx of the Month is Naomi Mitchison who studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering and was crowned IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2014. Christina Dines and Ashleigh Summer talk about their apprenticeships in Electronic and Electrical Engineering in the Video of the Month se ction  and in the  Did you know? section Hertha  Ayrton the first woman member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers known for her work on the electric arc.  Spark your imagination with the creations from the Organisation of the Month 'micro:bit'! 

Inspired by the walking talking gobbling turkey Namoi mentions in her interview you can build
your own RoboBrrd in the DIY section. 
Find out how students of all ages played a key role at the World Robot Conference 2016: Hello to the Future and Daniela Rus' ground breaking robotic research projects in the Did you know?
section.

The 7-11 November 2016 is Tomorrow's Engineers Week. Explore careers in engineering with Tomorrow's Engineers on the  Career Wall . The guest blog from Jessica Wade, Shoumiya Padman and Nicole Ho reports on the Engineer our Future hackathon.  Contribute to Alzheimer's disease research by playing Stall Catchers in the Fun Stuff section  and Geek Girl by Holly Smale is t he Book Review  from Nicola Asker.

In the News  Engineering and Aerospace Insight Event; #9PercentIsNotEnough campaign; BT STEM Crew; Talent 2030 Dashboard Report 2016; and the free online course Biochemistry: the Molecules of Life.

For Our Educators CREST Awards 30 with '30 inspirational ideas' which includes Sparxx; Tomorrow's Engineers Week 7-11 November; The Big Bang Fair; STEM across Europe: making it real; free school events at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; and a free online course in Girl's Education .

There are plenty of Events to go to all round the country, a new Raspberry PI Competition to enter and five deadlines approaching in the Competitions section.
SparxxofMonthSparxx of the Month

Naomi Mitchison- Sparxx of the Month
Naomi Michison
 
Our October  Sparxx of the Month is Naomi Mitchison who was crowned IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2014 and works as a senior hardware engineer for Leonardo.

After hearing an offhand comment about engineering, despite not knowing much about the subject, she decided to study Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. Now she's doing another masters degree to keep her skills up to date.

Read the full interview here

"The application of science and common sense to solving problems."
CompetitionsCompetitions

Check out our Competitions  page to find out about more exciting challenges.
  • PA'S 2016-2017 RASPBERRY PI COMPETITION
Now in its fifth successful year, we are challenging entrants to invent under the theme of 'Innovation for All'.

The aim of this year's competition is to produce innovations that will improve the lives of people who have conditions that limit their ability t o do things the rest of us take for granted. Inventions could range from technology which helps athletes win a medal in the Paralympics, aids visual impairment or learning difficulties, to those which uses music therapy to help mental health.

We believe this initiative will drive great innovations - from helping people with physical impairments to operate everyday IT and computers, to inventing wearable technology to enable better learning.

Our Raspberry Pi competition is a core part of our ongoing work to make the difference for young people. The competition gives teams of students as young as eight the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of computer programming and engineering - valuable skills which have been declining in the UK in recent years.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION 
The competition includes the following categories:
  • PA's Primary School Award: academic years 4-6
  • PA's Secondary School Award: academic years 7-11
  • PA's Sixth Form and College Award: academic years 12-13
What do entrants get for winning?
  • The winners of each category will receive £1,000
http://www.paconsulting.com/events/raspberry-pi-competition/#here

 

The deadline for these competitions will be here before you know it.
  • Race for the Line - BBC Micro:bit Model Rocket Car Competition England & Wales
The Bloodhound Project competition 'Race for the Line' is now open and this year primary schools can enter.

Inspired by the rules governing the Word Land Speed Record attempt that the 1,000mph BLOODHOUND Supersonic Car is targeting, the model rocket cars must blast along a wire and through a set of timing gates with a BBC Micro:bit accelerometer on board gathering vital data that enables the Teams to modify and improve their designs. Teams compete at open race days at one of 120 regional Race HUBs. 
The top two primary and secondary school teams from each hub will qualify for the regional finals in March 2017. The winning primary and secondary school teams at each of the 15 regional finals are invited to the national finals held in June at the Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire. The winning team will be invited to join the BLOODHOUND Team in South Africa for a once in a lifetime trip to see the Supersonic Car making history on the Hakskeen Pan.

