What Is Stem Education?
STEM Education, at its core, means educating students in four specific disciplines, namely, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – fields that are very similar to each other in that they share both theory and practice and yet very different in application.
Scientists try to understand nature, engineers make things that do not exist in nature, and mathematicians apply theories and techniques to solve practical problems.
At Malvern College, we consider the STEM element of our curriculum as a golden opportunity for our young people to explore STEM subjects, to engage with subject matter experts, to conduct their experiments and help ignite the spark that might result in a future breakthrough. We have a range of STEM societies and groups, some of which are very much pupil-led, others requiring the involvement of teaching staff and 3rd parties.
Engineering Society
Within the science department, we host an engineering society. Currently, we have four groups of 3-4 young engineers who have taken on the challenge of designing an earthquake-proof building. Their building material is the humble drinking straw; the building needs to be constructed so that it will hold weights at two different heights. The test of the structure will be a simulated earthquake, achieved by deploying a vibrating table that will shake at different frequencies until breaking or toppling point.
Medical and Veterinary Society
The Medical and Veterinary Society is for those who are interested in both human and animal medicine. This group meets, discusses and debates regularly on a range of such matters. As a school, we have access to the Medical Mavericks Academy, an online platform where teachers, pupils and parents can access resources that promote STEM subjects and showcase the staggering number of careers in the National Health Service to help young people make informed decisions. The Medical Mavericks Team will be visiting before the end of term and will be delivering a hands-on workshop for pupils to have a go at techniques such as suturing and taking blood. We expect to get to see some specialist equipment too – one item being a pulse doppler which looks at the flow of blood through blood vessels.
Medical Mavericks workshop
The school has access to the Medical Mavericks Academy, this allows students to research a huge range of careers within the healthcare industry, not all of them are in direct contact with patients, some careers related to the programming of the various medical machinery for example, so the scope is wide-ranging. The Medical Mavericks team streamed a live Human Guinea Pig Show which was available to all our pupils and being live they could ask questions via the live link. Next term we are looking forward to the Medical Mavericks visiting to deliver a workshop. Our pupils will learn some techniques such as suturing and taking blood ( on models ) and use some of the gadgets that various specialists may use externally.
Inter-House Science Competition – The quest for the Silver Test Tube
Our Inter-House Science Competition is held annually, and the coveted prize is the Silver Test Tube. The recent competition was intense and comprised of one round in each discipline. Biologists analysed soil samples to find out whether there was life on an imaginary planet; the chemists produced a timing device by using the well-known iodine clock reaction, and the physicists made a self-propelled vehicle from items such as polo mints, lollipop sticks, drinking straws and balloons.
Real-life experience
Malvern College is adjacent to QinetiQ, the UK based global defence contractor. The lifeblood of QinetiQ is innovation and the effective hiring of the next generation of talented engineers and scientists. QinetiQ’s community outreach work involves engaging with local schools and giving them an engineering-based challenge. Participants are interviewed, teams allocated, and QinetiQ engineers act as mentors. Malvern College is one school QinetiQ works with and our pupils get to see just how engineers collaborate on projects as well as giving them an insight into the range of engineering roles there are.
QinetiQ links the school challenges with their live projects, including developing sensors to monitor fuel supplies in personnel vehicles and sending real-time data back to command posts. The current challenge is the development of a sensor to identify and measure pollution levels, gathering data over a set period for analysis.
Apart from the engineering techniques, the project involves, our pupils benefit from the exposure to areas including project management, time management, setting and meeting deadlines, negotiation, and presentation skills. The expected outcome is a project report and a customer presentation submitted to the British Science Association for an assessment as part of the Gold Crest Awards.
Olympiad competitions
We also encourage pupils to take part in the Biology, Chemistry and Physics Olympiad competitions as well as other competitions.
Mathematics
And finally, the STEM mathematicians – quietly get involved in a range of national-based Maths and National Cypher Challenges. In 2022, the College will host the regional heat of the Team Maths Challenge – which the Head of Maths is eagerly anticipating.
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