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.

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Bronze Silver Gold Partner resources

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Investigative Practical Science in the Curriculum

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 https://www.crestawards.org/s/ENGLAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Northern Ireland https://www.crestawards.org/s/NORTHERN-IRELAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Scotland https://www.crestawards.org/s/SCOTLAND-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool.xlsx Wales https://www.crestawards.org/s/WALES-CREST-secondary-curriculum-mapping-tool-v3.xlsx 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/).

INVESTIGATIVE PRACTICAL

INVESTIGATIVE PRACTICAL SCIENCE IN THE CURRICULUM References Having several lessons to complete their work allowed them to see an investigation from start to finish, without being rushed or having to rely on a ‘this is what should have happened’ set of results. Louise, science teacher I can see how my independence is being built with this investigative project. Year 13 student 34

MAKING IT HAPPEN Bennett, J., Dunlop, L., Knox, K.J., Reiss, M.J. and Torrance Jenkins, R. (2016) A Rapid Evidence Review of Practical Independent Research Projects in Science. London: Wellcome Trust. Cramman, H., Kind, V., Lyth, A., Gray, H., Younger, K., Gemar, A., Eerola, P., Coe, R. and Kind, P. (2019) Monitoring practical science in schools and colleges: Project Report. Durham: Durham University. Cukurova, M., Hanley, P. and Lewis, A. (2015) Rapid evidence review of Good Practical Science. London: The Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Dunlop, L., Knox, K., Bennett, J., Reiss, M. and Torrance Jenkins, R. (2019) Students becoming researchers. Hatfield: The Association for Science Education. Dunlop, L., Knox, K., Turkenburg-van Diepen, M. and Bennett, J. (2019) Open-ended and extended investigative projects in science: Report to the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. London: The Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Education Endowment Fund (2019) British Science Association: CREST Silver Award – enquiry based learning in science. London: Education Endowment Foundation. Erduran, S., Childs, A. and Baird, J. (2020) Practical science and pandemics. [Blog] London: British Educational Research Association. Gatsby (2017) Good Practical Science. London: The Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Kantar (2020) Young people’s views on science education – Science Education Tracker 2019. London: Wellcome Trust. Ofsted (2013) Maintaining curiosity: A survey into science education in schools. London: Ofsted. Ofqual (2019) The impact of qualification reform on the practical skills of A-level science students. Coventry: Ofqual. Stock Jones, R., Annable, T., Billingham, Z. and MacDonald, C. (2016) Quantifying CREST: What impact does the Silver CREST Award have on science scores and STEM subject selection? A Pro Bono Economics research report for the British Science Association. London: British Science Association. 35