There are over 25,000 rocket car kits to give to competing schools.


DEADLINES: register by 31st October to receive a free rocket car kit; regional finals held in March 2017; national finals for top teams from each region held in June 2017.
  • FLL Challenge 2016: ANIMAL ALLIES
Get ready. Get set. Roar! Or you could bark, quack, or squeak, because the 2016 ANIMAL ALLIES season is all about our furry, feathered, and finned friends. In the 2016 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge, more than 28,000 teams of students aged 9 to 16 will look into the eyes of our ANIMAL ALLIES. What might become possible when we learn to help each other?  

FLL challenges young people to think like scientists and engineers. During the ANIMAL ALLIES season, teams will investigate and solve a real-world problem in the Project. They will also build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® technology to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL's signature set of Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism®.

DEADLINE: Team registration closes October 2016; UK and Ireland Final February 2016
  • TEENTECH City of Tomorrow
To take part in the TeenTech City of Tomorrow working to the brief of 'smarter, kinder, safer' young people, individually or in small teams, have to design and construct architectural models of buildings to sit on the footprint of an A4 card - but buildings can go out as well as up. Together they will develop ideas for the connected city, addressing issues of how we will live, work and play in the future. Materials used to build project models should be recycled or cost no more than £10 if bought specially. Once young people have constructed their buildings they are invited to enter them into the annual City of Tomorrow competition.
 
The City of Tomorrow 2016 competition is for young people aged 7 to 14.
 
DEADLINE: All building designs uploaded before October 31st will be considered for the 2016 TeenTech Civic Hackathon & Final. Entries submitted after this date will be considered for the 2017 final.
  • The Big Bang UK Young Scientists &,Engineers Competition
The  National Science + Engineering Competition  has been relaunched as  The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition.

The Big Bang Competition lets more young people than ever showcase their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects and rewards and recognises their a chievements. It's open to UK residents in full-time education or training (year groups 7-13 in England/Wales, 8-14 in Northern Ireland and P1-S6 in Scotland).

Online applications are now open until 20 November 2016.

Finalists will showcase their projects to thousands of visitors at The Big Bang Fair 2017, 15-18 March in Birmingham, the UK's largest STEM celebration for young people. Winners will get a range of fantastic prizes, including the chance to be crowned UK Young Scientist of the Year and UK Young Engineer of the Year, as well as special prizes from companies including BAE Systems and Rotary International.  Enter your project

www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/competition is open to all 11-18 year olds living in the UK and in full-time education.

DEADLINE: 20th November 2016
  • Year 9 School Science Prize 
For our Year 9 School Science Prize we are asking students to write a 500 word essay entitled "Why I love science", as described in the attached poster. All participating students will receive a certificate, and the top 15 students will be invited to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for an evening celebration on Tuesday 13 December 2016. The 15 finalists will receive a book token, a special tour of our high power lasers and be asked to give a two minute presentation on why they love science. The overall winner will receive an iPad mini. 

To enter please ask your students to email their essays to  visitral@stfc.ac.uk, along with a teacher's contact and school name.

DEADLINE: midnight on 21 November 2016

Still plenty of time to enter, so get a headstart and check out our Competitions page... 
  • Artful Physics
Entries are now open for Artful Physics, an exciting creative science competition for children from age 9-18, challenging them to create an artistic piece that engages young people in physics and astronomy that could inspire future scientists. 

DEADLINE: 16th December 2016
  • Design For A Better World
Design for a better world offers an exciting new global design challenge and competition for students aged 11-14 years.

DEADLINE: 16th December 2016

  • Talent 2030
Talent 2030's National Engineering Competition for Girls is a FREE competition that offers girls the chance to win £500 for themselves and £500 for their school.

