Survival Rivals is part of the Wellcome Trust’s offering for Darwin 200. It consists of the three experiment kits; I’m a Worm, Get Me Out of Here, Brine Date and The X-Bacteria.

The competition asks schools and colleges across the UK to order the Survival Rivals experiment kits, and creatively showcase the science learning’s through the medium of either film or photography.

Students have up until the 21st May 2010 to enter; however, the first 24 entries will be sent an extra Survival Rivals kit to their school for free.

The first prize is a once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos Islands in October half-term, for the group of students, their teacher and a creative practitioner.  There is also runner up prizes for students from each of the nine English regions and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

To find out more, visit www.survivalrivals.org  

We have just launched a new spy-themed experiment on Lab in a Lorry in the East Midlands. This experiment has been developed by staff at the University of Nottingham's School of Physics and Astronomy thanks to funding from East Midlands Development Agency (emda). Excited pupils at Djanogly City Academy Nottingham were the first to experience this new activity. They became secret agents, using the equipment to eavesdrop on an enemy and communicate secrets to other agents.

I have been volunteering for the Lab in a Lorry for several years now and I’m delighted that the opportunity arose for us to develop this new experiment. It reflects the research going on around magnetic data storage and allows school pupils to explore modern computing power and data access/storage. I’m also pleased that this has given us the chance to start a link between Djanogly City Academy and my University which I hope will lead on to many more STEM activities for the school’s pupils. 

The new experiment will be on board the Lab from now on as it continues on its three-year tour of the East Midlands.

Guest Blogger: Chris Staddon, Senior Experimental Officer, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' (BIS) Science and Learning Expert Group has recently released a report Science and Mathematics Secondary Education for the 21st Century. 

The report outlines five priority areas for improving STEM learning in schools and colleges;

1. Recruit more STEM graduates into teaching, then train and retain them
2. Improve the content and assessment of science and maths at GCSE and A-Level (including having expert groups advise on the design and development of qualifications and assessment)
3. Clearly differentiate the learning pathways available to young people
4. Integrate IAG into science lessons and enrichment, and develop HE and workplace links
5. Foster a commitment to excellence in science and mathematics in schools and colleges through accountability mechanisms and incentives. 

There’s a good article about the report on the BBC website.  You can see the responses from Schools Minister Iain Wright and Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson on the BIS website.

I have now settled in as scientist in residence at Lab 13 at Crown Hills Community College and look forward to our official launch on the 25th of February. There is a buzz going around the school fuelled by those who have discovered Lab_13 and have enjoyed the experience.

The lab has so far seen a number of Lunchtime clubs (exploring the science used in hollywood films) and an inventors club where students have had the freedom to design their own innovative project. A Come Alive With Science project (looking at the science behind fashion) has also taken place in the lab.

The experience of working with the students in Lab_13 at Crown Hills has also helped me to grow as an individual as I have had to manage the expectations of a school, a group of confident students as well as the aims and objectives of the project as a whole. Apart from all the amazing experiments I have been able to demonstrate so far, I have also learnt not to show students how to make slime and to leave decorating the lab to the art department! 
 
Tom Carter, Scientist in Residence, Lab_13, Crown Hills Community College

The fifth regional East Midlands STEM Student Journalist Workshop took place last Thursday 11 February.  Hosted at the Roundhouse, part of Derby College, the half day interactive workshop was led by BBC Business Correspondent Rob Pittam and BBC News Camerawoman Sara Shepherd.  The event was a great success with Rob and Sara giving students an insight into their jobs and the world of journalism.

Later in the day, students enthusiastically took part in a news room simulation activity where they adopted the roles of editors, sub editors and reporters, looking at STEM related press releases on topics such as climate change, developments in sports science, the ‘toyota’ issue in the world of engineering and technological advancements at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, giving students a taste of what it is like to come up with a news agenda and cope with a running story. The day concluded with the opportunity for students to ask Rob and Sara questions.

The workshop was attended by over 60 students, primarily from Derbyshire, but also from Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Analysis of the workshop evaluation saw 85% of students rate the day as useful, with 89% finding the sessions run by Rob and Sara interesting and helpful. Rob and Sara said they “enjoyed meeting STEM reporters, being able to pass on tips and share our experiences with the next generation of journalists...."

Students commented on the event saying that it gave them “a valuable insight into the world of journalism”, and teachers attending on the day said they were “impressed by the quality of their students work during the news room simulation activity”.

The forthcoming National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), 12-21 March, will be an ideal platform for the students who attended the workshop to put their new STEM reporting skills into action and enter the NSEW STEM Student Journalist Competition to win an iPod Nano. For more details click here.   

