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


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

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5 years ago

Build a robotic ball boy

  • Text
  • Robot
  • Robotic
  • Artificial
  • Robotics
  • Develop
  • Mentor
  • Linking
  • Materials
  • Hazards
  • Cricket
Make sure you research the hazards and complete a risk assessment.  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/). For more information visit our Terms and Conditions (www.crestawards.org/terms-and-conditions).

Click to edit project

Click to edit project description

Page 1 of 2 Design a roboticball-boy’ For this project, you will develop an automatic ‘ball boy’ for tennis or cricket practice. You could, of course, decide to make the robot for something entirely different - the scope is endless, and it’s up to you what you do! Getting Started You will need to research automated machines and robots. You have to decide exactly what you want your robot to do. A roboticball boy’ needs to: • Be activated • Find balls, move towards the balls and pick them up • Hold onto the balls and release them at its ‘home’ position • Not bump into the net. Artificial Intelligence: You then have to develop the Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. You will need to carry out research about how to do this; you can sometimes download AI programmes from the internet. You may need some help from your mentor with this aspect. Design the shell: When your AI is working, you need to design the ‘shell’ of the robot. You need to think about: • How will you collect balls? • Where will they be stored? • How many balls will it be able to hold? • How will it release them? Try making a scale model of your robot and then linking it to a microcomputer to run the AI. Try it out on a scaled-down tennis court/cricket Click to edit project pitch. description Making the real thing: If it all works, you’ll have to make the real thing! This requires different sorts of engineering – welding, cutting, soldering etc. of steel, or other materials you may choose to use. You’ll have to think about various other properties, too, such as water-resistance, strength and how heavy it will be. Finally, you need to think about the on-board computer. How will you build it? How will you make it lightweight enough so as not to weigh the robot down? Things to think about Another important factor is the way the robot will find the balls. Here are two suggestions that may be possible. It’s up to you to research their feasibility: • Ultrasonic SONAR • Visual Detection System. Useful Resources You could try linking up with a robotics department of your local university to find out about robotics, Artificial Intelligence and on-board computers. You will need a mentor from the robotics industry as this is a complex project.

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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