The competition invites all female students in secondary education to solve the major challenges of the 21st century, to get creative, get thinking and most of all - have fun!

All shortlisted finalists are invited to attend the Big Bang Fair in March 2017. 

DEADLINE: 16th December 2016
  • Win a Lego Windstorm Education EV3
'As technology advances we are able to improve the quality of our life in many ways. We may soon see driverless cars on our roads but our own homes can even now become connected homes which allow us to interface with them via our smart phones. In that new world, how would you like to be connected with your home, and how may being connected with your home improve the quality of life for your family?'

This competition is for individuals or  groups (only ONE entry per school) aged 14-18. Winners will be announced on the department's website and winners will be informed individually by the 31st January 2017.  Entries to be sent by email to the Head of Department david.howard@rhul.ac.uk  either as an attachment, a YouTube link or a cloud storage link.

DEADLINE: 31st December 2016.
  • Cisco Little BIG Awards
CAN YOU CONNECT THE UNCONNECTED?

We use the internet every day: on our computers, on tablets and mobile phones. You can watch TV, make phone calls, send photos, and shop - all on the internet. But even today less than 1% of all things are connected to the internet. What happens when your microwave, your central heating, your car, or even maybe your school workbooks are connected to the internet?

Cisco invites your school to   take part in the Little BIG Awards to show us how you think your life could be made better by connecting everyday things together.

September 2016 Challenge Kick-off; January/February 2017 Regional Finals; March 2017 National Final

  • Ultimate STEM Challenge 2016/17
Teams of two to four students aged 11 to 14 from across the UK are asked to put their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills to the test and win some fantastic prizes, including an invitation to a celebratory event at the Science Museum, an Ultimate STEM experience day, £500 for their school and Science Museum goodies.

The challenges are designed to inspire all of your students, not just the science enthusiasts! 

Choose one of three real-world challenges based around the theme of thinking creatively - 1: Rescue Rockets, 2: Future Flight and 3: Auto Arms

DEADLINE: 13th January 2017

DidyouknowDid you know?

World Robot Conference 2016: Hello to the Future

World Robot Conference 2016: Hello to the future
World Robot Conference 2016: Hello to the future
On the 21-25 October the World Robot Conference 2016: Hello to the Future took place in Beijing China. Students of all ages played a key role at the conference. They brought their robot soccer players, drones and special vehicles along with them to take part in the World Robot competition.

You can see more of the human-like robots that stole the show here .

Hertha Ayrton, was the first woman member of the IEE, who is known for her work on the electric arc and Ayrton Flapper Fan.
Portrait of Hertha Ayrton (born Phoebe Sarah Marks), by Héléna Arsène Darmesteter

Born in 1854 as Sarah Marks she was educated at  her aunt's school  London where she established a reputation for being a scholar and champion for justice (which later led to her involvement in the suffrage movement). 

In 1873 Hertha applied to Girton College where she was renowned for her intellectual endeavours to seek out practical applications to any problem. However, in her final exam she was placed fifteenth in the Third Class and returned to teaching to support herself, while attending classes at Finsbury Technical College. It was there she met her husband, the lecturer Professor William Ayrton (a pioneer in electrical engineering and physics education) and they were married in 1885. She continued with some of her own work and in 1888 gave a series of lectures for women on electricity. The legacy she received in 1891 enabled her to give her full attention to the challenges of scientific research.

Hertha took over her husband's research into the electric arc, when a paper he was due to present was accidentally destroyed. She turned her attention to the sometimes eccentric behaviour of the arc and published a series of articles in The Electrician on the subject. Electric arc lightning was widely used for public lightning at the time and could be problematic due to its tendency to flicker and hiss resulting in erratic light. Her experiments explained that the phenomena was the result of oxygen coming into contact with the carbon rods used to create the arc. She demonstrated that when the arc was protected from direct contact with the air the erratic behaviour ceased.

