Secondary project briefs (ages 11+)

Bronze Awards are typically completed by students aged 11+. They complete a ten-hour project which is a perfect introduction to STEM project work. Over the course of the project, teams of students design their own investigation, record their findings, and reflect on their learnings. This process gives students a taste of what it is like to be a scientist or engineer in the real-world.

Silver Awards are typically completed by students aged 14+ over thirty hours. Project work at Silver level is designed to stretch your students and enrich their STEM studies. Students direct the project, determining the project’s aim and how they will achieve it. They carry out the project, record and analyse their results and reflect on the project and their learnings. All Silver projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform.

Gold Awards are typically completed by students aged 16+ over seventy hours. Students’ projects are self-directed, longer term and immerse them in real research. At this level, we recommend students work with a mentor from their chosen STEM field of study. All Gold projects are assessed by CREST assessors via our online platform. There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.

There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.

Find out how to build practical CREST projects into secondary science lessons using our free teacher guidance pack. Supporting this guidance are easy-to-use, free-to-download mapping workbooks, which match individual Bronze, Silver and Gold CREST Award projects with each area of the secondary science curricula for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can download and save your own copy of the relevant mapping workbook via the following links:

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Bronze Silver Gold Partner resources

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All SuperStar challenges

The activities in this pack have been selected from our library of CREST SuperStar challenges. Children need to complete eight challenges to achieve a CREST SuperStar Award. If you want, you can mix and match challenges from different packs, as long as children complete eight SuperStar challenges. This resource is published under an Attribution - non-commercial - no derivatives 4.0 International creative commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Testing and Comparing

Testing and Comparing Tea Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about diffusion. The children have been given a story about three brothers who gather tea from India, China and Japan, and cannot decide which tea is the best. Through this activity you will support your group to: • Explore different varieties and origins of tea. • Devise and carry out their own tea-making tests. • Host a tea party and find out which tea is the favourite. Kit list • A range of tea • Kettle • Water • Spoons • Measuring jugs • Beakers • Mugs or cups • Filter paper • Magnifying glasses or digital microscope What to do 1. Introduce the activity using the story from the activity card. Ask the children if they think they can help the brothers to decide which tea is best. 2. Give out activity cards and equipment to the children. 3. Explain that they will be using the equipment provided to test the different kinds of tea and methods for making tea. 4. Encourage children to discuss their ideas and how to carry out their investigations. Prompt questions: • How will they make sure their test is fair? • What is the difference between looking (observing closely) and liking (personal taste)? • How will they record their results? 5. Support children to conduct their tests and make their own records of their results. They could also take photographs or make drawings. 6. Ask the children to present their findings to the rest of the group, they can be as creative in their presentation as they want.

Things to think about To decide which is best, encourage children to look closely at the teas as well as do tests for taste etc. If children want to add milk and sugar to the tea, remember that for a fair test they must add the same amount to each cup. Professional tea tasters always taste the tea black! Cheaper tea bags often contain a lot of tea dust. You often find this in the box! Does this affect the taste and flavour? Keywords • Diffusion • Temperature • Filter Watch out! ! Children need adult supervision with kettles and boiling water. They could use hot tap water for some of their tests but temperature is one of the factors that affects the taste of tea. Drinking and tasting activities should NOT take place in laboratories. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236