Your questions answered

How many students can each workshop be delivered to?

The workshop is designed to be delivered to a group of approximately 30 students. Place students in teams of 3-5 for the practical activities.

Can multiple workshops be delivered in my school?

You are welcome to run more than one workshops in your school.

How does this workshop link to the curriculum in my country?

England

Science

  • Working Scientifically
  • Scientific attitudes
  • Experimental skills and investigations
  • Chemistry
  • The particulate nature of matter
  • Pure and impure substances
  • Materials
  • Physics
  • Motion and Forces: Forces, balanced forces
  • Matter: Physical changes, particle model

Design and Technology

Design:

  • Identify and solve their own design problems and understand how to reformulate problems given to them.
  • Develop specifications to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that respond to needs in a variety of situations.
  • Use a variety of approaches to generate creative ideas and avoid stereotypical responses.
  • Develop and communicate design ideas using annotated sketches, detailed plans, 3D and mathematical modelling, oral and digital presentations and computer-based tools.

Evaluate:

  • test, evaluate and refine their ideas and products against a specification, taking into account the views of intended users and other interested groups.

Technical knowledge:

  • understand and use the properties of materials and the performance of structural elements to achieve functioning solutions.

Gatsby Benchmarks:

  • GB2: Learning from labour market information
  • GB4: Linking curriculum learning to careers
  • GB5: Encounters with employers and employees

Northern Ireland

Science
Scientific Skills
• Develop skills in scientific methods of enquiry to
further scientific knowledge and understanding
• Planning for investigations
• Obtaining evidence
• Presenting and interpreting results
• Develop creative and critical thinking in their
approach to solving scientific problems
• Research scientific information from a range of
sources
• Develop a range of practical skills, including the
safe use of science equipment
Forces and energy
• Forces and energy transfer
• Using electricity
Employability
• Identify how skills developed through science
will be useful to a wide range of careers
Technology Knowledge & skills
Design
• Identifying problems
• Investigating, generating, developing,
modelling and evaluating design proposals
• Giving consideration to form, function and
safety
Employability
• Investigate how the skills developed through
Technology and Design will be useful to a wide
range of careers
Sustainable development
• Pursue design solutions using environmental
friendly materials and energy sources
• Identify product needs and pursue sustainable
harmonious design solutions in a local
outdoor/indoor context

Wales

Curriculum for Wales Framework:

Area of Learning and Experience – Science and Technology

What matters statements:

  • Being curious and searching for answers is essential to understanding and predicting phenomena.
  • Design thinking and engineering offer technical and creative ways to meet society’s needs.
  • Matter and the way it behaves defines our universe and shapes our lives.
  • Forces and energy provide a foundation for understanding our universe.
  • The problem-solving activities underpin the ‘four purposes’ which underpin Curriculum for Wales.

Existing curriculum Science

Skills:

  • Communication (1-3)

Enquiry:

  • Planning (1-3, 6-7)
  • Developing (4-6)
  • Reflecting (1-6)

Range:

  • the sustainable earth
  • the physical and chemical properties of some elements, compounds and mixtures and how mixtures can be separated by simple techniques.
  • the properties of sustainable materials and how these are related to their uses in everyday life, e.g., in the construction and manufacturing industries, and the importance of sustainability.

Existing curriculum Design Technology

Skills:

  • Designing (1-9)

Making:

  • Resistant materials and textiles (10,12,13, 15)

Range:

Opportunities to develop design and technology creativity through:

  • activities in which they investigate, analyse and evaluate products in order to acquire technological and health and safety.
  • knowledge and understanding that can be applied in their designing and making.
  • activities in which they learn about the responsible use of materials considering issues of sustainability.
  • activities in which they develop and practise particular skills and techniques that can be applied in their designing and making.
  • activities in which they design and make products, focusing on different contexts and materials.
  • health and safety.