In March 1899, she was the first woman to present a paper to the Institution of Electrical Engineering (IEE) and was shortly after elected the first female member of the IEE. Hertha was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society, but the application was turned down because it was formally decided that married women were not eligible to be Fellows. However, she was the first woman to win a prize from the Society, when she was awarded the Hughes Medal in 1906 for her work on the electric arc and research on the motion of ripples in sand and water. With the outbreak of the First World War she applied her theories on the oscillations in water to the movement of air and developed the Ayrton Flapper Fan.   You can read more about Hertha Ayrton  here .

[T o celebrate  her legacy as engineer, mathematician, physicist, and inventor Google produced a  Doodle  o n April 28, 2016 to mark Hertha Marks Ayrton's 162nd birthday. ]


Daniela Rus is the first female director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. She has led groundbreaking research projects in the areas of security, transportation, environmental modelling and monitoring, underwater exploration, and agriculture. Her research group has built robots that can fly in swarms, swim, bake cookies, garden and dance with humans.

BlogBlog

 
This month we have a guest blog from Jessica Wade, Shoumiya Padman and Nicole Ho reporting on the Engineer our Future hackathon showing girls aged 14 to 16 what engineering is. 



Current

The Imaginarium
Sat 29th Oct
Join us at the University of Sheffield for a FREE family event to celebrate Sheffield's past, present and future as a city of makers.
As engineers we imagine, design and build the world around us: from the tiniest chip inside your phone to the tallest skyscrapers in your city, engineering is everywhere.
Aimed at primary school children our interactive activities will help them explore how we make the world go round.

The Diamond, Sheffield - www.sheffield.ac.uk/engineering 


Th e Engineering Season at the V&A
Wed May 18th - Sun Nov 6th 
 
The Engineering Season at the V&A (18 May - 6 November 2016) will celebrate the 'unsung heroes' of design that create and shape the built world. The exciting line-up includes a major retrospective of the engineering legend Ove Arup, a display highlighting the global impact of contemporary British engineers, a garden pavilion woven by a robot, and a packed events programme exploring some of the most advanced engineering taking place in the world today.

MOUTHY: INTO THE ORIFICE
Fri Jul 1st - Thu Nov 24th

From human spit crystals and the science of snogging to hacked prosthetics that allow your facial movements to control digital games, MOUTHY will be a season packed full of surprising experiences that invite you to get involved and connect with your mouth in new ways... 

Calendar of activities across King's College London Guy's campus and other surprising locations around London Bridge, London -  https://london.sciencegallery.com/mouthy/

Talking Science Series 2016-17
Wed 7th Sep - Fri 16th Jun 2017

FREE stimulating talks on science, maths and the Universe, for families, public and schools

Daresbury Laboratory - http://www.stfc.ac.uk/files/daresbury-talking-science-2016-17/
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - 
Have a look at the  Events  page to find out more

November

Imperial Fringe - Criminal Investigations
Thu 3rd Nov 5:00pm - 8:00pm

Join a crime scene investigation of the future with research projects improving the pursuit of justice and upholding the rule of law. Imperial Fringe takes on and takes down crime at this evening exhibition of exciting science and interactive research demonstrations. Meet our teams pioneering new fingerprint imaging, building crime scene scanning robots and analysing human hairs to link deaths to illegal drug use.

Register in advance to receive more information on this latest Imperial Fringe

Tomorrow's Engineers Week 2016
Mon 7th Nov - Fri 11th

Tomorrow's Engineers Week shines a spotlight on engineering careers in a way that young people, and particularly girls, may have never considered before. 

" Rocket into STEM" Panel Event
Sat 12th Nov 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Rocket into STEM is a panel discussion, Stemettes style!

Morgan Stanley and Stemettes invite you to a celebration of women in STEM. The event will be hosted by Head Stemette, Anne-Marie Imafidon. 

It's aimed at young women, where we'll discuss all the different ways people begin their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths related careers. We're hoping to explore apprenticeships, A-level choices, university degrees, work experience. You'll be able to ask the panel questions, and network between each other and enjoy refreshments!

London - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rocket-into-stem-panel-event-november-2016-tickets-26918747699

CareerWallCareer Wall
 

Tomorrow's Engineers Week on the 7-11 November 2016 shines a spotlight on engineers and engineering careers. Read all about 'real jobs' in engineering and the views of engineers in the 'blogs'. Use the Tomorrow's Engineers 'career finder' to explore careers in engineering.
OrganisationoftheMonthOrganisation of the Month

    micro:bit

 

Spark your imagination with micro:bit activities! 

The BBC micro:bit can be used for all sorts of cool creations, from robots to musical instruments - the possibilities are endless. This little device has an awful lot of features, like 25 red LED lights that can flash messages. There are two programmable buttons that can be used to control games or pause and skip songs on a playlist. It can detect motion and tell you which direction you're heading in, and it can use a low energy Bluetooth connection to interact with other devices and the Internet.

Visit the website for all things micro:bit, from writing code to sharing your creations.

Engineering and Aerospace Insight Event

Are you considering a career in Engineering?

Join us at our Engineering and Aerospace Insight Event to discover if a career in engineering is right for you. Learn about the different types of engineering, gain hands on experience and network with industry professionals!

Ramble UK, London - Thursday 16th February 2017

#9PercentIsNotEnough

''Women make up just 9% of the UK's engineering and technology workforce. Raise your hand if you think #9PercentIsNotEnough.''


BT STEM Crew

Sir Ben Ainslie launches digital education programme, BT STEM Crew

 

Land Rover BAR and the 1851 Trust have launched BT STEM Crew, a free online STEM learning programme, at a live event hosted by the British Museum. The programme is designed for teachers of biology, physics, maths and design & technology students aged 11-16 years old. 

 

BT STEM Crew uses the excitement of Land Rover BAR's 

quest to win the America's Cup as a unique way to support teachers when bringing STEM subjects and careers to life. It draws on the inspiration, expertise and knowledge of Land Rover BAR to help develop thousands of young people's STEM skills and open their eyes to STEM careers. 

 

The programme responds to research with educators across the UK showing that one of the biggest challenges within STEM education is a lack of easily relatable materials linking STEM subjects to real careers. It draws on Land Rover BAR's extensive technical experience to provide a solution. 

 

The programme is part of BT's long-term commitment to build a culture of tech literacy for the UK, starting with the next generation. The company aims to reach five million children with its BT Tech Literacy programme by 2020. 

 

Featuring real data and information from the Team's base, all BT STEM Crew resources have been produced and reviewed in collaboration with STEM teachers. The programme is attractively designed with UK classrooms in mind and is accessible via mobile, tablet and desktop. 

 

With BT STEM Crew resources, students will use speed, distance and time to analyse team performance; learn about the crucial role played by data analysis in elite sport; understand the importance of diet and nutrition for crew performance and study how materials form an integral part of design. 

 

BT STEM Crew also gives students the chance to learn about the wide range of professions involved with Land Rover BAR, focusing on how they've found fascinating careers after taking qualifications in physics, engineering, maths, boat building, meteorology and many more. 

 

Teachers and schools can register today to access the full set of free downloadable resources at www.stemcrew.co.uk 

 

Schools can also book a trip to the Tech Deck at Land Rover BAR's Portsmouth HQ: http://land-rover-bar.americascup.com/en/tech-deck.html

 

Talent 2030 Dashboard Report 2016

Urgent government action and more industry coordination with universities needed to improve female uptake of engineering education

" If the UK wants to reach the European average for female engineers then more girls must do physics A-Level. This isn't just about industry gender balance, it is about helping the UK realise its economic potential. Government, schools, industry and universities must co-ordinate more effectively to help improve female uptake of engineering education" said Dr David Docherty, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business.

Jill Shedden, Group Director of HR at Centrica said "Less than 8% of UK engineers are women. If we don't work together to increase that number, the UK's potential to lead the world in manufacturing and engineering is weakened."

