My Science Story

We want to engage young people with low science capital, through stories of real STEM influencers who are using STFC resources and technologies to help change the world. We want to give young people a voice to share what STEM means to them, connecting them with a diverse range of positive role-models who can give them a framework to begin creating their own stories of how STEM skills and knowledge can change their future. We will do this through our high-quality, curriculum-aligned and Industrial Cadets* accredited taster days and projects, enjoyed by hundreds of schools across the UK for the past 35 years.

Our flexible, virtually-guided activity sessions include group discussion, fun interactive tasks, videos, worksheets, live Q&A sessions and hands-on activities. Sessions can be delivered in one day (with live elements), or over several days (pre-recorded content can be slotted into the school timetable). Our delivery team pre-record presentations with instructions on when to pause the video and how much time the pupils have for questioning, discussion or to complete a task.

The impact will be:
-Young people who have been inspired to expand their values, attitudes and dispositions towards science through connections with a diverse range of real people in science-related roles
-Young people who understand the impact of science on the world, and can make connections between science and everyday life
-Young people whose barriers of self-confidence/negative perceptions of STEM have been challenged, priming them to engage with STEM in school from a place of curiosity, rather than anxiety or disinterest
-STEM professionals and STFC-funded students & researchers who have been supported to raise their public engagement skills and act as positive role-models for young people in a safe, supervised environment
-STEM professionals and STFC-funded students & researchers who feel enriched and inspired by the opportunity to nurture the next generation of STEM world-changers, and are encouraged to continue their involvement in outreach activities
-Teachers who are confident that this experience has supported and complemented young people's STEM education, and who have been empowered to connect in-class learning with real examples from the world of work
-Teachers, STEM professionals and STFC-funded students & researchers who have been given the chance to connect with one another, share perspectives and discuss potential future collaborations to encourage under-represented young people into STEM learning/career paths

* Industrial Cadets is a nationally recognised accreditation programme for industry related work experience/activities and is patronised by HRH The Prince of Wales.

EDT have an extensive network of schools and employers across the UK who regularly participate in our programmes. We will produce and distribute a press release about this project on our website and to media sources local to Sheffield. We will also share this with STFC & The University of Sheffield. We will share updates of the events on our social media channels throughout. Relevant feedback and learnings from our impact report will be shared with stakeholders in our end-of-year report.
Resources produced for participating schools and volunteers will be distributed virtually. All educational resources produced will be added to EDT's engagement portfolio for continuous use and development in our work with schools across the UK.