 

Scotland

Science

  • SCN 3-04a: I can use my knowledge of the different ways in which heat is transferred between hot and cold objects and the thermal conductivity of materials to improve energy efficiency in buildings or other systems
  • SCN 3-04b: By investigating renewable energy sources and taking part in practical activities to harness them, I can discuss their benefits and potential problems.
  • SCN 3-05a: By contributing to experiments and investigations, I can develop my understanding of models of matter and can apply this to changes of state and the energy involved as they occur in nature.
  • SCN 3-10a: I can help to design simple chemical cells and use them to investigate the factors which affect the voltage produced.
  • SCN 3-16a: I can differentiate between pure substances and mixtures in common use and can select appropriate physical methods for separating mixtures into their components.
  • SCN 3-19a: Through experimentation, I can identify indicators of chemical reactions having occurred. I can describe ways of controlling the rate of reactions and can relate my findings to the world around me.
  • SCN 3-19b: I have helped to design and carry out practical activities to develop my understanding of chemical reactions involving the Earth’s materials. I can explain how we apply knowledge of these reactions in practical ways.

Technologies

  • TCH 3-09a: I can create solutions in 3D or 2D and can justify the construction/graphic methods and the design features.
  • TCH 3-10a: I can explore the properties and performance of materials before justifying the most appropriate material for a task.
  • TCH 3-12a: I can apply my knowledge and understanding of engineering disciplines and can develop/build solutions to given tasks.

Health and Wellbeing:

  • HWB 3-19a: I am developing the skills and attributes which I will need for learning, life and work. I am gaining understanding of the relevance of my current learning to future opportunities. This is helping me to make informed choices about my life and learning.
  • HWB 2-20a / HWB 3-20a / HWB 4-20a: I am investigating different careers/ occupations, ways of working, and learning and training paths. I am gaining experience that helps me recognise the relevance of my learning, skills and interests to my future life.
Can Energy Quest be adapted to suit SEND students or those with additional needs?

Energy Quest is aimed at students aged 11-13. Students are asked to solved a simulated emergency scenario and are given a choice of practical activities to complete.  We have designed the workshop to be accessible: instructions are provided on a powerpoint and in separate worksheets, there is a choice of practical activities, students can work at their own pace and all video content is subtitled.

Energy Quest has previously been adapted for use in SEND schools, in mainstream schools with SEND students and in hospital schools. You are welcome to make any adaptations you want.

Can the workshop be delivered in Welsh?

Yes, Welsh language options will be available.

Does my school need to supply all the Energy Quest kit items?

The workshop uses equipment and materials that most schools will already have access to. What you will need for the fruit battery experiment is:

  • 16 voltmeters or multi-meters
  • 32 crocodile clips
  • 16 red leads
  • 16 black leads
  • 1-2 apples 
  • 16 copper coins
  • 16 zinc coated nails
  • 16 LED bulbs

What you will need for the water filtration experiment is:

  • 8 empty plastic bottles
  • Twigs, branches, leaves pebbles, sand
  • Jug of water with soil/coffee grounds in it
  • Scissors or craft knives
  • Bits of cloth from an old t-shirt
Does Energy Quest need to take place in a Science Lab?

No. The workshop can be delivered in any room which has a large enough space for students to work grouped around a table for practical activities. The teacher must also have a device in the room that is connected to the internet and to a projector or interactive white board with speakers.

The room should also be suitable for doing a water based experiment.

Do I need to print all the resources for the workshop?

The printable resources include:

  • Act like an Engineer Design sheet – 6 in total for the whole group
  • Optional: Energy Quest Information Sheet - 1 per student (or this could be sent digitally)
How much does the workshop cost?

The workshop is free of charge and fully funded by our sponsors. To continue running Energy Quest for free we must be able to measure its impact, so it is a requirement that students and teachers complete an evaluation survey at the end of each workshop. It is also a requirement for teachers to complete a demographic data collection survey either before, during or after the workshop.

Why do you need us to complete evaluation feedback?

Please ask students to complete the survey using the link provided. We rely on these evaluations to ensure we can improve the programme and tailor it to have maximum positive impact on those groups currently under-represented in STEM, including girls, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those from minoritised groups.

We also ask you to complete the demographic data questionnaire using the link provided to help us understand how better to support young people to pursue careers in engineering.

When should I do the survey with students?

Please find an opportunity within the school day for all students who attended the Energy Quest workshops to complete a survey. To do this, they will need access to devices. The survey can be completed on computers, tablets or phones, depending on what is easiest for you to use in school. Please contact us if you would prefer to have paper copies for students to complete.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes for any individual student to complete, and in most cases closer to 5 minutes.

We do not recommend setting the survey as homework, unless you are confident that at least 80% of the students will complete it.

Do I have to do anything else after the workshop?

Why not sign up to Neon to find your next great engineering or tech activity for your students?