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:


England

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales


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All SuperStar challenges

  • Text
  • Handson
  • Stem
  • Challenges
  • Discussion
  • Explore
  • Create
  • Experiment
  • Investigate
  • Toothpaste
  • Materials
  • Glue
  • Tomato
  • Yoghurt
  • Superstar
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/).

Bridge Blunder

Bridge Blunder Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about weights, forces and measures. Children are set the challenge of helping Star Spans, a design company, fix their bridge and stop it swaying. Through this activity you will support your group to: • Build different models of bridges. • Test their different models to see which can hold the most weight and why. • Record and share their results. Kit list • A4 paper – 12 sheets per team (2 for initial exploration, 5 for their first trial, 5 for the final bridge). Have a few pieces in reserve. Scrap paper is fine. • Sellotape – you should restrict this to a short strip per group. Sellotape is only for securing things, not for wrapping round the paper. • 10 and 100 gram masses, coins, blocks or other equipment to act as ‘weights’ – bridges can support a surprisingly large mass. • Play blocks or similar to create the 20 cm gap for the bridge – or gap between chair and tables. • Pictures of bridges (optional) What to do 1. Introduce the activity using the story of Star Spans. You may want to show the children some pictures of different shaped bridges. 2. Give out activity cards and equipment to the children. 3. Explain that they will be using the equipment provided to test the best design for a bridge. Give the children a little time to talk together and to try making strong shapes using single sheets of paper. They can fold or cut the paper if they wish. 4. Encourage children to discuss their ideas and how to carry out their investigations. Prompt questions: • How many different kinds of bridge do you know? • Are some shapes stronger than others? • How will they make sure their test is fair? • How will they record their results?

5. Now give each group 5 sheets of paper and a small amount of tape. Tell them they have 10 minutes to try out ideas for how they might make their bridge. This will not be the final bridge. Let each group test their bridge with weights as they go along. You will need to decide together where to put the weights on the bridges to test them. 6. Encourage children to evaluate the design. What do they need to change to make the bridge stronger? Now they will make their final bridge. They will need more paper. Warn them that they are not allowed to use any of the old paper but can use their earlier ideas to help them. 7. Support children to conduct their tests and make their own records of their results. They could also take photographs or make drawings. After children have tested their bridges, provide time for them to talk through what was successful and what didn’t work. 8. Ask the children to present their bridge to the rest of the group and test it. Things to think about Make sure the weights are placed, not dropped, on the bridges. You can decide to spread weights evenly across the bridge (like the children in the story) or focus them in the centre. To make fair comparisons between the bridges the same test should be carried out on each one. Do not fasten the ends of the bridge to the supports. This does strengthen the bridge but if well fastened it can require large weights to make even a single piece of paper collapse. There are many solutions to this problem. The shape is all important. The weakest bridge is often a flat sheet of paper. It can be made stronger by flat folding, creating a triangular prism shape or rolling the paper along its length. Walls can add strength as can pillars or arches. Suspending the bridge can also help. We have used the term ‘weights’, rather than the more scientifically accurate ‘masses’, since this is the term that young children are more likely to know. Keywords • Construction • Weights • Masses • Suspension • Support 10 100 Take it further Children could act out a design award to showcase the bridge or bridges that were the strongest. Children could sketch their bridge and make notes about how it worked. Watch out! ! Avoid weights falling from a height. If bridges are high, you will need a bucket of sand or cardboard box filled with crumpled paper underneath to catch falling weights. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236

Bronze level

Ten hour projects recommended for ages 11+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Bronze Awards page.


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Bronze

Silver level

Thirty hour projects recommended for ages 14+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Silver Award page.


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Silver

Gold level

Seventy hour projects recommended for ages 16+. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the Gold Awards page


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Gold

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