Starting early: Bringing STEM careers to the primary classroom
Inspire! is delighted to have secured funding for an exciting new primary schools project: iDiscover. We are grateful to the Mercers’ Company, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Salesforce Foundation for their generous support.
The vast majority of Hackney’s current school population will not choose a career in STEM. White, middle class males dominate in the statistics; women make up a mere 12.8% of the STEM workforce. Inspire!’s primary team is setting out to tackle these issues in Hackney by targeting children at the age when they first become aware of gender and cultural stereotypes and is actively recruiting female and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professional volunteers to take part.
iDiscover aims to:
- Increase primary school pupils’ awareness of STEM careers
- Generate understanding of scientific processes
- Challenge stereotypes by providing access to a diverse range of STEM professionals
Modelled on our flagship programme for primary schools, Work Week, Inspire! will provide participating teachers with engaging lesson plans and resources which explicitly link the children’s STEM learning to a wide range of careers.
To ensure the materials we provide reflect real-life situations, we have organised a forum for volunteers to brainstorm ideas for the classroom activities. If you, or someone you know, works in STEM (or has done in the past), we would love it if you could join us.
When: Friday 6 February 2015 at 10am – 1pm (including refreshments)
Where: Level 26, Salesforce Tower, EC2N 4AY (opposite Liverpool Street station)
Attendees confirmed so far include a science teacher, a robot enthusiast, a member of the Science Museum’s education team and staff from Google!
We particularly welcome women and/or volunteers from a BAME background.
No experience of working with young people is required, just plenty of enthusiasm!