National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW) is just over 1 month away!

NSEW is a programme of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) events and activities taking place between 12 – 21 March 2010.  

The East Midlands STEM Partnership is helping promote NSEW by encouraging organisers to register their events on the national database, training more students to report on news happening in their county and inviting VIPs to come and see for themselves STEM in action in the East Midlands. As part of this promotion, the partnership has developed a bespoke microsite for the week to increase event registrations on the NSEW site, and to encourage students to enter the NSEW STEM Student Journalist Competition, with the opportunity to win an iPod Nano for reporting on NSEW events and activities.

To find out more about NSEW in the East Midlands and how you can get involved visit the microsite now! http://www.emstempartnership.org.uk/nsew

6 Feb 2010, Day Four

The highlight of Saturday was a 1.5 hour talk given by geologist and astronaut Jim Rielly.  His talk was thought provoking and informative as he spoke about the formation of the moon, mars and the earth and the different rocks on each.  He also explained why you should never give up chasing your dreams.  His astronaut application was rejected 8 times by NASA before he finally got an interview and went on to fly four times as a mission specialist on board the shuttle.

5 Feb 2010, Day Three

A very early start saw the team get to the main theatre at the conference venue for 7.30am to listen to the keynote talk from Dr Sally Ride.  Dr Ride was the first American woman in space and flew on two shuttle missions in total.  Her talk was extremely interesting and pitched at a high scientific level which ensured that brains were engaged so early in the morning.  After the keynote talk the team took part in two NASA run tours; one to Ellington Fields Air Force base and the second to the vehicle mock up facility at the Johnson Space Center.

Ellington Feilds is the home of NASA's aerospace fleet of planes from fast jets for training astronauts to fly to the shuttle training aircraft (STA) which is a uniquely modified Gulfstream II private jet.  The onboard computers in the STA are able to make the plane respond like the shuttle.  A mission commander will have completed over 1000 approaches before actually landing the shuttle for real!

The vehicle mock up facility at Johnson Space Center is an enormous warehouse full of life sized mock ups of the International Space Station (ISS) and the shuttle.  This facility allows astronauts to familiarise themselves with the ISS and certain procedures before a mission.  We were able to see the mock up of the 'Cupola' a viewing module due to be delivered next week on the ISS by STS-130 which launches in the early hours of Monday 8th February from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. 

Immediately after the tours we had to deliver our second workshop.  This workshop was attended by close to 60 people and was even better received than the session on Thursday.  Friday ended with the conference dinner at the Space Center Houston where we were able to fully relax for the first time knowing our teaching committments were over and had been a great success.

4 Feb 2010, Day Two

The first day of the conference started with a VIP tour of Mission Control at the Johnson Space Centre.  We were able to observe a mission control crew training for an up and coming shuttle mission in the white flight control room.  We then moved on to watch the International Space Station (ISS) controllers who are incharge of maintaining continuous contact with the ISS.  While on this part of the tour we were shown live feeds of a soyuz supply vehicle catching up with the ISS to dock in the next 24 hours.  We also watched sun rise and moon set from live camera feeds on the ISS.  The personal highlight of the tour was being able to visit historic mission control - the roon where the Apollo Missions were controlled.  I quickley found the Capsule Commander desk where Charlie Duke worked during the historic Apollo 11 first landing on the moon.  Charlie had recently visited the National Space Centre in Leicester so I was very keen to see where he sat during those amazing times.

The afternoon at the conference gave us our first opportunity to present to delegates.  After an intensive 2 hour slot, the teachers were thoroughly enthused and impressed with the British teaching ideas and demonstration incorporating space and earth observation science.  Day one ended with a keynote talk from astronaut Ricky Arnold who was a Mission Specialist on STS-119 which was a successful shuttle mission to bring full power to the ISS by installing a new set of solar arrays.  I will never get board of listening to stories surrounding space missions, they are always truely inspirational!

Research shows that the overwhelming majority of the public regard television as their most significant source of information about science. We believe that the broadcast media should represent and reflect all areas of science and culture, and therefore should be produced by people from a variety of different backgrounds.

We aim to increase the crossover between science and the media and to enable bright, articulate and motivated scientists to explore a career in the broadcast industry.

The Science Media Studentships offer financial support for two practising biomedical scientists to undertake a postgraduate qualification in Science Media Production at Imperial College London and to follow this with a six-month placement working in the broadcast industry.  

The 2010 round of applications just opened today. Deadline is 26 February 2010.

For more information, see:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Grants/Science-Media-Studentships

Guest Blogger: The Wellcome Trust