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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Hydrology - Gold pack

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/).

Teacher guide Measuring

Teacher guide Measuring moisture Drought Drought is sometimes described as an imbalance between precipitation and evaporation over a long period of time. Climatologists use many different indicators to monitor when drought begins and ends, and also how severe a drought is. Temperature and amount of rainfall are the most obvious indicators, but other important indicators include water levels in bodies of water, moisture in the soil and snow in the mountains. In this project, students will design and conduct an experiment to measure the moisture level in soil over a period of time, investigate the relationship between soil moisture and drought, and analyse the data they have collected in light of this. Prompts • What else will you need to measure? The sensor alone will only provide data about the soil moisture. You will need to compare this to other data. For example, if it rains a lot the soil moisture will most likely increase, so you will need to compare your sensor data to the weather over the same period of time. Encourage students to think about weather conditions, soil types, vegetation cover, etc., and how these might affect their data, or affect how they interpret their data. • Students might like to explore how the Internet of Things could be utilised to analyse relationships between different sources of data. • What do your results tell you? Encourage students to think about the wider purpose of their project and how their research could be taken further. • Aside from predicting drought, what could data about soil moisture be used for? Encourage students to think about the potential ways in which farmers and local/regional water authorities might be able to use the data. 16

Student brief Measuring moisture Drought (Physics, computing, data, drought, climate change) Have you ever wondered what we can learn from studying soil moisture? Imagine you work for an organisation that conducts drought research. You are concerned about the pattern of more intense and longer-lasting droughts in some regions, and how this will evolve in the future. Your organisation already collects data about temperature and rainfall. Now you want to start monitoring soil moisture across the area, to see if there are any patterns that could be used to predict periods of drought or water scarcity with greater accuracy. Getting started Start by researching soil moisture sensors – find out about how they work. Have a look at some of the UKCEH Water Resources Portal data at https://eip.ceh.ac.uk/hydrology/water-resources/. Bear in mind that the results from your monitor alone will only tell you about variance in soil moisture in that location, and think about what other types of data would be helpful to compare your data to. Do some reading about the relationship between soil moisture levels and drought to help guide you, and think about what patterns you might be looking for. Things to think about • How many different locations will you collect data from? • What soil moisture sensor will you use? • How long will you take measurements for? • How often will you take measurements? • How will you present your findings? Useful resources • Effects of soil characteristics on moisture evaporation https://researchgate.net/publication/324109178_Eff ects_of_soil_characteristics_on_moisture_evaporati on • Soil Moisture https://www.drought.gov/drought/data-mapstools/soil-moisture • Climate Change and Drought: the Soil Moisture Perspective https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40641- 018-0095-0 • Increase in severe and extreme soil moisture droughts https://www.medecc.org/increase-in-severe-andextreme-soil-moisture-droughts-article/ • Guide to soil moisture sensors: Why use them and the options https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/technology/guide -to-soil-moisture-sensors-why-use-them-and-theoptions • Soil moisture sensor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_moisture_sensor • Drought Resistance and Soil Moisture https://www.jstor.org/stable/1928954?seq=1 Health and safety To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Student- Safety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be). • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 17

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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