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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Student guide - Silver

  • Text
  • Crest
  • Reflections
  • Criteria
  • Individual
  • Submit
  • Assessor
  • Assessment
  • Develop
  • Mentor
  • Wider
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/).

1. Before your project

1. Before your project What does a CREST Silver Award involve? • Complete minimum of 30 hours of work on one project area • Use scientific and/or technical knowledge appropriate to students aged 14 to 16 • Develop your own project idea and experience the scientific process. • Write a project report or portfolio of evidence Where should I start? 1. Read through this student guide. It will make the CREST process easier for you, your mentor and your teacher. If you are unsure of anything, your teacher or mentor should be able to help. 2. Look at the criteria we use to assess your project, and make sure you understand what you need to do to get a CREST Silver Award. CREST criteria 1 - Planning your project • Set a clear aim and break it down into smaller steps/objectives • Explain the wider purpose of your project • Consider different ways to do your project • Describe your plan for how to complete your project and give reasons for the approach you chose • Explain how you planned your time and organised who would do what 2 - Throughout your project • Say who and what materials you needed to help you complete your project • Summarise the background research you did to help you understand your project and where you found the information 3 - Finalising your project • Make logical conclusions and explain the implications for the wider world • Describe how what you did affected the outcome of your project • Explain what you learned and how you would change your project if you did it again 4 - Project-wide criteria • Show understanding of the science behind your project • Describe how you made sensible decisions about your project. Consider safety and risks • Show creativity in the way you carried out your project • Explain how you identified and overcame problems • Explain your project clearly in writing (and conversation, if relevant).

2. During your project • Use the CREST criteria as a guide, to make sure you cover all the criteria as you work. • Take lots of notes of what you do, including your planning from early on in the project. This will help you to write your report and personal reflections. 3. Producing your report At the end of the project, you will need to write a report to introduce, describe and evaluate your work. Alongside your report you will need to complete the CREST Silver Award student profile, to check you’ve covered all the assessment criteria in your report. The profile form is there to help you as you write your report, so completing it at the end with your report should be very straightforward. If you are working as part of a team, your team should produce a joint report but each team member should have a separate student profile form. When you submit online, a project completed by a group can be submitted jointly, with one report and a profile form per student. You can also submit separately using the same report and your own profile form. Groups that have done separate project work should submit separately, so that each project is assessed on its own merits. Remember to: • Number the pages in your report. This will help you reference areas of the report when you fill out the profile form. • Use your own words. We want to hear about your project and what you did. You should not use information copied straight from the internet in your report. • Make sure to list the sources of your research information. At Silver, we don’t mind what format your references are in, as long and it’s consistent and you give us the information we need to find any sources you used. If you want advice on this, please ask your teacher.

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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