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:

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

Bronze Silver Gold Partner resources

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The perfect colour lipstick

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Page 1 of 2 In this project, you will investigate the ingredients of lipsticks. You will work out why lipsticks are certain colours, and work out how to change the consistency of lipstick, controlling it’s ‘spreadability’. Getting Started You will master the art of colouring lipsticks. Your aim is to be able to predict how to make a lipstick a desired colour, without any ‘hit-and-miss’ aspect. • Carry out some research into how lipsticks are coloured and find out what pigments are. Find out about colour spectrums. • Make your own lipstick using one colour pigment. Use a spectrophotometer to measure the absorption spectrum of your lipstick. • Melt your lipstick and add another pigment. Keep doing this, adding different pigments each time. You could also make some new lipstick with different coloured pigments. Each time measure the absorption spectrum. • Explain why the lipsticks are the colour they are. • Take some shop-bought lipsticks of varying colours. Measure their absorption spectrum, and set about making lipsticks of the same colour Now you’ve mastered the art of mixing pigments, you should look at some other properties of lipstick. • Work out which ingredients affect the consistency of your lipstick. Make lipsticks of varying consistency and design a test to work out how easy it is to spread. Can you measure the viscosity of your lipsticks? What is the optimum viscosity and what ingredients are required? Click to edit project description • Design a test to measure the lipstick’s transparency - the ultimate lipstick will give a smooth, even ‘solid’ coat using the minimum amount of lipstick. • Design some tests to see how easy it is to remove your homemade lipstick. You don’t want it to come off too easily but it should be removable without too much fuss. How does your lipstick compare to shopbought products? • Investigate the effect of temperature on your homemade lipstick. Can you measure how much the viscosity changes with the temperature? Does it make a difference where the lipstick is stored? How does your lipstick compare to shop-bought products? Things to think about Investigate the differences between lipstick and lip gloss. Why is lip gloss applied with a brush? What ingredients are different, and how do they make a difference to the final product? Useful Resources You will need to work closely with a local university or similar institution so you can use a spectrophotometer. You may also want to try contacting an analytical chemist working for a cosmetics company. Search online for a reliable lipstick recipe.