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:

To browse the briefs, click the buttons below or scroll down.

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/).

Tree Trouble Activity

Tree Trouble Activity Card Save the tree There’s a dilemma in Treedwell about an old tree: The local government think we need new houses in the town, but the old tree is on the site. The builder says he wants to cut it down. keep our shade Protestor 1 thinks if they cut the tree down, there will be nowhere for animals to live and it will affect the local biodiversity. Protestor 2 thinks we need the shade from the tree to sit in when it gets hot. Do you think the old tree should be chopped down? Your challenge Find out whether it makes a difference to animals and plants if a tree is chopped down. Discuss What do you think biodiversity means? What sorts of wildlife would you expect to find on and around a tree? Are plants wildlife too? Do you need to look at lots of trees or is one tree enough?

Getting started Some fellow investigators have had some ideas to get you started: If we lay a large sheet under the tree, we could gently shake some of the branches and catch what falls out. Then we could find out about what we have caught. We could see how much shade a tree makes and find out whether there are more plants and animals in its shade than in the open. We could use the internet to look up what types of plants and animals might live around a tree. By sitting quietly and watching the tree, we could see what types of animals come near it. Test your ideas Does a tree have any life on and around it? If so what kinds? Do you think it is the same for all trees? How would it affect plants, animals and people if an old tree was being cut down? You might like to record your results like this: Living thing Would it be effected by cutting down the tree? E.g. Squirrel It would have nowhere to climb and hide Share your ideas Write a report to Treedwell’s local government and explain what you found out. You could include some bar charts or drawings to help explain. The town needs new houses, so do you think it is a good idea to cut down the tree? Why? Produce a poster to convince other people. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236