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

Testing toothpastes

  • Text
  • Toothpaste
  • Toothpastes
  • Ingredients
  • Recipe
  • Stained
  • Bicarbonate
  • Tablespoons
  • Cleans
  • Numerous
  • Brands
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 www.crestawards.org

Page 1 of 2 Testing toothpastes In this project, you will make your own toothpaste and compare it to toothpastes you can buy in the shop. You will then do some tests to find out which toothpaste cleans the best. Getting started You should start by writing down the ingredients of numerous different brands of toothpaste and how much they cost. Try to find out what the various ingredients do. Decide which you think gives the best value for money. Next make your own toothpaste using the recipe on the right. Now design an experiment to compare your toothpaste with the shop bought stuff. You’ll need something to clean! Egg shells provide a reasonable alternative to teeth and they have similarly high calcium content. Hard boiled eggs are a good idea. You will then need to think about how you are going to stain the egg shells. Make sure each egg is stained using the same procedure. One method for staining an egg is to place your egg in a cup of boiling water, with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 20 drops of food colouring, Leave it for half an hour then dry the egg on a paper towel. Alternatively, you could try leaving the egg in a cup of tea, coffee or fruit drink. Click to edit project description When you’ve got some stained eggs, you’ll need to think how to clean them using the toothpastes. Brushing is the obvious way, but make sure it is a fair test. Things to think about • How will you decide which is the best toothpaste? • What sort of brush will you use and for long will you brush each egg for? • Which toothpaste was most abrasive (scratchy)? • How could the abrasiveness be measured more accurately? • How could pH affect the cleaning ability of toothpaste? Useful resources Toothpaste recipe You will need: • bicarbonate of soda • salt • glycerol 1.Mix six tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda with two tablespoons of salt. 2.Add three teaspoons of glycerol. 3. Mix the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and add just enough water to make it toothpaste like.

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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