Since 2012, the National Centre's Talent 2030 project has been tracking the numbers of girls doing GCSE and A-level physics against realistic targets if the UK is to reach European averages. The 2016 Dashboard shows negligible growth in girls on pathway courses to engineering degrees, and there is no sign that the UK is on the right track. Furthermore, there is a real decline this year in the number of UK female engineers.

To help address the problem, the National Centre is running the 5th Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls. To encourage female students to consider careers in engineering and manufacturing, the competition asks them to solve a twenty-first century problem. Open for entries until 6pm on 16th December, the competition winner will be awarded £1000, a female engineer mentor and student membership to the Women's Engineering Society.

All finalists are invited to exhibit their entries at the Big Bang Fair, and all winners and runners-up have the exclusive opportunity to visit our sponsor facilities.

Biochemistry: the Molecules of Life

Explore the impact of biochemistry on bioenergy and health, discovering why graduates are in demand; with the Biochemical Society.

This free online biochemistry course will outline the background and history of the field, and its contemporary significance in the life sciences. It's ideal if you enjoy biology and chemistry at school, and are thinking about studying or working in biochemistry as a distinct subject.

This course will be of particular interest to 15 to 19 year olds who are studying biology and chemistry, and considering further studies in biochemistry.

No prior formal qualifications are required for this course. With a clear explanation of relevant details, the material will be understandable to all with a basic interest and background knowledge in biology and chemistry.

VideooftheMonthVideo of the Month

Naomi Mitchison, October Sparxx of the Month, "went off to study Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) at the University of Edinburgh not really knowing what I was doing!" In the videos this month Christina Dines and Ashleigh Summer talk about their apprenticeships in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.  


Christina Dines - A Career at BAE Systems
Christina Dines - A Career at BAE Systems

For more inspiring videos, check out our Videos page.

FunStuffFun Stuff

Stall Catchers

EyesOnALZ is a citizen science project from the  Human Computation Institute. This project enables everyone to contribute to Alzheimer's disease research and speed up drug discovery by playing online games. 

If you are interested in doing an online activity that will directly contribute to Alzheimer's research, you can start by playing the first game. Click on  Stall Catchers to look at microscope movies of live mouse brain & search for stalled vessels!

DIYDIY

RoboBrrd by RobotGrrl
ForOurEducatorsFor Our Educators

CREST Awards 30

1986-2016 Thirty Inspiration Ideas

CREST is turning 30, and to celebrate the British Science Association have released a brand new resource booklet entitled '30 inspirational ideas'. Available to download for free, the resource gathers together some of the best STEM ideas from over the last 30 years and features ready-to-go activities, information about organisations and initiatives for you and your students to get involved with, and handy hints and tips and to help you make science real in the classroom.

Head to the website to find out more how you can get involved with the CREST 30th celebrations: www.britishscienceassociation.org/news/crest30

Sparxx is delighted to be featured in such a great resource!
Tomorrow's Engineers Week 7-11 November 

Tomorrow's Engineers Week shines a spotlight on engineering careers in a way that young people, and particularly girls, may have never considered before. 

  • Tomorrow's Engineers Will - takes a look at what the engineers of tomorrow what kinds of solutions they will be developing to solve social and environmental problems. This is a social media campaign that uses engineers to solve questions posed by schoolchildren.
  • Hidden engineer features - case studies for use online, on social and in traditional media that the un-sung heroes of engineering - the hidden engineers; those that enable great things to happen but often go overlooked. Through 'Hidden Engineer' we want to show the breadth of engineering jobs to help us reach and inspire more young people.
  • Project Bootcamp - we are working with employers to create a pilot 'bootcamp' to help inform and inspire the next generation of engineers. Each bootcamp will be released online for each day of #TEWeek16, available on the Tomorrow's Engineers website and will be actively promoted to schools to take part in one or all of the bootcamps during the Week.
  • Mission Inspiration - we are working with attractions across the UK to develop a series of worksheets for young people for use during school trips and family visits. The worksheet takes learning outside of the classroom and gets young people thinking and talking about the role of engineering in the attraction.
The Big Bang Fair
 

Book now for The Big Bang Fair 2017!

