Ignite! Projects:
Ignition*
Invent! 08
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in the East Midlands region – We have Ignition*
There's a STEM revolution going on in the East Midlands. Across the region, thousands of young people are discovering that science, technology, engineering and maths are creative subjects - fun, exciting, engaging and well worth thinking about for further study and careers.
Their learning is being transformed by Ignition*, a three year programme of creative approaches to STEM subjects, involving teachers, students, parents, artists, scientists, inventors, designers, engineers, film-makers, writers and journalists. Ignition* is being delivered by Ignite! in collaboration with Creative Partnerships, and funded by emda.
There are six integrated but distinct programmes in Ignition* all designed to inspire the next generation of creative scientists, inventors and innovators.
The programme was launched at Greenwood Junior School, Nottingham in March - to view the film of the launch, click here... We have Ignition*
The Problem
1. Fewer young people take up STEM subjects as courses of higher level study or careers in the East Midlands than the average of English regions.
2. The numbers of graduates in STEM subjects nationally is not meeting the numbers leaving or retiring from industries dependent on STEM skills.
3. This decline is recognised by Government, RDAs and industry bodies as damaging our international economic performance and future prospects.
The majority of children who enter the education system in September will leave in 2021 onwards to take up jobs that haven't been invented yet. They will lead changes from 2030 onwards in a world that we can only imagine. The solutions that they find to the challenges of the time will require a combination of knowledge, skills and imagination.
Many of the solutions and opportunities of the future will be found in the application of STEM subjects but without imagination and creativity we will merely repeat the mistakes of the past.
The Proposals
Ignition* will address the root causes and symptoms of the problem and encourage young people to regard STEM subjects as creative, exciting and attractive for further study and careers.
Key Features:
1. Come Alive with Science : To encourage young people to recognise that STEM subjects are creative, and are based on experiment, inquiry and curiosity, we will offer support for secondary schools to develop Creative Science Games in exciting collaborations between artists, scientists, teachers and students. Designed to create links with their feeder primary schools, events take place in National Science and Engineering Week (in March each year); extra activities include cafes scientifiques for parents and opportunities for making films to document the whizzes, pops and bangs. To express an interest in taking part, contact ignition@ignitefutures.org.uk
2. Invent! : To inspire young people to invent and apply their imaginations, schools and individual students can sign up for the Invent! Competition in March and take part in workshops and a day of celebrating invention in July. That's just four months of ingenuity, innovation and resourcefulness to come up with new solutions to old problems, or a completely off-the-wall, stunningly out-of-this-world, amazingly left-field idea. There are prizes to be won.
3. Creative STEM Fluency Labs will be five days of intensive learning and exchanges of ideas, between teachers, scientists and artists. Designed by Performing Arts Labs (PAL) there will be three residential labs of mutual exploration for the purpose of extending creative practice. The participants will also be supported by the Reflect programme of co-mentoring. 60 teachers and 30 artists and scientists will be invited to take part in what promise to be inspiring, life changing programmes. To express an interest in taking part, contact ignition@ignitefutures.org.uk
4. Lab 13 : As kids we all start with an appetite for experiment, a curiosity to find out how things work, or to see what would happen if...
Lab 13 is a space where that curiosity can be let loose. Based in a school, but entirely managed by young people, and with an inventor, engineer or scientist in residence, the idea of Lab 13 is based on the world famous Room13 art studio in Fort William, Scotland. Ignition* will provide support to set up six Lab 13s across the region; after that what happens is up to the ingenuity of the management team.
5. Creative Sparks : Ignite! Creative Sparks astonish with their exceptional creativity; could you spot the next Technology Woman of the Future? Or the young scientist of the year? The new cohort of Creative Sparks are aged between 14 and 21 and live, work or study in the East Midlands region. They will receive support to follow a programme of personal creative development, including travel and residential creativity labs; in return we expect them to become role models and ambassadors to inspire their peers. We are looking for 15 exceptional individuals to join the Ignite! Creative Sparks whose stories can be found at www.ignitefutures.org.uk/creative-sparks
6. Sci-art fusions : To inspire, surprise and delight young people and wider audiences in the connections between arts, culture, STEM subjects and society, we plan to commission new films, works of art, theatre in education programmes, and new media technology. We will encourage artists to work with scientists and young people to create new works, and have teamed up with the film website, Planet-Scicast, to create an award for the best STEM film of the year. We want the three years of Ignition* to generate new works to inspire fresh understandings about STEM and how they connect to our lives.