Your stories
We'd love to hear your stories of STE(A)M activities so that we can share it with others.
If you would like to contribute something to this section, or have queries about anything already posted here, please let us know.
Following a careers talk from CSES, Solomon Malih (Year 12/13) completed a successful Nuffield Research Placement over the 2021 summer holidays. He has kindly told us his story here...
Over the summer, I had the privilege of completing a Nuffield Research Placement. The Nuffield Research Placements are an excellent opportunity to spend two weeks with a subject specialist or industry expert working on a live research topic. As for what you do on this two-week placement, that can vary. I know one placement which was centred around artificial intelligence, whilst another was more practical and involved designing a solution to a real-world engineering problem. Some will be more research-based than others, but they will all likely involve reading academic literature, collecting primary and secondary data, and working with the software used in academia and industry.
I spent two weeks investigating the use of quantum computation for particle physics with a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. Some of the theory and mathematics involved was at an undergraduate or even post-graduate standard, but my supervisor was very patient with me and willing to explain things multiple times if needed. My supervisor's work involved testing a quantum physics concept known as a gauge theory using quantum computation. The particles involved in testing the gauge theory can be modelled as quantum gates, which I implemented in a quantum circuit and simulated using Qiskit, an open-source SDK (software development kit) that provides tools for working with quantum machines.
At the end of the placement, I had to produce a 10-20 page research report outlining my project's aim, findings, methodology, and more.
12 students from the Greensward Academy attended the CSES Schools' Competition
On Friday 28th June, 12 Greensward students attended the Chelmsford Science and Engineering Societies’ Annual Schools’ Competition. The event was hosted by Anglia Ruskin University where the students presented the 3 projects they had been working on, either in STEM club, or as part of the Engineering Education Scheme, to a range of judges from the local science and engineering community.
Read more: Greensward Academy at the CSES Schools' Challenge
CSES support continues to have a positive impact
This article, reproduced with kind permission from Greensward Academy's STEM Roundup 2017-18 newsletter, showcases another excellent year of STEM achievement, facilitated by the CSES STEM Club Bursary and Schools' Engineering and Technology Competition.
Vegetable batteries
A team of year 7 students have been working on a project to investigate which vegetables make the best batteries, inspired by the concept of a potato clock. They have looked at how vegetable batteries work, as well as which metals make the best electrodes. They took their project to the 2018 CSES Schools' Engineering and Technology Competition to show their research.
CSES Schools' Competition entry selected for national final of Raspberry Pi design contest
Toby Cook and Wezi Phiri-Phinjikah of King Edward VI Grammar School tell the story of their H2Pi Watermeter.
The challenge for the PAPi Raspberry Pi competition 2018 was to invent a product to promote sustainability using a Raspberry Pi and our idea was a smart water meter.
Press release: 25 June 2018
Children from Trinity Road Primary school were invited to attend the 2018 CSES Schools' Engineering and Technology Competition at Anglia Ruskin University to present work they'd prepared as part of a school competition celebrating the Year of Engineering.
Read more: Chelmsford primary schoolchildren create LEGO designs for the Year of Engineering
On Saturday 25 February, King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS) Young Engineers team 'Illuminatus', all in year 8, embarked on a journey to the First Lego League (FLL) National Finals at the University of Western England in Bristol. It was a great experience and we all gained something from it.
Thank you to CSES for awarding us a STEM Club Bursary which helped us to continue with this competition and go to Bristol. Below, some of the team members have given their own accounts of the event and what they have learned from it.
Congratulations to team Illuminatus, who went on to win the Design Execution award at the 2017 Schools' Competition.
- Frinton-on-Sea Primary School STEM LEGO Club
- Thurstable School EPQ
- Greensward Academy
- CVHS STEM Club
- KEGS YE Club: VEX Robotics
- Tendring's sumo wrestling robot
- A sixth-former's view by Annabelle (2013)
- Schools' Competition - CCHS
- Should I host the IET Faraday Challenge at my school?
- Graduate's View - Jack