Exciting theatre shows, hands-on activities, interactive workshops, excellent careers information, and much more! 

Book your FREE tickets for The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair at www.thebigbangfair.co.uk

15-18 March 2017 at The NEC, Birmingham. 

Give your students or children a unique opportunity to explore where their future can take them at the UK's largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people. 

They will be spoilt for choice with 12 mind-boggling theatre shows, over 150 hands-on activities and the opportunity to talk to thousands of scientists and engineers from leading companies across the UK, including young people who have just started work.

Apply online for The Big Bang Competition 

Encourage your students or children to enter their science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) projects into The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition, UK largest STEM competition for young people. 

Online applications are now open until 20 November 2016. 

Finalists will showcase their projects to thousands of people at The Big Bang Fair 2017 and get a chance to win a host of amazing prizes, including being crowned UK Young Scientist or UK Young Engineer of the Year. The Big Bang Competition is open to all 11-18 year olds living in the UK and in full-time education or training.
STEM across Europe: making it real

The British Science Association would like to invite you to attend a free International Education Conference on 15 November.

H eld at Burlington House at the Geological Society in Piccadilly, the Conference will bring together educators to look to the future of education, and address how to make science real for students in school. The day will include discussion sessions on 'best practices' both inside and out of the classroom, a panel debate and a chance to interact with experts in education from around the world. 
There will also be an evening 'Edu-Showcase' event held on a Thames river-boat: http://edushowcase.eventbrite.co.uk/
Free school events at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Nuclear Physics CPD Day  (Monday 14 November 10:00 - 16:00) - the course will enable you to gain a greater understanding of curriculum linked topics in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics and nuclear energy and is supported by STFC, the research council that funds nuclear physics in the UK. The day will include talks from UK nuclear physicists, hands-on activities to take back to the classroom, a tour of one of RAL's particle accelerators and a chance to learn how to get involved
with authentic research in your school through the CERN@school programme. 
To book a place: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nuclear-physics-teacher-training-day-tickets-28229118052

Interactive twilight CPD session about Big Telescopes (Friday 2 December 16:00-18:00) - from the Very Large Telescope set on a mountain in Chile, to the Square Kilometer Array covering deserts in South Africa and Australia, to telescopes sent out into Space for a closer look, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is involved in many projects helping astronomers to see further, clearer and brighter than ever before. Come and learn how to inspire your KS3 pupils about exoplanets, galaxies, the Electromagnetic spectrum and... telescopes! To book a place: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-telescopes-teacher-training-at-stfc-rutherford-appleton-laboratory-tickets-28287960050

Science in Your Future (Thursday 9 March 09:15 - 15:30) - a careers event designed to give female GCSE students the opportunity find out more about different careers available to them if they choose to progress with work or study in the field of science. It is co-hosted by Diamond Light Source, and there will be an exclusive tour of Diamond during the day for all students and teachers. We are delighted to have scientists and engineers from our external partners at this event, who will be running a series of interactive workshops. There will be an opportunity to speak to people from other organisations that support maths, science, computing and engineering over a lunch time networking fair. To register your interest: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/registration-of-interest-science-in-your-future-tickets-28326072044 - registration will remain open until 7 November 2016.
Girls' Education - Free Online Course

Free Online  Course - Starts 21 Nov 2016

Girls' Education: Teaching Strategies That Develop Confidence, Resilience and Collaboration How can teachers help close the gender gap? Get guidance on helping girls achieve their potential with this free online course.  www.futurelearn.com/courses/girls-education
BookReviewBook Review 

Our expert book reviewer Nicola Asker this month reviews Geek Girl by Holly Smale - "a really fun read" and a book that "takes you through the highs and lows of life as a geek girl".



Know someone who'd like to receive the Sparxx newsletter? They can sign- up here.
SPARXX IS SPONSORED BY